FIM Europe News

The 2015 FIM Europe Vintage Road Racing Championship started this weekend at the Automotodrom Grobnik in Croatia. With perfect weather conditions and in the beautiful countryside of Rijeka, 27 riders from 7 Countries took the start in 7 different classes. The qualifying practice took place on Saturday, with race director Robert Žiković, starting the first round in the afternoon of the same day.  With very interesting disputes on the track, the wins went to Veravainen Jussi in Class 2, Roberto Maria Coda in Class 3, Bernd Pollmann in Class 4, Jure Lampe in Class 5, Arrigo Vinsani in Class 6, Jussi Luoma in Class 7a and Gunnar Jansson on Class 7b. On Saturday the trophies were presented by Peter Baláz, the 10 times winner of the Czechoslovakian Championship during the 70’s. He is also a member of the Vintage Commission of the FIM Europe.     The second race took place on

On Saturday May 30th, the Challenge of the European Individual Speedway Championship scheduled in Lendava (Slovenia) was cancelled due to unridable track conditions. The Polski Związek Motorowy communicates that the organiser was not able to prepare a raceble track on Friday for practice, due to heavy rain the week before the race, and it was also impossible to start the meeting on Saturday evening. In the Jury Meeting, the organiser stated that they could not provide a good competitive racetrack on Sunday as well, therefore the Jury decided to cancel the meeting in Lendava. The Challenge of Individual Speedway European Championship scheduled in Lendava, 30th May, will be held in Torun (Poland) on 5th June 2015, one day before the FIM World Speedway Cup, Event 1, in Gniezno, 90 km from Torun (Poland). 

EMX 125 - The start of Race2 in France Round five of the European Championship EMX125 was swept clean by KTM Factory Juniors’ Josiah Natzke who had the hilly circuit of Villars sous Ecot, France, dialed this weekend to claim his first overall win of the season. The young talented Kiwi Josiah Natzke took his third race win of the season on Saturday in Race 1 ahead of the French favorite Kemea Yamaha Yamalube’s Maxime Renaux. While Renaux flew the flag for the French riders, Natzke’s KTM Factory Juniors teammate Jorge Prado rounded out the top three.When the gates dropped on Sunday morning it was the French Maxime Renaux who had the packed hillside fired up with his amazing holeshot. While the roaring crowds did their best to egg the young Frenchman on, KTM Factory Juniors star Josiah Natzke hit the finish line jump wide open to take over the

Tom Sagar - Photo Robert Pairan The second day of the European Enduro Championship in Buzet (Croatia) saw the victory of Tom Sagar, which was a surprise: in the narrow courses the smaller motorcycles should have had an advantage, but the British rider managed to win with his powerful 450cc KTM. "I had a very good feeling in the morning and I was able to take the lead", he said. The winner of the first day, Italian Maurizio Micheluz, finished in second position in the Overall standings. But Micheluz took the victory in the E1 class ahead of Frenchman Fortunato  Benoit and the Swiss Jonathan Rossé, who swapped positions in comparison to the previous day.Besides winning the Overall, Tom Sagar won in the E2 class in front of Rannar Uusna from Estonia, who had to ride with a strong pain in his shoulder. "I underwent surgery on my shoulder and actually

Maurizio Micheluz - Photo Robert Pairan The defending champion Maurizio Micheluz won the first day at the second round of the Enduro Championship in Buzet (Croatia). Second position, Tom Sagar, who fought more with the power of his KTM 450 than with the other competitors: "In the narrow routes it is very hard to get close to the small machines with this big bike", said the Briton satisfied after the competition. Ranked third overall all classes then one of the "small" motorcyles: the Swiss Jonathan Rossé, who did not only take the second place in the E1 class, but with his 250cc four-stroke Yamaha also conquered the third place in the overall standings.This is the final standing as fot the first three positions, but it also the E1 class podium of the E1, with the Italian Micheluz on the Husqvarna in front of Rosse and the Frenchman Fortunato Benoit.In the E2

From the left, Mr Danijel Vastag, the lawyer Rodolfo Romeo, Mrs Ingrida Visockiene, FIM Europe President Dr Wolfgang Srb, the Secretary General Mr Alessandro Sambuco, Mr Jos Driessen, Mr Manuel Marinheiro and Mr Roy Wetterstad, Chairman of the FIM Europe Strategic Plan Working Group Today the FIM Europe Strategic Plan Working Group (SPWG) met for the first time in Tiber Hotel in Fiumicino (Italy). The group was formed in the last Executive Board in Assen, in March, with the aim of developing FIM Europe strategies for the next five/ten years. The Working Group is chaired by Mr Roy Wetterstad, NMF, and its members are Mr Jos Driessen, FMB, Mr Manuel Marinheiro, FMP, Mr Danijel Vastag, AMSS-MSS, Mrs Ingrida Visockiene, LMSF. To contribute to a well-defined description of the strategies currently adopted by FIM Europe, to all the meetings of SPWG will also be present the FIM Europe President, Dr. Wolfgang Srb, the Secretary General Mr Alessandro Sambuco

The European Championship Motoball in Kuppenheim (Germany) started on Wednesday 20 May with the pre-rounds. All teams faced several matches to gain points and finish among the best 4 placed.The matches on Saturday were important to decide who was playing for the Semi Final, (place 3 and 4), or the Final for the Championship title.All matches took place under good circumstances in the beautiful stadium of Kuppenheim.The organiser MSC Puma Kuppenheim has done everything that was possible to make this European Championship a successful event. The four teams which arrived in the Semi Finals were Germany and France and Russia and Belarus. Germany won the match with France 4-0 and Russia won the match with Belarus 11-2. France and Belarus played a match for the 3rd and 4th place and France won 11-2. "The final was a real thriller between Russia and Germany”, states Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe

The first round of the European Enduro Championship in Rieti (Italy). Photo: Robert Pairan. This weekend (30 and 31 May) the second round of the European Enduro Championship will be held in Buzet (Croatia). It will not be only an Enduro event: a riders' parade and a stunt show are scheduled on Friday evening, while the “Enduro Night” will be held in night club on Saturday.As for the route, there is already a plan in advance over the 60 kms to be completed three times a day.The riders who will take part to the second round of the series are over 200.It will be possible to follow the event with live-timing at the following link: www.casomeric.cz/enduroonline/More information, maps and schedules, results and links on the official website:http://fim-enduro-european-championship.com

The first round of the European Individual Speedway Under 21 Championship scheduled on May 25th in Debrecen (Hungary) was cancelled because of weather conditions. The organisers had done a great job to set the track, but the Jury decided to stop the race after heat 3 because of heavy rain and thunderstorms (practice had been held regularly and with fine weather conditions). The event was cancelled because the weather forecast predicted heavier rain for the next day. A new date for the event will be fixed. At the moment the next event remains in Macon (France) on June 26th.

The last weekend saw the opening round of the FIM-Europe Drag Bike Championship at Santa Pod Raceway, England. FIM-Europe Top Fuel Bike class attracted eight entries, with multi-time series champion Ian King qualifying in the number one spot and the quickest run of the event with a 5.830s/232.52 mph run, but the home rider lost out to Filippos Papafilippou at the semi final stage. The final proved to be a Sweden vs Greece affair, with Rikard Gustafsson tak­ing the win when Papafilippou stopped for brief fire shortly after leaving the startline. Gustafsson (in the photo by Rose Hughes) ended up idling to a 21 second clocking from his Suzuki Funnybike. The final of FIM-Europe Super Twin ended up as an all-Dutch affair, with low-qualifier Martijn de Haas (in the photo by Rose Hughes) defeating fellow countryman Job Heezen with a 6.6056s/212.81 mph to a 7.3536s/205.24 mph decision. Defending FIM-Europe Pro