Press

FIM Europe President Dr Wolfgang Srb, the Deputy President Martin de Graaff, the Vice President  Juhani Halme and the Secretary General Alessandro Sambuco attended the European Snowmobile Enduro Cup “Giant”, which was held this weekend at Kemijärvi, in Finland. In the picture from left, Juhani Halme, FIM Europe Vice President, Alessandro Sambuco, FIM Europe Secretary General, Santtu Sorsa, winner of the Junior Class, Tommi Haavikko, winner of the Veteran Class, Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe Deputy President, Hanna Pihlajaviita, winner of the Women Class, Henri Marttinen winner of the Senior Class and of the overall and Dr Wolfgang Srb, FIM Europe President. All results on FIM Europe website: www.fim-europe.eu/events/305

The European Snowmobile Enduro Cup was held this weekend at Kemijärvi, in Finland. In the Junior Class, the winner was Santtu Sorsa, from Finland, in front of his compatriot Iivari Klemola. In the Senior Class, Henri Marttinen won before Mikko Hämäläinen and Tero Lokka. In the Veteran Class, Jukka Nyberg is the winner in front of Tommi Haavikko and Risto Kainulainen. In the Women Class, Hanna Pihlajaviita won before Katariina Junnila and Jonna Simontaival. All the riders on the podium are from Finland. All results on FIM Europe website: www.fim-europe.eu/events/305

In the weekend from Friday 10th to Sunday 12th March, the follow­ing European races will be held: 10-11 March - European Snowmobile Enduro Cup at Kemijärvi/Finland.

A meeting was held on 2 March at the brand-new modern headquarters of OEAMTC (Oesterreichischer Automobil-, Motorrad- und Touringclub) in Vienna between top representatives from ADAC (Allgemeiner Deutscher Automobil-Club e.V.) and FIM Europe, following the last meeting held in November 2014 in Munich. From left: FIM Europe President Wolfgang Srb, ADAC Sports President Hermann Tomczyk, Director of Motorsport and Classic Thomas Voss, Head of Motorcycle Racing and Motorcycle Coordination Dieter Porsch Various areas of cooperation have been discussed as well as a general evaluation of current activities in Road Racing, Motocross, Supercross, SuperMoto, Track Racing, Enduro and Trial was carried out. ADAC is the largest automobile club in Europe with around 19 million members and holds important sport activities in car racing as well as motorcycles. The national motorcycle Federation of Germany is the DMSB (Deutscher Motor Sport Bund e. V.). OEAMTC is among the largest clubs in Europe with

The Day2 of the European Individual Ice Speedway Final was held today at Ufa, in Russia. The day started again with a snowstorm what ended before the first heat. The temperatures have been just below zero today. An exciting fight for the first position between Solyannikov and Ebner started in heat one so spectators could see the high level of this meeting. Yesterday’s fourth placed Max Niedermaier faced a disqualification in his opening ride and could only make it to the C Final today. So the challenge to the Russian riders was left to Harald Simon and Charly Ebner, both from Austria. Simon was disqualified in his final heat, and his challenge for the title ended, but he did enough to secure his fourth place overall in the Championship. Ebner raced in the A final today and crashed in this heat, but this was enough to secure him fifth place overall

The European Individual Ice Speedway Final was held today at Ufa, in Russia. The meeting was held on a professional level and 3100 spectators watched an exciting meeting with lot of overtakings and fights for first positions. Current European Nr 3 Harald Simon faced a disqualification in his first heat so he had to stop at the B final today. Grand Prix rider Max Niedermaier managed to take 2 heat wins and with 11 points he was in the A final, together with 5 times heat winner, local hero and current European Champion Nikolay Krasnikov. Second position for Eduard Krysov, after a hard fight with Krasnikov. Third position for young Dmitry Solyannikov. Before the start of the meeting a little snowstorm was over the stadium but it cleared right before the start of the first heat. The staff worked on a high level to provide a good racing track so spectators

Photos @John Chatterton-Ross - The decision in the Vnuk case* has serious implications for the future of motorcycle sport in Europe. FIM Europe has learned that action is expected in the next six weeks with publication by the EU Commission of draft amendments to the Motor Insurance Directive. Welcome news is that this will be done specifically to address the problems raised by the Vnuk judgment and overall revision of the Directive will be kept separate. As the EU institutions will have to agree, a full process will be required with public consultation, impact assessment and approval by the EU Parliament. So how did we reach this position? The case had nothing to do with motorcycle or motor sports. Mr Vnuk was injured in a fall from a ladder in a farmyard when the ladder was struck by a trailer pulled by a tractor – an industrial accident. Mr Vnuk

In the weekend from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th February, the follow­ing European races will be held: 25-26 February - European Individual Ice Speedway Championship - Final at Ufa/Russia

Victor Arbekov, the 1965 250cc Motocross World Champion, passed away on the early morning of February, 18 at the age of 74. FIM Europe received the sad news as well as the text below from the Motorcycle Federation of Russia. "Victor Arbekov, honored master of sports, honored coach of the USSR, the First USSR Motocross World champion. At the age of 17 he won the USSR championship in the 125 cc. Next year he repeated his success. At the age of 19, being already master of sports and a famous motocross rider, he was drafted into the army; he was in the CSKA team. From 1961 to 1968 he was a member of the USSR team. In 1965 on a motorcycle CZ-250 Victor Arbekov won the gold medal of the World Championship and became the first Russian rider, who won the title of World Champion. Then his main competitor, the

In this issue, all the updates about the FIM Europe activities and in particular, the analysis of the 2017 season by Alessandro Sambuco, Martin de Graaff, Silvio Manicardi and John Chatterton-Ross, the Non-Sporting Council at Fiumicino, a focus on the European Quality Label, the report of the Advanced Course in Motorcycling Management with the FIM CEO, the FIM Europe at the European Parliament and, finally, Touring Activities, with the journey of Rodolfo Romeo and Moto Club Roma from Italy to Kavala, in Greece.