FIM Europe News

The European 85 cc Youth Speedway Cup was held at Vetlanda (Sweden) with 35 riders at the start. The event was held in a cloudy weekend, with some rain during the semifinals, while in the final day the weather was better, but windy. It was nice to see riders from 6 different Countries. The semifinal 1 was held with fine weather but during the semifinal 2, heavy raining started after heat 7. The staff did an excellent work and after one hour the meeting started again. In Final day the track condition was good and also the weather was good. The racing was very tight in the whole meeting and after 20 heats the re-run was held for second and third place. The winner was Marcus Birkemose, in front of Mathias Pollestad and Philip Hellström- Bängs. The Club personal did a perfect work during the whole weekend and the stadium

After the third round of European Enduro Championship which took place in Burg, Germany (close to Magdeburg) there is a new leader: the only 19 year old Matteo Pavoni from Italy (in the photo) took the pole in the overall championship after another total win at the second day. It wasn’t a perfect day for the KTM-rider, because a crash in the endure test costed him some seconds. But in the end he won in this strange and sandy conditions. Sand seems to be lucky for Pavoni, who snatched his title in the “under 20 class“ on the sandy ground of the European final 2016 in the Netherlands. This year climbing up into the Junior-E1-Class, from the 125 cc 2-stroke bike to the 250 cc 4-stroke KTM, he won both days the overall in Germany and took the pole in the Championship. Second position of the day for his fellow

Vaclav Milik was the best in the third round of the Speedway Euro Championship, which took place at Hallstavik, in Sweden, in front of around 2.500 spectators. On the podium also Andzejs Lebedevs and Andreas Jonsson. Latvian Lebedevs still is the leader of the general standing. This morning at 10:00, riders took part to the training. Unfortunately practise showed that Adrian Miedziński could not take part to the competition due to his arm injury, so the reserve rider Pontus Aspgren replaced him. In heat 2, Mateusz Szczepaniak and Martin Smolinski performed a great show. The German rider attacked "Szczepan" on the inside, which allowed him to overtake his rival and win first race in SEC 2017. The second series was good for Martin Smolinski too. "Smolly", despite bad start, tried to overtake his rivals. Finally he did it at the last corner, when Krzysztof Kasprzak and Andrey Kudryashov rode outside.

British Emma Bristow (Sherco, photo1) and French Hugo Dufrese (Gas Gas, photo2) are respectively the 2017 European champions in the Women and Youth classes, having both won the final round in the hottest Lazzate, Milan, Italy. With temperatures close to 40 Celsius degrees, the best females and the most promising young riders in the Trial world had their first challenge in trying to remain hydrated enough to have the strength to face sections almost on rocks, which the permanent Trial park area - chosen for this last round - offered. There were twelve sections all grouped together, about 2 km distant from the paddock, and it was very easy to watch all for the public present. All photos @Phototrial.it The women, first to start, showed soon they could ride without suffering too much the heat. Emma Bristow made some mistakes, because she started very early and, sometimes without adopting any

The SF2 of the European U21 Team Speedway Championship was held at Abensberg, in Germany, in front of 650 spectators. The meeting was run in hot conditions but in good timing. The even Danish team was dominant from the very beginning and won. The fight for the second place lasted throughout the whole meeting between Czech and Germans. Eventually the German team led by Michael Haertel not only finished second but scored enough points to qualify for the European Final in Krosno, which will be held on August 19th. Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/412 .    

The first day of the third round of European Enduro Championship took place at Burg (Germany), close to Magdeburg. The over 74 km long circuit was ridden three times in a row and included the three tests at every round. At the end the junior riders have had been successful in the overall result, also because of the heavy rain which arrived after their race. Italian Mateo Pavoni won the overall ranking with his KTM in front of French David Abgrall on Sherco and of his countryman Max Viall on Husqvarna. After them, Maurizio Micheluz in fourth place in the overall. Best local hero was the reigning German champion Dennis Schröter, in fifth position, who had lost over 15 seconds after a crash in the first Endurotest. Photo © Robert Pairan Swede Andreas Linusson won the Senior-E1-Class for the fifth time in a row, this time in front of the

Spanish motorcycling legend Angel Nieto sadly passed away on 3 August, after he succumbed to injuries sustained during a quad bike accident in Ibiza in late July. Angel Nieto Roldan was born on 25 January 1947 in Zamora, Spain. His brilliant career – which would see him clinch 13 World titles – or 12+1, as he used to say for superstitious reasons… – started in the mid-sixties when he joined the Derbi factory, first as a young mechanic, then as a rider alongside Spaniard José Busquets and Australian Barry Smith. In 1966 he took part in his first World Championship events and finished 9th overall in the 50cc World Championship thanks to a 5th place at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. The following year the performance of the Derbi improved a lot and he finished in 4th position, scoring points in four of six races and earning a brilliant

On the 5th and 6th of August the third round of the European Enduro Championship will take place at Burg, in Germany, close to Magdeburg. Like in Estonia, where the last round was held one month ago, the locality is plain, without mountains and hills. Nevertheless it includes a track longer than 80 km 95% offroad and will be physically tiring for the riders. The ground will be mostly sandy, in very bumpy woods with a lot of roots. This will be a small home-advantage fort German riders, who are used to all this conditions (here a round of German Championship is being held for 22 years and even this weekend the competition is valid for German Championship, too). Every three laps there will be a motocross test and two enduro-tests. In addition, there will be a show-start in the centre of the town on Saturday, in order to present

The final rounds of the FIM European championships are on the go in the upcoming week-end in Lazzate, near Milan, in Italy. About 160 riders have entered the two-day event, which will proclaim the winners in all the categories in these ever green series. Starting from Saturday on the scene, the best females Trial riders, some of them just coming from Arizona, since they rode few days ago two days of the FIM World Championship. Together with the Women, the youngest Trial riders, in the Youth class. Three times world champion British Emma Bristow (Sherco) and present leader with 285 points, cannot do any mistakes because her number one rival German Theresa Bauml (Beta, photo1) is just behind and having already beaten the number one in the last round in Latvia, will try to ride as good as she can to repeat her success. Between the two, Norwegian Ingveig Hakonsen

In the weekend from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th August, the follow­ing European races will be held: 5 August - Track Racing U21 Team Speedway European Championship at Abensberg/Germany 5 August – Track Racing European 85 cc Youth Speedway Cup at Vetlanda/Sweden 5 August - Individual Speedway Euro Championship at Hallstavik/Sweden 4-6 August – Mini Road Race European Championship at Franciacorta/Italy 4-6 August - Vintage Road Road Racing EC at Donington Park/Great Britain 4-5 August – Extreme Enduro Cup at Orebro/Sweden 5-6 August – EMX 125, 150 and 300 at Lommel/Belgium 5-6 August – Enduro European Championship at Burg/Germany 5-6 August – Trial European Championship, Women, Over 40 and Junior Cup at Lazzate/Italy