The 2018 FIM Long Track World Championship is moving towards an exciting climax as the penultimate round takes place in The Netherlands on the 625m grass track in Eenrum.
Dimitri Bergé who has returned this year to the Long Track championship leads the classification with a slender 4 point lead over fellow Frenchman and current World Champion Mathieu Trésarrieu. Martin Smolinski moved into third place after his comprehensive unbeaten win in Roden in Final 3 last month.
James Shanes using a Jawa engine took a resounding win in the recent international meeting in Melsungen, Germany beating a strong field including Smolinski and could repeat the result in Eenrum, a track that he favours having won the equivalent meeting here last year.
Henry van der Steen had to give the Wild Card spot to Dave Meijerink after suffering 2 broken collarbones during an open meeting in Germany last Saturday. Veteran Theo Pijper will provide a Dutch presence sadly missing rising star Romano Hummel who misses the remainder of the season due to injury.
Michael Härtel who is still recovering from the injuries he sustained in La Reole in June, will be replaced by fellow German and substitute Max Dilger.
Leading scorers after Final 3 are:
1. Dimitri Bergé (France), 63
2. Mathieu Trésarrieu (France), 59
3. Martin Smolinski (Germany), 57
4. Josef Franc (Czech Republic), 52
5. James Shanes (Great Britain), 45
6. Bernd Diener (Germany), 35
7. Theo Pijper (Netherlands), 34
8. Richard Hall (Great Britain), 31
The Start List and Draw for the meeting can be found by following this link
For fans planning to make this a grass track weekend there will be a full programme of events in Eenrum starting on Saturday with National, junior and veterans races as well as a sidecar event during Sunday’s programme. FIM officials for this meeting will be Christian Bouin from France as Jury President and German Christian Froschauer Referee. Racing on Sunday will start at 13.30 local time and can be followed live on the FIM You Tube channel.
Graham Brodie, for FIM