Back to Britain...

The FIM Team Long Track Team World Championship will be in Swingfield in the South East of England this coming Saturday.

This track has already served as a venue for international races such as the Final of the European Championship in 2007 and 2010 and a number of English Championship finals.

Yet again, all the teams will be hoping to put an end to the reign of the Germans, title-holders of this Championship since its creation in 2007 with six wins in as many years!

Last year, England came very close, but David Howe’s heavy crash that put him out of action at the end of the race also put paid to British hopes of victory. Howe will not be taking part in the 2013 edition because he broke his arm last weekend during the Final 4 at Rzeszow in Poland. He will be replaced by Andrew Appleton, the only English rider never to have been beaten and winner of the European Championship on this very track three years ago.

The teams have tried to maximize their chances by selecting their countries’ strongest riders. Thirteen out of the 26 riders entered are regulars in the 2013 FIM Long Track World Championship, so we can expect a superb team event this weekend!

It will be worth keeping an eye out for the two teenagers on the track, Australia’s Hunter Anderson and Frenchman Dimitri Bergé, both barely 17 years old...

In sporting terms, there will be three riders from each team in each heat and the race will be decided on points; the winning team will be the one that scores most points over the entire day.

So there will be no shortage of suspense!

The teams

ENGLAND
1. Rich Hal
2. Andrew Appleton
3. Glen Phillips
22. Paul Cooper

AUSTRALIA:
1. Cameron Woodward
2. Hunter Anderson
3. Kozza Smith
25. Rodney McDonald

FRANCE
4. Stephan Tresarrieu 
5. Mathieu Tresarrieu 
6. Dimitri Bergé
23. Theo Di Palma

CZECH REPUBLIC
7.Josef Franc
8. Richard Wolff
9. Karel Kadlec

FINLAND
16. Aarni Heikkila
17. Markku Autio
18. Simo Pulli

NETHERLANDS
19. Jannick de Jong
20. Dirk Fabriek
21. Theo Pijper
27. Mark Stiekema

GERMANY
13 Stephan Katt
14 Richard Speiser 
15 Jörg Tebbe 
26 Enrico Janoschka