FIM Europe News

Italian “triplette” in the other titles still to be assigned at Bilstain, Belgium, for the last round of the 2018 FIM Europe Trial Championship. Matteo Grattarola (Sembenini Montesa photo 1) is Champion in the Europe Class, the Junior Cup goes to Sergio Piardi (Beta photo 2) and the Over 40 Cup is propriety of Piero Sembenini (Montesa photo 3). It is the first time that 3 riders belonging to the same country triumph in all the three classes. What better place than the old area of Bilstain to celebrate this unusual event! Grattarola clinched his third Continental title and all on different bikes. In 2008 he gained the Junior Cup riding a Sherco 125cc, in 2012 he topped the Europe class on Gas Gas and now he brought home the 2018 title on a Montesa 4 stroke prepared by the Sembenini Nils team. Today he won easily, riding calmly strong

At the end of the second day, two French riders were back on top of the podium in the third round of the European Enduro Championship in Skövde, Sweden: Hugo Blanjoue and his KTM colleague Thomas Dubost are not only riding in the same KTM-team, but both are also personally good friends and fight against each other only in the special tests. Today Blanjoue was 23 seconds ahead after nine special tests and almost one hour of special stage time. With the third position Alessandro Battig defended his leadership in the overall standings, but Blanjoue is already close, at four points. "This weekend didn't go so well for me, I didn't feel so good on the loose ground and on the grass tests. And today I also fell twice," stated the Kawasaki rider from Italy. All three riders also won their classes: Blanjoue the Junior class E2/E3, Dubost the Junior

BELARUS Juniors 2-4 GERMANY Juniors Tough game for both teams. Germany wasted 11 meters penalty, a bit later Belarus did the same - Germany goalkeeper saved the ball. Germans had they second chance with one more 11 meters penalty and this time they did it well. Belarus answered in the second part of the game - scored a long range shot. In extra time Germany scored three beautiful goals, conceded one, and went to the finals. GAME LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xJUx7Shkao RUSSIA Juniors 4-0 FRANCE Juniors France juniors suffered another defeat from Russia again, but this time it was better performance from Les Bleus. Tomorrow they will be playing against Belarus for third place in this European Juniors Championship. GAME LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrwNdS-ja5o FRANCE 3-2 BELARUS From the beginning Belarus played good composed game and scored 2 goals from 16 meters free-kicks, while France answered with one in the first quarter. But just

The town of Divisov, Czech Republic hosted the European 125cc Youth Track Racing Cup, which was held in front of around 200 spectators. The meeting was run with sunny, warm weather. 19 riders took part to the event. Thanks to work of the local organizers, the track was ready for a perfect competition and the spectators could see a very good race. The winner was Jaroslav Vaniček ahead of Bruno Belan. Šachl Vojtĕch claimed 3th place after a brave attack on the last bend of the final heat when he defeated Sam McGurk (ACU). All the riders on the podium are from Czech Republic.

Everything according to forecasts in the first day in Bilstain (Belgium), during the fifth and final round of the European Women’s and Youths’ Championships. Titles were assigned to two Spanish riders: Berta Abellan (Vertigo, photo 1) and Martin Riobo (Gas Gas). More than seventy riders honoured these series taking part in this last round, even if not directly interested to place themselves in the high positions. The old and famous private area of Bilstain continues to reserve a particular appeal to all the Trial World, because also new generations know through tales and documents how many pages of history have been written on these rocks. Berta Abellan closed her championship with a victory, but she had hard time to get it. Only in the second part of the competition she recovered from a provisional third place, having scored 8 points. Better than her Norwegian Ingveig Hakonsen (TRS), whose score was

With a total of 160 participants from 13 different Countries, the parc fermé was filled with respectable numbers of riders. The prologue the evening before was simply evaluated as the first special stage of the first day of riding and was actually so short that there were no evaluation advantages. But more than 1.000 spectators from the city of Skövde took the opportunity to take a close look at Enduro. The main focus on Saturday was of course the cross-test on the ski slope, which was almost completely overlooked. After three months without rain this changed in the afternoon - during the last lap it started to rain which was especially good for the dust development. Frenchman Thomas Dubost (in the photo) had already laid the foundation for today's win, with a narrow victory in the prologue: in the end, the KTM-rider was eight seconds ahead of Ronny Kytönen from

RUSSIA Juniors 4-0 BELARUS Juniors Russian juniors showed that their level of the game goes feet to feet with their adult team. They are real contenders to the Champions title and their play gives a lot of good emotions to their supporters. GAME LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18z-q5epkgA FRANCE 2-2 GERMANY Superb defence from both teams was dominating in the first half of the game, and even if both teams had some good chances, the ball didn't go to net. Germany wasted an excellent chance in the third quarter, when their player went one-on-one with French goalkeeper, but later scores 11 meters penalty. Les Bleus replied in the last quarter, and they were really close to another one, but the ball hit the post and the luck wasn't on their side - Germany scored a beautiful close goal and France wasted a good chance to hit back. But France bravely fought till the

GERMANY Juniors 1-4 RUSSIA Juniors After a beautiful opening ceremony it was a pleasure for everyone in the stadium to watch the opening game of Juniors European Motoball Championship. Youngsters showed skillful game, full of good technical elements. The future looks bright for both teams, but Russia were one step ahead the whole game and earned their first victory. FRANCE Juniors 0-1 BELARUS Juniors Young players age was not a factor in this game. The teams showed high motivation to win, it was a tough fight. France player got a yellow card in the last part of the game and Belarus punished them with 11 meters penalty. FRANCE Juniors 0-2 GERMANY Juniors Both teams lost their first games and wanted to get their first points. The fight was really close, but it was Germans whose finishing was better and earned their first victory. It was nice to see France juniors

After the long Summer break, the European Enduro Championship is now entering its second half: from 10th to 12th of August, the competition will be held at Skövde (Sweden), where the third of a total of the four events from 2018 is scheduled. The paddock is centrally located, directly at the Arena Skövde. This is at the same time the place for the two time checks - the teams do not have to organize an additional support outside. The three laps start daily from 9:00 am, with three special stages to be competed in each case: Two cross tests and an enduro test, where the finish line is always right next to the starting area. For the first time ever in the European Championship, there will be held a prologue on Friday evening. More than 180 riders are competing in the different classes. In the overall Championship, Italian Alessandro Battig

The curtain is going to close on 2018 FIM Europe Championships and Cups in one of the most famous venue in the Trial world; the private area of Bilstain in Belgium, theater of important world events in the Eighties. Lately back in the scene as last year with two different rounds of the same championship, Bilstain is again ready to give its support. The place is very convenient for spectators: it is possible to watch all the sections in almost one square km and the big natural rocks – where the sections are drawn - are always challenging enough to ensure a high quality show. This year all the classes are going to be present. On Saturday Women and Youths, on Sunday Europe, Junior and Over40. Following the chronological order, the best trial female riders will be the first to start. Spanish Berta Abellan (Vertigo, photo1) seems to be very