European FIM Championships Round 1 at Santa Pod Raceway May 26-29th
The opening round of the 2023 European FIM Championships starts this coming Bank Holiday weekend.
Top Fuel Bike.
Rikard Gustafsson won the title at the last round of the
championship here at Santa Pod. He is the championship speed record holder and
will be one of the favourites for this years championship. Rene Van Den
Berg led the championship for most of last season, only for a belt to break
during round one of the eliminations. He will be keen to get that title
this season. Neil Midgley has had a great start this season winning the
two opening rounds of the ACU Championships and this bike is the second
quickest in the world 5.662. Al Smith rides the only three cylinder powered
nitro burning fuel bike in the world. Smith has run into the five-second zone
last year. There are some quick Funny Bikes competing in the class. Stuart
Crane Europe’s quickest and fastest Funny Bike in the championship
6.321-213mph. Eric Richard new bike has run 6.58-206 and Thomas Pettersson 6.52
and Mark Smith 6.75.
Pro Stock Bike.
Martin Newbury won his first championship last year and has
one of the quickest bikes 7.05-194mph. Bertrand Maurice a former champion will
be the main challenger to Newbury this season. Martin Bishop has been racing in
this class for many years and won this event last year. Aswin Le Noble reached
the final of this event last year in his debut season.
SuperTwins.
Marcus Christiansen was the first European rider to run
230mph plus here at Santa Pod and will be the rider to beat for the 2023
championship. Vesa Lipponen became the first V Twin rider in the world to run a
five second pass 5.92. Former champion Martijn De Haas is still learning about
his new bike and will be looking to run in the 6.4secs zone or quicker this
year. Chris Van Nimmen made his debut last season to the class and suffered oil
pressure issues, but at the last round of the ACU Championship ran best figures
of 7.0-192.
Super Street Bike.
Daniel Lencses has a stunning season last year recording
figures of 6.5secs 226mph at this track. Alan Morrison Jr has been in the
winners circle in both ACU and FIM Championships has run 6.767-223mph. Former
champion Steve Venables is still the man to beat 6.6-226mph and has been very
successful at this track. Mogens Lund has been a top three finisher in the championship
for the last few seasons and has won at this track. Mathias Bohlin is another
6.7sec runner and could win this event. Ross Morrison has made a lot of changes
this season and ran his first 6 second-pass and there is still more to come
from the bike.
Report by Steven Moxley