Reigning champion Martin Smolinski raced to a vital victory in the third Final of the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann to take an uncontested lead at the top of the points standings on home soil in the Eichenring Scheessel in northern Germany on Sunday.
- Defending champion Martin Smolinski opens up series lead on home soil
- Eichenring Scheessel hosts dramatic third Final of the season
- Lukas Fienhage moves ahead of Zach Wajtknecht into clear second
The thirty-nine-year-old from Munich, who started the programme tied for the series lead with his compatriot Lukas Fienhage and Britain’s Zach Wajtknecht, produced a champion’s performance to pull clear as the series hit the halfway mark with the third of five Finals scheduled for this season.
The German, who this season is aiming to make it a hat-trick of titles, beat Britain’s Chris Harris to lead after the opening block of Heat races alongside 2021 champion Romano Hummel from the Netherlands – who defeated Wajtknecht in the first race of the afternoon – and 2020 champion Fienhage, but dropped a point in his second Heat to the Dutchman.
This meant that following two blocks it was the unbeaten Hummel who led on his own by a point from Smolinski who was joined on seven by Harris, Wajtknecht and Fienhage who won last time out in France, but it was all change once everyone had completed three Heats each.
Smolinski raced to his second win of the programme ahead of German wildcard rider Stephan Katt while Wajtknecht beat Harris and Fienhage added another victory as Hummel trailed in third, meaning that the lead was now tied between Smolinski, Wajtknecht and Fienhage on eleven with Hummel and Harris just a point adrift.
Victories in their fourth Heats meant that Smolinski – who again beat Katt – and Wajtknecht, who triumphed over Finland’s Tero Aarnio, remained locked together at the top, one clear of Harris – who won again as Hummel recorded a no-score after pulling out with a mechanical issue – and two ahead of Fienhage who was third behind Smolinski and Katt.
With the top three earning an automatic transfer to the Grand Final and the next five fighting it out for the remaining two places behind the tapes in the programme’s deciding race via the Last Chance Heat (LCH), everything was resting on the fifth and final block of Heats.
Smolinski and Wajtknecht booked their places in the Grand Final when they finished one-two in their concluding Heat race and they were joined by Harris who made a last-lap pass on Dutchman Mika Meijer for his third win, but a crash in the second turn meant Fienhage was forced into the LCH and Denmark’s Kenneth Kruse Hansen – who was unbeaten at this fixture almost twelve months ago – went out, despite winning his fifth Heat, after struggling with machine issues in his opening two races.
Fienhage made no mistakes to lead Katt home in an LCH that saw the challenges from Hummel, Aarnio and Meijer come to an end before Smolinski put the seal on another victory, taking the holeshot in the Grand Final from the inside gate and claiming maximum points from Harris and Fienhage with Wajtknecht fourth from Katt.
The result means Smolinski now leads Fienhage by four points and Wajtknecht by six heading into the penultimate Final of the series that takes place in Vechta in Germany on 14 September.
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For more Information about the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann click here.
Race Report by the FIM – Images courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen
