The two qualification meetings held over last weekend to establish the field for the Long Track Challenge saw seven riders from each meeting move forward to the Challenge which will be held in France next month. That meeting will determine the riders who will join the 2017 Series and with only three places available the competition is already fierce.
St.Macaire in France was the venue for the first of the weekend’s meetings and a well prepared track saw local favourite Mathieu Tresarrieu take an early lead but it was young Romano Hummel from the Netherlands who took the honours in the Final. The 17 year old, who is also riding speedway professionally this year under the watchful eye of fellow Dutchman Theo Pijper, displayed experience beyond his years as he took a total of 26 points to secure his surprise place in the next round. Tresarrieu was runner up with Finland’s Jesse Mustonen in third place. There was disappointment for Italy’s Alessandro Milanese who scored only 7 points and for Pepper and Benneker, the two German riders in the field who also failed to qualify.
Qualifiers:
1.Romano Hummel (Netherlands) 26
2. Mathieu Tresarrieu (France) 26
3. Jesse Mustonen (Finland) 21
4. James Wright (Great Britain) 19
5. Stéphane Tresarrieu (France) 17
6. Josef Franc (Czech Republic) 15
7. Hynek Štichauer (Austria) 13
Reserve: Theo Di Palma (France) 12
In Bielefeld where the second meeting was held, the local Germans had better fortune and on a very dusty and difficult track it was Stephan Katt and Dutchman Dirk Fabriek who set the pace in the qualifying heats each dropping only one point and both easing comfortably through the semi finals. With Enrico Janoschka and Jörge Tebbe close behind the German fans were happy to see three of their riders in contention and all were able to secure their position in the final scores. Young British rider James Shane making his debut in this competition was another qualifier despite machine problems but fellow Brit Paul Cooper will consider himself the unluckiest rider of the day.
Recovering from a retirement in his first race he managed a semi final place only to fall when his view was obscured by the dust. He then faced a run off for the final place with Frenchman Gabriel Dubernard when he again suffered a mechanical problem and was forced again to retire. He will be a reserve for the Challenge meeting. Surprise non-qualifier was Britain’s Andrew Appleton, former World number 4 and 2010 European Champion who could muster only 9 points.
Qualifiers:
1.Enrico Janoschka (Germany) 25
2. Stephan Katt (Germany) 25
3. Dirk Fabriek (Netherlands) 23
4. Jörg Tebbe (Germany) 17
5. James Shane (Great Britain) 14
6. Henry van der Steen (Netherlands) 14
7. Gabriel Dubernard (France) 12
Reserve Paul Cooper (Great Britain) 12
The 14 qualified riders now go forward to contest the Challenge in La Reole, France on 31st July. Team Qualifiers go through
The elimination meetings are now complete and the names of the riders and teams to progress in this year’s World Championship competitions are now known. In Italy, the German team were the emphatic winners of the World Team Cup meeting to decide the last of the teams to compete in the final stages of the event in Sweden next month.
Germany 46 (T.Kroner 13, M.Smolinski 12, K. Huchenbeck 11, K.Wolbert 10) Latvia 31 (A,Lebedevs 15) Italy 29 (N.Covatti 18) Slovenia 20 (M.Zagar 13) Germany joins Sweden, Australia and United States in Vastervik on 26th July
In the Under 21 Team competition, as expected the Polish team was the victor in Plsen scoring a massive 43 points ahead of the Russian and Czech teams. In Holsted, home nation Denmark were the narrow winners by just one point ahead of the Australians. Injury hit Great Britain were third despite an 18 point haul from captain Robert Lambert.
Scores (qualifiers in bold) Poland 43 (Przedpelski 13, Smektala 13) Russia 30 (Kulakov 17) Czech Republic 25 (Krcmar 13) Germany 28 (E.Riss 12) Denmark 41 (M.B.Andersen 12) Australia 40 (Fricke 13, B.Kurtz 13) Great Britain 32 (Lambert 18) Norway 10 (Moi 9) Poland, Denmark and Australia join Sweden in the Final in Norrkoping on 20th August