LONG TRACK: Mustonen unbeatable

Aki-Pekka Mustonen was THE rider of the 2012 Long-Track GP Challenge in Maranske Lazne in the Czech Republic. Conceding only one heat, he won his three qualifying heats, the semi-final and the final. He even won a run-off against the local favourite, Ales Dryml to determine which of the two riders, tied after the final, would mount the top step of the podium.

Czech rider Dryml will be taking part in the World Championship next year for the first time. He will be the latest in a line of professional speedway riders who have moved into Long-Track. There will now be six of them in contention for the title.

The surprises of the day were Richard Wolff and Jeffrey Woortmann. The Czech, Wolff, put in good performances in the qualifying heats, and missed the final by a short whisker.  Woortmann had an identical round against fellow Dutchman De Jong for third place.

Britain's Richard Hall returns to the front of the stage. Ranked sixth today, he put his lacklustre performance of 2011 behind him and will be the only British rider in the 2013 World Championship as of now.

Among the favourites at the start of the season, 2012 European Champion Stephan Katt, who had lost everything with his poor performance at Vecht, saved his season by finishing fifth.

There were big disappointments today for England’s Glen Phillips, who finished only eighth, while another favourite Rudolph, a great Long-Track specialist, ends in ninth. The French number one Trésarrieu, forced to retire after a heavy crash in his second race, finished sixteenth.

The qualifiers from today are: Mustonen (FIN), Dryml (CZ), De Jong (NL), Woortmann (NL), Katt (GER), Hall (GB), Wolff (CZ).
They join the top seven the of 2012 FIM Long-Track World Championship.

Rider list for 2013:
Joonas KYLMÄKORPI (FIN)
Martin SMOLINSKI (GER)
Josef FRANC (CZ)
Theo PIJPER (NL-FFM)
Jörg TEBBE (GER)
Cameron WOODWARD (AUS)
Matthias KRÖGER (GER)
Aki-Pekka MUSTONEN (FIN)
Ales DRYML (CZ)
Jannick De JONG (NL)
Jeffrey WOORTMANN (NL)
Stephan KATT (GER)
Richard HALL (GB)
Richard WOLFF (CZ)

They will be joined by the three Wild-Cards who will be drafted by the FIM during the winter, and one chosen by each final organiser. The Wild-Cards will be quite difficult to assign as there are quite a few riders who will be eager to have one, among them Speiser and Howe and Philipps, Appleton and Trésarrieu, who had a chaotic season owing to injuries and mechanical failures.

So 2013 promises lots of great things, with a very homogeneous list of riders!
We can predict a lot of tough fights and plenty of great races.

Text : Lydia ROBIN
Pics : Lydia ROBIN