FIM Europe News

Reigning European Champion Josh Goodwin (4) and William Matthijssen (1), in action at the 2014 FIME Sidecar Final High Easter in England                                                                                                                                Defending European Sidecar Grass Track champion Josh Goodwin will be aiming to retain his title at this weekend’s European Final, being staged at Vries in North Holland. The young 22 year old Englishman – together with his passenger Liam Brown – won the title on home soil at High Easter, England in 2014, but was unable to repeat their success last year, when the event was cancelled due to a tragic accident involving German Sidecar rider Stefan Muller who was fatality injured during official practice.However Dutch Sidecar ace William Matthijssen will be looking to take his forth

 From July 26th to 31st at Budel, in the Netherlands, the European Motoball Championship will be held. The national teams of the Netherlands, Russia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine will compete for the highest honor in Motoball. Motoball is a particular discipline, which mixes football and motorcycling and - curiosly - it is going to start shortly after the end of European Football Championship. Differently from the European Football series, which is held every four years, the European Motoball Championship is held every year. Invented in France in 1930, Motoball then developed towards eastern Europe and as far as Russia which holds by far the largest number of European wins, despite recent successes by Germany. Currently Motoball is played in Russia, Belarus, Ukraina, Lithuania, France, Netherlands and Germany. The record champion is Russia, but the last two European Championships were won by Germany. (2013 and 2015). In 2014, there was no international

The European U21 Team Speedway Championship Semi Final was held  at Daugavpils, in Latvia. Heavy rain before the meeting required  40 minutes for additional track preparation. In front of 4.000 spectators 18 riders and 4 teams met in spectacular heats, which saw Denmark winning in front of Czech Republic, with Latvia in third place and Norway in fourth.The run off decided Denmark will take part to the Final, to be held at Stralsund, in Germany, on August 28th.    

In cloudy and later sunny warm conditions Milan Sitniansky took his first win of the season in the S2 European championship. After the rain in the morning the first race of the day in the S2 class started under cloudy weather conditions. The organisation did a great job and prepared the off-road section so that it could be used for the race. When the light dropped it was TMS Honda rider Milan Sitniansky who took the holeshot, before Union Bike TM rider Giovanni Bussei who was back after his injury. Behind Bussei it was TM Factory Racing rider Diego Monticelli who took third place before current European championship leader Petr Vorlicek. Gazza Racing rider Luca Ciaglia completed the top five. The speed in the beginning of the race from Milan Sitniansky was very good and the Czech rider soon managed to get away from his opponents. In lap three disaster

Individual Speedway Euro Champioship was held at Güstrow, in Germany. Polish competitors Krzyszof Kasprzak and Przemyslaw Pawlicki and Slovakian Martin Vaculik were the point scorers from the beginning. There were some minor crashes from European champion Emil Saifudtinov, Krzyszof Kasprzak and Przemyslaw Pawlicki without any injuries, as well as one tape touching from Italian rider Covatti.Two riders crossed the inner line with two wheels: Hans Andersen and Nicki Pedersen and they got both a disqualification for this action.6500 spectators watched a brilliant and close race with lot of overtakings. Most of the times till the last lap it was not clear who would win this heat. During some track gradings there had were light showers, but during races it always was dry.Unfortunately after heat 20 heavy rain started: the Last Chance was run, but a few minutes later, the rain was heavy for the final. For safety reasons, the race was

At the circuit of Tor Poznan the fourth round of the S2 Championship is held this weekend. After a few days of bad and cold weather conditions the crowd enjoyed the practices in sunny and warmer conditions. In S2 it was Italian rider Diego Monticelli who was the fastest on his factory TM. The leader of the 2016 S2 European championship, Suzuki Grau rider Petr Vorlicek started his race weekend perfectly with the fastest time on the final lap in the first free practice in the S2 class. Behind the Czech rider it was his fellow countryman TMS Honda rider Milan Sitniansky who set the second fastest time 00.430 seconds behind Vorlicek. Third place was for Gazza Racing rider Luca Ciaglia in this first session. Diego Monticelli and Giovanni Bussei were placed back ten positions because of disrespecting the red crossed medical flag. After his race win in Busca TM

In the weekend from Saturday 16th to Sunday 17th July, the following European races will be held: 16 July - Individual Speedway Euro Championship at Güstrow/Germany 16-17 July - European U21 Team Speedway Championship at Daugavpils/Latvia16-17 July - Supermoto S2 European Championship at Poznan/Poland  

The final event of the EMX 65 and 85 North East Zone was organized at Stelpe, in Latvia, on a track surrounded by a forest. On Saturday qualifying races were held for both classes. In 65 class first position for Latvian Edvards Bidzans, in front of his compatriot Karlis Alberts Reisulis and of Russian  Kirill Vorobyev.In 85 class the first position was for Estonian rider Meico Vettik, before his compatriot Jorgen Matthias Talviku and Latvian rider Kristian Freimanis. EMX 65In Race1 the poleman Edvards Bidzans (LAT) was the winner. Behind him, podium for Kirill Vorobyov (RUS) and Aleksis Araids (LAT).Edvards Bidzans did the holeshot in Race2 and gained at once a great advantage, which he maintained until the end of the race. Second position for Karlis Alberts Reisulis in front of Aleksis Araids, both from Latvia. On the overall podium, 3 Latvian riders: Edvards Bidzans, Karlis Alberts Reisulis and Aleksis

 In the weekend from Saturday 9th to Sunday 10th July, the following European races will be held: 9-10 July - EMX 65/85 NE at Stelpe/Latvia      

The Semifinal 2 of European Grass Track Championship held in Mulmshorn (Germany) was won by Dirk Fabriek in in front of a good sized crowd in a spring-like temperature. He reached the B final with 13 points and then was defeated by Dutch De Jonk. But in the final he zipped from the yellow trap in front of all his rivals. It was an entertaining meeting, with plenty of good racing and drama and it was stopped for almost 15 minutes for a short downpour after heat 12. The Runner-up was young British James Shanes after a brilliant display. After two wins in his first two outings he dropped a couple of points in his remaining heats. He was defeated by the in-form De Jong during heat 8 and by eventual winner Fabriek in heat 12. Then in the final he was outgated by Fabriek who sealed to an almost