Having opened his campaign with a strong second in the first Final of the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann at Herxheim in early May – a result he then repeated at last month’s FIM Long Track World Championship Challenge – it is safe to say that British contender Zach Wajtknecht is feeling confident heading into the second of this year’s five Finals this coming Saturday night (13 July) at Marmande in France.
The twenty-six-year-old construction engineer chased home Germany’s defending champion Martin Smolinski in Herxheim’s Waldstadion to get his season off to a solid start, but he knows he needs to keep gathering points if he is going to remain in contention for the crown at the end of the season.
“It’s always tough because you need to be consistent,” he said. “Last year Martin didn’t win a round, but he managed to make every Grand Final and that’s the level you have to be at. I need to stay injury-free and make the Grand Final at every round and, obviously, the end goal is to win. That’s what everyone in the championship wants to do.”
A silver medallist in 2022 after winning the last two Finals of the season, Wajtknecht started last year strongly before a mid-season dip in form effectively ended his hopes of striking gold, despite a good showing at the series’ finale.
“I was a little bit disappointed with last year. I had an injury at the second round – although I still managed to make the Grand Final – and I had a few other problems last year, but managed to pick it up for the final round. Obviously, it was too late by then.”
An accomplished Speedway and Grass Track rider, Wajtknecht’s sole focus is now firmly set on Long Track and the former FIM 250cc Long Track Youth World Cup winner feels he has all the parts of the puzzle in place to challenge for the 2024 title.
“I have good engines from Peter Johns – I’ve been with him for quite a few years now – and my frames are from Trak Plus who I’ve been with since I was a child. After you’ve had a few years racing Long Track you work out what equipment you need and now I’ve got the experience I know what set-up I need to run. Knowing what you need – things like choosing the right sprocket – makes life ten times easier and I’m very happy with my equipment. Minor things can make a big difference.”
With his Challenge result assuring him of a place behind the tapes in the 2025 series, Wajtknecht now feels free to put all his energy into this year’s title fight and he is eagerly anticipating Saturday night’s event in the south-west of France where he finished third in 2023.