Defending champion Ervin Krajčovič (KTM) raced to a vital victory at round five of the 2024 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo, Blackburst and HKC Koopmann on home ground at Pardubice in the Czech Republic this afternoon and in the process kept his title hopes alive.
- Ervin Krajčovič races to home win in Stadion Pardubice – Svítkov
- Sammy Halbert sees championship lead cut by three points
- Tim Neave and Kevin Corradetti now locked together in third
The start of a Grand Final is always adrenalin-charged, but competitors in the Stadion Pardubice – Svítkov had to endure six separate attempts before the afternoon’s main points-paying race could get away and it was stone-cold Krajčovič who kept his cool to win from America’s Sammy Halbert.
Trailing Halbert by ten points at the start of the day, Krajčovič’s first victory of the series – and the first ever by a homegrown Flat Track racer in Pardubice – has slashed the deficit to seven to set up a sensational showdown at the final round at Debrecen in Hungary in seven days’ time.
The Heat races were relatively incident-free with the first block sticking close to the formbook as double champion Lasse Kurvinen (KTM) from Finland, Krajčovič and Halbert all started with wins before the thirty-seven-year-old US star moved into a clear lead with his second consecutive victory.
Dropping a point to home rider Ondřej Svědík (Yamaha) in his second Heat pushed Kurvinen down to second with Krajčovič falling to third after finishing behind Halbert and Italian Giacomo Bossetti (GASGAS) as 2022 champion Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) picked up his first Heat win of the day – and only his second of the season – ahead of his Japanese team-mate Masatoshi Ohmori.
With only the top ten guaranteed a place in the Grand Final, tension was building and after watching Krajčovič win from Italian contender Matteo Boncinelli (Beta) and Svědík lead home Czech wildcard Vít Janoušek, Halbert dropped his first point of the programme when he was defeated by Kurvinen.
With just one block of Heats remaining it was Halbert and Kurvinen who shared the lead on twenty points – one clear of Krajčovič – with Svědík, Bailo and Boncinelli on seventeen points in a three-way tie for fourth.
Boncinelli swept to victory in his fourth Heat from Britain’s Jack Bell (Honda) before Krajčovič followed Britain’s Tim Neave (Yamaha) across the line and Halbert won from Kevin Corradetti (GASGAS) with all six riders joined in the Grand Final by Svědík, Kurvinen, Bailo and Ohmori.
Riders placed from eleventh to twentieth contested the Last Chance Heat with Czech wildcards Daniel Mandys and former FIM Superbike World Championship racer Oliver König finishing one-two to make the cut before twelve riders across two rows assembled for the Grand Final.
Lining up next to each other in the centre of the front row, Halbert and Krajčovič fired away from the line with the Czech rider in the lead, but the race was stopped when Boncinelli slid off and was relegated to the third penalty row for the restart which Bailo led before Halbert fell on the first bend.
The third restart saw Ohmori fall and he then lined up alongside Boncinelli for the fourth restart that also resulted in a red light when Bailo was adjudged to have jumped the start and demoted to the third row for the fifth restart which was also halted after Kurvinen and Boncinelli crashed.
Boncinelli was unable to make the sixth restart which Krajčovič led into the opening bend as Halbert attacked Neave for second. Kurvinen then pushed the British rider back to fourth on the back straight before Corradetti blasted past both for third, but there was no catching Krajčovič who punched the air as he took the chequered flag.
Halbert and Corradetti completed the podium ahead of Svědík, Kurvinen and Neave to set up a mouth-watering decider in Hungary with Halbert leading Krajčovič by seven points and Neave and Corradetti locked together a further twenty-two points off the pace in third, just two ahead of Kurvinen.
The 2024 FIM Flat Track World Championship concludes next Saturday (12 October) at Debrecen in Hungary with the action streamed LIVE on FIM-MOTO-TV.
For more information on the 2024 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo, Blackburst and HKC Koopmann click here.
Report and Images by FIM Flat Track
