The world’s leading riders in the highly specialised sport of Long Track converge on Morizès in the south-west of France this coming Saturday (7 September) for the 2024 FIM Long Track of Nations (LToN) powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann, the annual event staged to determine the discipline’s dominant country.
- The Netherlands defend FIM Long Track of Nations title in France
- Germany aims to establish dominance for a tenth time
- Can Great Britain race to first victory since 2015?
Following its incredibly popular victory on home soil in Roden last year, the team from the Netherlands starts the day as defending champions, but six other nations will also be determined to have a say in the final destination of the coveted crown and the Dutch will field just one member of its victorious four-rider squad from 2023.
That man is Mika Meijer who is also the only Dutch team member to contest any rounds of this season’s FIM Long Track World Championship. With Romano Hummel, Dave Meijerink and Jannick de Jong replaced by Henry van der Steen, Rene van Weele and Lars Zandvliet, Meijer – who is currently seventh in the individual championship standings – knows winning a fourth title will be a tough challenge.
However, while Germany has a proven track record as a LToN powerhouse with nine victories since the event was first established in 2007 and two wins from the last five editions, its team is also dramatically changed from 2023 when the German quartet was narrowly beaten into second. The one constant is Erik Riss, a two-time individual FIM Long Track World Champion who helped steer his nation to LToN glory in 2022, who will be joined behind the tapes by Lukas Fienhage, Max Dilger and Daniel Spiller.
Dilger and Spiller are both experienced riders with Dilger part of Germany’s winning 2022 team, but with 2023 FIM Long Track World Champion and current series leader Martin Smolinski not in the line-up the pressure will be on Lukas Fienhage – the 2020 individual world champion and another member of the victorious 2022 team – to perform.
A fighting third last season, Great Britain won the LToN in 2015, but is still hunting for a second title – although this so far fruitless search could very well change on Saturday. Fielding Zach Wajtknecht, Chris Harris and Andrew Appleton from last year’s team that won bronze, Edward Kennett replaces Paul Hurry in the sole line-up change.
Wajtknecht, Harris and Appleton – a member of the winning 2015 team who also contested the first edition of the LToN in Morizès in 2007 – are currently packing the individual top-ten with Wajtknecht and Harris third and fourth while Kennett represented his nation in the competition as far back as 2017 so on paper at least Great Britain must start as a hot tip for a medal.
After finishing fourth last year, Finland will once again field Tero Aarnio, Henri Ahlbom and Jesse Mustonen while France is relying on the father and son team of Stéphane and Mathias Trésarrieu along with Dimitri Bergé and Jordan Dubernard.
There is also hard-earned experience in the Danish team where Kenneth Kruse Hansen and Jacob Bukhave are joined by Patrick Kruse while the Czech Republic will field Hynek Stichauer, Jan Macek and Daniel Klima.
The action at Morizès is due to get under way with the first Heat at 21:00 local time.
All 2024 Finals along with the FIM Long Track of Nations can be watched LIVE on FIM-MOTO.TV for just €34.90. To sign up click here. For more information on the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann click here.
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Words by FIM Long Track – Images by Jesper Veldhuizen
