Press

The 8th round of the Superstock 600 European Championship series and the 9th round of the KTM European Junior Cup were held this weekend in Nuerburgring (Germany). In the Superstock 600 cc the Qualifying practice on Friday and Saturday was running under very good weather condition, sunny and not so hot. Fastest was the Dutch rider Michael Van der Mark with new track-record 2:02.677. The Belgian Rider G. Duwelz crashed in the sighing lap so the 3th place on the grid was free. The race saw the victory of Dutch rider Michael Van der Mark (Honda), followed by Italian Riccardo Russo (Yamaha) and Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha). Thanks to this victory Van der Mark managed to overtake Russo and is now leading the provisional rankings with 169 points. Next round is scheduled on the 23rd of September in Portimao (Portugal). The 6th round of this season for the Road Racing

The last rounds of the 125cc 2 stroke and the 250cc Motocross European Championships were held today in Faenza (Italy). The 125cc 2 stroke class was held without the already proclaimed 2012 European Champion Tim Gajser. In the first heat was won by Italian Simone Furlotti (Suzuki), followed by Latvian Pauls Jonass (KTM) and South African with British licence Nicholas Adams (KTM). In the second heat victory of Norwegian Magne Klingsheim (KTM), followed by Jonass and Furlotti. In the EMX250 class British Mel Pocock confirmed his strength and managed easily to become the new 2012 European Champion arriving fourth in the first heat and winning the last one when he already got the title. In the first heat the victory went to French Jordan Lacan (Kawasaki), in front of French Benoit Paturel (Kawasaki) and Italian Samuele Bernardini (KTM). In the second heat victory by Championship leader British Mel Pocock in

After the first round held in Zuera (Spain) in July, the second round was held in the tight technical Kartarena circuit just outside Cheb in the Czech Republic. By the end of the two sessions local Czech riders Martin Gbelec and Filip Salac were at the top of the qualifiers, almost a second in front of German Philip Freitag who headed the rest of the pack. The hot weather and the grippy surface were once again causing heavy tyre wear for the harder riders like Patrik Pulkinen from Finland and fresh tyres were the order of the day for the races. When the first race started all eyes were on a very relaxed Gbelec, comfortably leading the series. Already with a win in the German championship to his credit and having posted the fastest time in practice it seemed he was unstoppable in his quest to win the Honda NSF

Spanish Jaime Busto (Beta) and British Becky Cook (Beta) are the 2012 champion in the Youth and Women classes of the UEM Trials Championship. This third and final round was held at Zelhem (Holland) in a very well fitted artificial area under the sun and temperatures quite unusual at this latitude in September. Despite the dry terrain always favourable to Southern Europe riders, it was not Busto who made his third win in a row. He finished second, heavily beaten by German Franz Xaver Kadlec (Gas Gas), who scored in two laps only 7 points: less than half what all the other riders did in just one lap! Quite astonished for the German rider’s ability shown today, all his rivals competed only for the runner-up position. Busto after a first lap “so and so”, recovered very well and overtook Italian Gabriele Giarba (Beta), who finished even third in the championship,

The final of the UEM Under 21 Team Speedway Junior European Championship was held yesterday the 8th of September 2012 in the wonderful setting of Landshut in Bavaria (Germany) on a warm sunny evening. The race meeting which consisted of four teams from Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Denmark was very competitive and the young riders put up a great show of strength throughout the event. The 2500 spectators witnessed some very exciting racing with some of the heats being too close to call, with riders overtaking and re overtaking before the reaching the final flag. Once the scores were finalised and agreed, the new 2012 European Under 21 Team Speedway Champions were Poland, with 48 points, 2nd was Denmark with 41 points and Ukraine in third place. Everyone who attended the event agreed that it was a very good championship final with the young riders showing great determination and good

The second semi-final of the Pairs Speedway European Championship was held yesterday the 8th of September 2012 on the Hungarian track of Miskolc. The winners of the semi-final was the pair from Latvia: Anzejs Lebedevs and Kasts Puodzuks. The final is scheduled on the 22nd of September in Rivne (Ukraine). (UEM Press Release 138/2012)

The 2012 UEM Trials Championship is going to close down in the next weekend in the Dutch town of Zelhem, close to German borders, with two days rich of competitions. On a full artificial terrain, closed circuit, the organisers brought many rocks, even buying them abroad, from another famous venue in Germany. All the sections were fitted in a restricted area, easily reachable by the public. On Saturday on the scene, the very young riders and the women. For them it is the third round. Spanish Jaime Busto (Beta) is a hair's breadth away the title, having in his pocket two wins in the previous two rounds. More difficult to image the other podium positions. Equal chances go to Italian Gabriele Giarba (Beta), German Franz Xavier Kadlec, and British Iwan Roberts (Beta), all of them quite brilliant until now. Among the Women, if the world queen, Spanish Laia Sanz, won't

The 2nd round of the new competition in the UEM, called the “Hill Climb Road Racing”, was held on the beautiful Passo Zambla in the area of Gorno near Bergamo in Italy. In total 97 riders were present to race “up to the hill” for over 2290 meters of racing track and making an altitude of 181 meter. The track has 7 square corners to the right and 8 to the left. Also 3 over 180 degrees hairpins. The average speed is not over 80 km/h. The weather conditions were perfect so high in the mountains. All was very well organised run without any problems. (UEM Press Release 135/2012)

Italian Matteo Grattarola (Gas Gas) became European champion today at Isola 2000, Southern of France, very close to Italian border, in the coldest European round never held before! The two riders clinched the title in the Europe and Over 40 classes, respectively. The next and last round, expected in a week in Holland, will be decisive to assign the title in the Junior class. The weather in this wonderful mountain landscape, chosen for this fifth round played a bad joke to all the UEM Trials circus. It snowed the day before and the temperature was just few degrees above zero. Moreover it rained during part of the competition. Fortunately all the sections were fitted knowing in advance these very adverse weather conditions. Grattarola achieved his goal to be European champion, after having lost the title at the last round in the past two years. This season was fully dominated by

The All-Terrain Rally UEM Cup was held in 5 days from the 28th of August to the 2nd of September in Serres (Greece). The overall winners of this round were: Overall: Christian Pastori (ITA, Sherco) Class A: Vasillis Siafarikas (GRE, Honda) Class B: Christian Pastori (ITA, Sherco) Class C: Sandro Calesini (ITA, KTM) Class D: Takis Ionas (GRE, Kawa) (UEM Press Release 134/2012)