Mathieu Trésarrieu has one hand on his second gold medal after dominating Final 4 of the FIM Long Track World Championship in front of 3,500 spectators at his local track in Morizès on Saturday. He won his third consecutive final adding another 21 points to his total and increasing his lead over his nearest rivals by the same amount.
Trésarrieu dropped only one point in the qualifying races, to rival Romano Hummel in a tough Heat 8 but both riders passed directly into the final as the two leading scorers. The final itself was a disappointment for defending champion Hummel who was only able to finish in fourth place missing the opportunity to close the gap between himself and the Frenchman who is in tremendous form this year.
Chris Harris retains his second place despite finishing last in the final. He had struggled in the qualifiers and had to fight his way into the final through the Last Chance Heat. British hero of the day was former European Champion Zach Wajtknecht who finished in second place and achieved his first podium place in the competition.
Lukas Fienhage continued his progress with a third place in the final and is still a medal prospect even if the world championship is beyond his grasp. Theo Pijper’s consistent form brought him another 11 championship points but he is pushed into sixth place by Wajtknecht.
With two meetings remaining in this year’s series the leading riders are:
1. Mathieu Trésarrieu (France) 78 points; 2 Chris Harris (Great Britain) 57; 3. Romano Hummel (Netherlands) 52; 4.Lukas Fienhage (Germany) 50; 5.Zach Wajtknecht (Great Britain) 46; 6.Theo Pijper (Netherlands) 43; 7. Hynek Stichauer (Czech Rep) 33; 8. Jacob Bukhave (Denmark) 33.
Riders and draw for Final 5 in Vechta next weekend have yet to be announced but we hope to be able to preview this meeting in the next few days.
Earlier in the day in Morizès, Italian Matteo Boncinelli had increased his lead in the FIM Flat Track World Championship by winning the second round.
Report by FIM/Graham Brodie – Feature Image courtesy of FIM