Erik Riss is the 2016 World Long Track champion. He regained the title that he first won in 2014 with an immaculate seven ride maximum in the final round in front of a big crowd in Vechta on Saturday evening to end the series with a 21 point cushion ahead of Jannick de Jong.
It had not been the best of weeks for de Jong the outgoing champion; he surrendered his European title last weekend when falling in the final and in Vechta he saw his chances of retaining his World Championship slip away as Riss forged a series of heat wins. It was as early as Heat 9 that De Jong was forced to concede the end of his tenure as champion and he reluctantly accepted more silver to add to his medal collection.
Frenchman Mathieu Tresarrieu secured the bronze medal by the slimmest of margins beating Theo Pijper into fourth place despite the Dutchman’s heroic efforts in the Final that also relegated Dmitri Berge to fifth place. Tresarrieu had started the meeting with an 11-point cushion ahead of Pijper but suffered a broken hand in a fall in Heat 10 and was forced to withdraw from the meeting allowing the Dutchman to close the gap. Tresarrieu had to endure the final from a distance as Pijper failed to beat de Jong into the second place that would have secured him a run off for third place overall.
Dmitri Berge was brought down to earth following his spectacular victory in the Speedway Under-21 meeting in Pardubice on the previous day. Unlike Riss who was also racing there, the journey from the Czech Republic may have had an effect on his performance but his meagre 5-point return was his lowest of the season and relegated him out of medal contention.
Britain’s Richard Hall experienced his least successful meeting of the series and was unable to haul himself into a podium position. A retirement in his semi final removed any remaining possibility of a medal. Fellow Brits Andrew Appleton and Glen Phillips had by contrast their best meetings with both reaching the semi final stage and Phillips securing the eighth place in the final classification which will guarantee automatic entry into next years field.
Josef Franc was the other rider to claim a place in the top eight with a fighting 15 points including fourth place in the Final.
Final Classification:
•Erik Riss (Germany) 122
•Jannick de Jong (The Netherlands) 101
•Mathieu Tresarrieu (France) 84
•Theo Pijper (The Netherlands) 83
•Dmitri Berge (France) 81
•Richard Hall (Great Britain) 61
•Josef Franc (Czech Republic) 55
•Glen Phillips (Great Britain) 46
So it was a jubilant Riss who claimed the applause of the crowd as he was presented with his second gold medal. The son of long track legend Gerd he has expressed a desire to concentrate more on his speedway career but he clearly has the talent to be the king of the long tracks and at 21 years old will surely collect more titles in future years. Graham Brodie