The third Final of the Long Track Championship takes place at the Reiterwaldstadion in Vechta next weekend where the AC Vechta Club are the hosts at a ‘Sandbahnfest’ which includes the FIM 250cc Long Track Youth Gold World Cup as well as some spectacular sidecar races.
In the main event the chase for the title has been thrown wide open by the withdrawal through injury of former champion, Sweden’s Joonas Kylamakorpi who leads the table after the opening two rounds but sustained spinal injuries in a Danish Speedway League meeting last month. Although he has full movement and there will be no long term damage, he will not race again during the 2015 season. For the 35 year old recovery is now the most important issue and he must watch from the outside as his chances of a fifth world title vanish for this year.
Defending champion Erik Riss is now in a strong position to repeat his 2014 success and although his local fans will be expecting him to move to the top of the table he leads three times European Champion Jannick De Jong by only one point. The Dutchman was a title contender throughout the 2014 series, losing his grasp of the gold medal only in the last race of the season to finish in the runner up position. At 28 years of age he feels that his time may now have arrived so is determined to go one better this year. His results this weekend will have a significant bearing on the destiny of the championship but veteran Théo Pijper sits only three points behind him and it would be foolish to ignore him as a possible medallist.
Kylmakorpi is replaced by another young German prospect, Kai Huckenbeck already a confirmed starter for next season as a result of his success in the Challenge Round earlier this year. Despite a disappointing 14th place in the previous round in Eenrum he is confident of a better performance on the 535 metre Vechta track where his speedway experience should prove an advantage.
This meeting sees the return from injury of Matthew Tresarrieu whose championship chances disappeared when he was forced to miss the second round. He may no longer be a contender for the title but will have a point to prove and will be as competitive as ever. Brother Stéphane recovered from a disappointing first final and with young Dmitri Berge regaining the form which marked him a serious contender last year all three will hope to be in a strong position for the final round on home soil in Morizes next week.
Great Britain’s best prospects lie with Richard Hall whose results this year to date have been erratic. However, his match-winning performance in the Team Final and a 15 point haul in Eenrum suggest that a podium place at the end of the series could still be within his grasp and a good score here would place him in a good position for the Morizes meeting which he won last year.
Leading Scorers after Round 2:
Riding No RiderCountryPoints
1 610 Joonas Kylmakorpi Sweden 46
2 47 Erik Riss Germany 37
3 2 Jannick de Jong Netherlands 36
4 115Théo PijperNetherlands 33
5 96Dmitri BergeFrance 30
6 444 Joseph Franc Czech Republic 27
7 4Richard HallGreat Britain 20
The draw for start positions will be made at the track before practice on Saturday afternoon at 14.00.
Racing on Sunday starts at 14.00 with the FIM Long Track Youth Gold Trophy where Britain’s Kyle Bickley will be aiming to add this title to the 125cc Gold Trophy that he won again earlier this year in the Czech Republic. Racing for the Long Track Final begins at 19.00 and includes the sidecar support races.
FIM Jury President will be Christian Bouin from France and Britain’s Chris Durno the Referee.
Starting List:
Rider No. FNM Nat
1 Erik Riss 47 DMSB Germany
2 Jannick de Jong 2 KNMV Netherlands
3 Kai Huckenback 20. DMSB Germany
4 Richard Hall 4 ACU Great Britain
5 Mathieu Tresarrieu 5 FFM France
6 Stefan Katt 42 DMSB Germany
7 Stéphane Tresarrieu. 27 FFM France
8 Dirk Fabriek 94 KNMV Netherlands
9 Jörg Tebbe 21 DMSB Germany
10 Théo Pijper 115 KNMV Netherlands
11 Dimitri Berge 96 FFM France
12 Josef Franc 444 ACCR Czech Republic
13 Andrew Appleton 19 ACU Great Britain
14 Glen Phillips 18 ACU Great Britain
15 Michael Härtel WC DMSB Germany
16 Bernd Diener Res DMSB Germany
17 Bernd Dinklage Res DMSB Germany