Grass Track

FIME European Solo semi-final at Royal Leamington SPA #93 – Ex Double European Champion James Shanes - Pictures by Jesper Veldhuizen Midshires Grass Track Club are set to host one of the biggest Grass Track events in UK this Sunday as they play host to the second FIME European Individual Grass Track Semi Final, where some of Europe’s best Grass Track racers are set to do battle at the Midland venue, near Royal Leamington Spa. From the 18 competitors taking part in the event on Sunday, just the top nine will qualify for the European Final, which will be held in Bad Hersfeld, Germany on 17th August. With three English riders already safely through to the Final from the first semi-final held at the beginning of the month, British hopes are extremely high for this year’s competition being held on home turf with seven British riders hoping to flood August’s

European Individual Grass Track Championship SF1: the round in Germany Photo credit: Jesper Veldhuizen The 2019 European Individual Grass Track Championship got off to a great start with some very hard and competitive racing in front of about 4.000 spectators on an extremely hot day (29°) at the Leineweberring in Bielefeld in the north of Germany. The official start of the meeting was delayed by ¾ hour due to work undertaken by the track maintenance team (watering, rolling and grading), to try and combat the dusty conditions experienced during practice. The event finally got underway on the very fast 700 metre oval, and racing was fast and furious, producing both exciting and close racing in a number of the qualifying heats. In the Final, English Chris Harris, who was unbeaten up to this point, joined two German riders (Diener and Dilger) two Czech Republic riders (Malik and Franc) and the

European Individual Grass Track Championship SF1: all eyes on Bielefeld German rider Bernd Diener – one of the favourites for Sundays FIME European Individual Grass Track Semi Final 1 - (Photo courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen) Bernd Deiner is part of a strong trio of home riders as Germany plays host to the first Semi Final of the FIME European Individual Grass Track Championship at Bielefeld on Sunday. The veteran, who turns 60 later this month, won this crown as far back as 1999, but the fact he will arrive hot-foot from the first round of this year’s FIM World Long Track Championship at Herxheim is tribute to not just his longevity, but his consistency too. Deiner will be joined at the tapes by fellow countrymen Jorg Tebbe and Max Dilger. Like Deiner, Tebbe is a vastly experienced campaigner who will be bidding to reach the final for the 12th time,