Long Track: Weather wins in Holland

It was a disappointing weekend for Long Track riders, officials and fans as rain caused the abandonment and eventual cancellation of the Final 3 in Eenrum. Some 2500 spectators including FIM President Vito Ippolito had optimistically braved the elements to see what had promised to be one of the best Long Track meetings of the season so far but they were sent home without a result as the heavens opened to bring proceedings to a premature end.

The meeting had started with some excellent racing and the battle between Jannick de Jong and Erik Riss in the first race seemed to be a good omen for a memorable afternoon’s action but after Heat 6 with heavy rain falling the meeting was halted. After about an hour the rain stopped and track staff battled gamely for another 60 minutes to repair the racing surface before a further torrential downpour rendered their work in vain.

At the end of Heat 6 a very fast de Jong had earned 8 points with Cameron Woodward, Katt and Kylmakorpi on 7 and Riss and David Howe 6 points each. However, none of these scores will register in the championship standings as the meeting had not reached the half way stage, the point needed to allow the meeting result to stand.

With further bad weather predicted for Monday and Tuesday there was no prospect of the meeting being restaged and the FIM Jury took the decision to cancel the meeting completely. It is unlikely that an alternative date will be found in this year’s busy calendar in which case the series will be restricted to two further events, at Morizes in France and Herxheim, Germany.

So at the half-way point of this year’s competition the leading riders are:
1. Jannick de Jong The Netherlands, 43
2. Erik Riss, Germany, 38
3. Mathieu Tresarrieu, France, 34
4. Joonas Kylmakorpi, Sweden, 33
5. Stephan Katt, Germany, 28
6. Richard Hall, Great Britain, 25
7. Josef Franc, Czech Republic, 22

A preview of the Morizes round on September on 13th September will appear here when the draw is made.