Smolinski wins, Katt leads

All high rated expections have been fullfilled in a thrilling debut of the FIM Longtrack Worldchampionship 2011 at Bohemian town Marianske Lazne on Sunday, June 12th.

Most of the 18 World Final riders were able to win Final 1 at Czech Republic but after 14 of the 15 heat races it looked like a German Championship, as all six German riders could qualify for he Grand Final!

World Champion Joonas Kylmäkorpi from Finland missed all his starts, as he said, and finished on 8th position after the Semifinal heats. Dutch World Championship Runner-up Theo Pijper started excenlently, but the FFM license rider blew up 3 engines during practice and race and therefore ended on disappointing 9th position.

Last years winner at Marianske Lazne, German „Catman“ Stephan Katt began superbly, but in Heat 11 he had to be excluded by the referee, because he lost his dirt deflector during the race.

Before the semifinals German Jörg Tebbe was the provisional leader, 2 points ahead of Katt. But Tebbe did not make the start in the first semi, finished last and country fellow Matthias Kröger won the race. As Katt won the second semi, he went into the final with most points (20) ahead of Kröger (18), Martin Smolinski (17), Tebbe (17), Herbert Rudolph (17) and Richard Speiser (17), all from Germany.

In the thrilling final race, first Richard Speiser took the lead, than Martin Smolinski passed him, while Katt attacked both, but he could not come through from 3rd position.

26 years Munich boy Martin Smolinski won the meeting in his first ever World Championship final in front of Speiser and Katt, while Kröger and Tebbe were forced to stop by engine failures.

But in the World Championship classification Stephan Katt took the lead with 23 Points in front of Smolinski (22) and Speiser (21).

The 2nd final of the FIM Longtrack Worldchampionship 2011 will be on June 25th at Forus in Norway.

Results: 1.Martin Smolinski (GER), 22 Points;
2. Richard Speiser (GER), 21;
3. Stephan Katt (GER), 23;
4. Herbert Rudolph (GER), 19;
5. Matthias Kröger (GER), 17;
6. Jörg Tebbe (GER), 17;
7. Mathieu Tresarrieu (F), 15;
8. Joonas Kylmäkorpi (FIN), 15; 9. Theo Pijper (NED), 13;
10. Josef Franc (CZE), 12;
11. Jerome Lespinasse (F), 11;
12. Andrew Appleton (GB), 11; 
13. Dirk Fabriek (NED), 7;
14. Richard Wolff (CZ), 6;
15. Stéphane Tresarrieu (F), 5; 16. Aki-Pekka Mustonen (FIN), 4;
17. Richard Hall (GB), 2; 18. Glen Phillips (GB), 2;
19. Pavel Ondrasik (CZ), 0; 20. Karel Kadlec (CZ), 0

World Championship Standings after 1 of 7 Finals: 
1. Katt 23 points; 2. Smolinski 22; 3. Spiser 21; 4. Rudolph 19; 5. Kröger 17; 6. Tebbe 17; 7. M. Tresarrieu 15; 8. Kylmäkorpi 15; 9. Pijper 13; 10. Franc 12; 11. Lespinasse 11; 12. Appleton 11; 13. Fabriek 7; 14. Wolff 6; 15. S. Trersarrieu 5; 16. Mustonen 4; 17. Hall 2; 18. Phillips 2.