The FIM Long Track World Championship Challenge takes place this coming Sunday (16 June) at Mühldorf in Germany where twenty-two riders from seven nations will assemble, all with one common goal.
At stake for the top five finishers is a permanent place behind the tapes for the 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship and with such a valuable prize on offer you can be certain that the racing will be close, competitive and extremely hard fought.
With only the top six finishers in the 2024 FIM Long Track World Championship guaranteed an automatic starting position next season along with three wild card riders chosen by the FIM, the Challenge event always attracts a large number of this year’s title challengers hoping to fast-track their 2025 ambitions and Sunday’s line-up is no different with twelve riders who raced at last month’s opening round at Herxheim on the starting list.
Heading the entry is Britain’s Zach Wajtknecht who was second behind defending champion Martin Smolinski at Herxheim. The twenty-six-year-old construction engineer was a silver medallist in 2022 and missed out on bronze last season on a tie-break with Denmark’s Kenneth Kruse Hansen, another rider who will be in action on Sunday.
Wajtknecht’s compatriot Chris Harris, who won the 2023 Challenge at La Réole in France and was second in last year’s championship, will also compete alongside two-time champion Erik Riss from Germany along with other 2024 series regulars including Jacob Bukhave from Denmark, the Czech Republic’s Hynek Stichauer and Dutchman Dave Meijerink.
Meijerink earned his place behind the tapes this year at the 2023 Challenge, as did Britain’s Andrew Appleton and fast Frenchman Jordan Dubernard who will all compete at Mühldorf.
Riders racing for a place in next year’s championship who were not in action at Herxheim include young Frenchman Mathias Trésarrieu. The son of 2009 title contender Stéphane and nephew of 2022 champion Mathieu, he failed to make the cut in last year’s Challenge and will be aiming to follow in his family’s famous footsteps on Sunday.
A championship regular from 2016 to 2020, two-time Finnish national champion Jesse Mustonen will be hoping to use Mühldorf as a springboard to return to the sport’s elite and strong performances are expected from, among others, Mika Meijer from the Netherlands, the Czech Republic’s Jan Macek and home heroes Stephan Katt and Daniel Spiller.
The action at the Rennbahn Mühldorf, which is situated less than an hour’s drive from Munich, is scheduled to get under way with the first Heat at 14:00 local time. For more information click here.