Riss closes in on title

Germany’s Erik Riss has one hand on the FIM Long Track World Championship trophy after another strong performance in Final 4 at Morizes in France on Saturday. His 24 points stretch his lead in the competition to 16 leaving the following pack a proverbial mountain to climb in the last meeting of the series. Looking strong throughout, he dropped only one point during the qualifiers to local star Dmitri Bergé.
 
Berge was the winner of the round and did his own medal hopes no harm by racking up the same number of points as Riss and hauling himself into third place overall ahead of compatriot Mathieu Tresarrieu.

Current champion Jannick De Jong saw his chances of retaining the title slip further away when he finished last in the Final and with only one heat win during the qualifying races was able to take only 16 points from the meeting. He retains his second spot in the standings but the battle for the minor medal places continues and the Dutchman is by no means guaranteed a place on the podium.

Veteran Theo Pijper took third place in the Final to record his best score of the series and still retains a slight possibility of a medal but Richard Hall’s chances left him when he crashed out of his semi final race and his 15 points now leaves him well adrift of the leading pack.    

Josef Franc continues to fly the flag for the Czech Republic but his performance was hampered by a fall and disqualification in his second race. Aki-Pekka Mustonen’s yo-yo season continues and the Finn failed to add to his score despite this confidence boosting performance in the last round and Stephan Katt took no part in the racing due to an ankle injury sustained in a practice crash with Gabriel Dubernard who was able to race after hospital treatment.

Current leading scores after four rounds:
•Erik Riss (Germany) 94
•Jannick De Jong (Netherlands) 78
•Dimitri Bergé (France) 76
•Mathieu Tresarrieu (France) 74
•Theo Pijper (Netherlands) 63
•Richard Hall (Great Britain) 51

The Final round of the series takes place in Vechta, Germany in two weeks time. 

Graham Brodie