DUCATI MAKE IT ONE-TWO IN HUNGARY!

Image courtesy of Michal Prouza

Ashton Boughen led a first-ever Ducati one-two in the seventh round of the FIM Flat Track World Championship at Vasad on Saturday.

Boughen and his VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team colleague Tim Neave staged a sensational battle in the Final at the Hungarian venue with Boughen coming through on the last lap for his third victory of the season.

The youngster banked the maximum 26 points from the event after also picking up the point for fastest lap, and it was also a positive day for Neave who has extended his overall series advantage.

Heading to Hungary with a nine-point advantage over Jack Bell, Neave now leads Boughen and Bell by 13 points with three rounds remaining, and the World Champion looks likely to come from those three riders as Gerard Bailo and Ervin Krajcovic are now both 30 points off Neave’s total.

Boughen was keen to fight back from his setbacks at King’s Lynn a fortnight ago, and he was quick off the mark in Vasad with an impressive ride to pass Krajcovic in Heat 1.

Neave opened up with a second place behind Ondrej Svedik in Heat 3 as Bell was disqualified, and when the Ducati riders went head to head for the first time in Heat 6 it was Neave who defeated Boughen to leave both on 13 points.

They were on track together again in Heat 9 but this time Boughen was coming from the back row in a strong race, so whilst Neave took another win Boughen had to be content for two points for fifth place.

However, he ensured a front row start in the Final with a win over Tom Hunt in Heat 10, and Neave’s victory over Bell in Heat 12 was significant as it kept Bell off the front row for the decisive race.

With first selection of start in the Final, Neave went for position two and with KTM duo Svedik (five) and Krajcovic (three) electing for more outer positions, Boughen selected the inside to leave the Ducati riders alongside each other on the grid.

Boughen made a slightly better start than Neave but Krajcovic was fastest of all and he led into the first bend, only for a tight line by Neave to work superbly as he hit the front and Boughen also went inside the defending champion off turn two. The Ducati riders were then never threatened as they entered into a thrilling high-speed battle with Neave holding a narrow advantage and Boughen exploring every line in a bid to pass.

Boughen waited until the last lap before fully showing his hand as he took the outside on the back straight to go past Neave, who fought back strongly on the inside and reclaimed the advantage on the apex of turns three and four. However, Boughen had read the move and turned back smartly to get past Neave once more, and he won the race to the finish line by just 0.166s.

Behind them, the Ducati riders were handed a favour in the title race as Hunt worked his way into third place to take points off the other contenders, with Bell finishing fourth, Krajcovic sixth and Bailo dropped to ninth.

Boughen said: “I’m feeling lots of excitement, and I’m just pleased to show what I can do again.

“I saved myself the whole time, not pushing too hard, and I knew I was the fastest out there and I showed it in that last one. I tried my hardest and pushed all the way.

“It’s a very important result. I had a few not so good ones but I still showed what I could do at Scheessel, I won my first four heats but just didn’t get there in the Final, and the Final is what matters.

“It’s my third win, and I’ve surprised myself. I’ve just got to keep pushing for that World Championship.”

The final European round of the series takes place at Czech Republic venue Pardubice on October 3, before the double-header finale in Argentina on October 24/25.

RESULT: 1 Ashton Boughen, 2 Tim Neave, 3 Tom Hunt, 4 Jack Bell, 5 Ondrej Svedik, 6 Ervin Krajcovic, 7 Daniele Tonelli, 8 Max Hellman, 9 Gerard Bailo, 10 Marius Kircher, 11 Gary Birtwistle, 12 Stanislav Ohorodnik, 13 William Bonnici, 14 Stef Hamstra, 15 Saku Purtilo, 16 Erik Hugyecz, 17 Sebastian Thalheim, 18 Nikita Alyani, 19 Antonin Bergeron, 20 Bartosz Tymoszuk, 21 Laszlo Lorinc.

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 7: Neave 147, Boughen 134, Bell 134, Bailo 117, Krajcovic 117, Svedik 100, Tonelli 72, Ohorodnik 72, Hunt 64, Sammy Halbert 63.

MANUFACTURERS STANDINGS: Ducati 163, Triumph 143, KTM 134, Zaeta 129, Picasso Engineering 100, Beta 99, TM 99, Husqvarna 99, Honda 89, Suzuki 85.

FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 7 PREVIEW - VASAD

Image courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team star Tim Neave defends his FIM Flat Track World Championship lead when Round 7 of the series takes place in Hungary on Saturday.

Having finished in the top five in all six rounds so far, Neave heads to Vasad with a nine-point advantage over Triumph rider Jack Bell who has moved into title contention by winning the last two events at Scheessel and King’s Lynn.

A five-way battle for the crown also includes Neave’s team-mate Ashton Boughen, who was the early pace-setter in the series before losing ground when he scored just four points at King’s Lynn after a controversial start-line disqualification in his final ride before the meeting was abandoned.

However Boughen, who won the opening two rounds, is still very much in touch as he has 108 points, 17 behind Neave with four rounds and a total of 104 points remaining.

The three Great Britain riders occupy the top three places in the standings, with the other likely challengers being 2022 title winner Gerard Bailo on 105 and defending World Champion Ervin Krajcovic on 102.

Neave will carry plenty of confidence into the event having clinched the ACU national title with a win over Bell in the fourth and deciding round of the domestic series at Buxton last weekend.

This was another significant achievement as it represented the first ever off-road British National Championship for Ducati.

And Neave also has the memories of a highly impressive performance at Vasad in 2025 to fall back on, as he scored 25 points out of a possible 28 in the qualifying races before finishing runner-up to Sammy Halbert in the Final.

Halbert is not competing this weekend as he runs a part-season schedule on the new Picasso machine, but KTM duo Krajcovic and Ondrej Svedik are likely to offer a threat once again having finished third and fourth last year.

Boughen, meanwhile, travelled to Italy in the fortnight between events in order to complete a further testing programme before the meeting in Hungary.

There are three rounds remaining in the 2026 series after Vasad, as the competition heads to Czech Republic venue Pardubice on October 3 for the final European round, before two events at Argentina venue Totoras on October 24/25.

Full coverage of the Vasad meeting is available for free upon registration to https://FIM-Moto.tv , with the action getting underway at 1pm UK time. 

DUCATI EXTEND CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AGAIN DESPITE THE BRITISH WEATHER!

Image courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team rider Tim Neave has extended his FIM Flat Track World Championship lead after a tough night in tricky conditions at King’s Lynn on Saturday.

The sixth round of the series proved to be the first time this season that neither Neave nor team-mate Ashton Boughen reached the podium, although Neave consolidated his overall position with fifth place.

However, a late meeting downpour spelt bad news for Boughen, as with the last two races cancelled he was unable to improve on his position and was classified 17^th on the night, both Ducati riders having hit trouble during the qualifying races.The meeting was won by Jack Bell, who took his second consecutive victory and is now the closest challenger in the standings, with Neave nine points clear having gone into the meeting five points ahead of Boughen.

Racing was delayed at the Adrian Flux Arena by around two hours due to heavy afternoon rain, although the track had been prepared with this in mind and staff were able to blade the surface and then apply dry material to enable the meeting to go ahead.

Neave was out in Heat 2 and he held off the challenge of the in-form Thomas Hunt in a race dominated by the British riders such that they finished over five seconds clear of their rivals.

Boughen had a tougher first outing in Heat 3 and he managed to make it through to fifth place having started from the back row, whilst his second ride saw him make better progress into third spot, although home wild card Adam James rode well to prevent Boughen moving up to second behind Gerard Bailo.

Neave’s second ride saw him finish third as Hunt and Bell led a British one-two-three, but Neave was firmly in contention when he impressively worked his way through from the back row to win Heat 8, he and James finishing ahead of Daniele Tonelli.

Boughen looked set to ignite his challenge in Heat 9, but fate would ultimately decree this would not be the case, and instead it set in motion a disastrous chain of events for the British youngster.

Initially all appeared to be going to plan as Boughen established a big lead in a race which featured several fancied competitors – but on lap three, the red lights came on due to a clash between Gary Birtwistle and Bell on the third bend.

Birtwistle was penalised and Boughen was due to start at the front of the reset single file grid – but he then jumped the start, which sent him to the back, and he was only able to pass Sebastian Thalheim to complete the race sixth, with Conny Ivarsson already having retired.

Neave entered Heat 10 just a point behind Bell and Hunt, but he was next to strike trouble as he fell on turn four at the end of the first lap when looking to take the lead from Tom Woolley.

He did remount as the race continued, but he was disqualified for crossing the inner white line when it may have been possible to recover a couple of points.

Boughen went into his final race still with a good chance of making the Final as he was only one point outside the top ten – but with the inside starting position on the front row, he lurched forward before the green light went off, and as this was deemed to be a second offence, he was disqualified from the race completely.

That was set to leave him facing a big job in the Last Chance, but he was not even afforded that opportunity as drizzle which had returned during the final block of races became heavier rain.

Track staff looked to apply more dry shale, but the decision was taken by the FIM jury that conditions were unsafe to continue, and the result was therefore declared based on the scores from Heats 1-12.

That was good news for Bell, who had edged out Hunt in a close battle in Heat 12 which turned out to be enough for the win on the night, whilst Bailo and Krajcovic took third and fourth overall to keep themselves in title contention.

Neave was classified fifth, which could well have been second but for the fall, whilst Boughen was restricted to just four championship points, a score he would certainly have been looking to add to had the Last Chance been able to take place.

It means Neave leads Bell by nine points in the standings with Boughen a further eight adrift, whilst Bailo and Krajcovic are also still in contention in what appears to now be a five-way fight for honours.

There are four rounds remaining in the series, with a two-week break before the trip to Hungarian venue Vasad on September 12.

RESULT: 1 Jack Bell, 2 Thomas Hunt, 3 Gerard Bailo, 4 Ervin Krajcovic, 5 Tim Neave, 6 Adam James, 7 Stanislav Ohorodnik, 8 Sammy Halbert, 9 Santiago Arangio, 10 Ondrej Svedik, 17 Ashton Boughen.

STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 6: Neave 125, Bell 116, Boughen 108, Bailo 105, Krajcovic 102, Svedik 84, Halbert 63, Ohorodnik 63, Daniele Tonelli 58, Gary Birtwistle 50.

MANUFACTURER STANDINGS: Ducati 138, Triumph 123, KTM 116, Zaeta 114, Picasso Engineering 89, Husqvarna 85, TM 83, Honda 77, Beta 77, Suzuki 62.