100% RECORD FOR DUCATI IN FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

Image Courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team rider Tim Neave made it back-to-back wins in the FIM Flat Track World Championship on a chaotic and controversial night in Croatia on Saturday.

Neave and team-mate Ashton Boughen are level at the top of the overall standings after four of the ten rounds in the series, with Ducati maintaining a 100 per cent record of wins in their sensational 2026 so far.

But that gives no indication of the drama in Donji Kraljevec, where Neave prevailed in a Final which required an unprecedented eight starts in order to achieve a result, whilst Boughen salvaged sixth place despite nearly finding himself in the home straight fence midway through the race after a particularly hard move from the USA’s Sammy Halbert.

With Ducati having dominated the opening three rounds, it was little surprise that there was a fightback from KTM and their Czech Republic duo Ervin Krajcovic and Ondrej Svedik, both of whom were strong in the qualifying races.

Svedik led Neave in the opening race, whilst Krajcovic dropped what turned out to be his only point of the qualifiers to Boughen in Heat 2, as he finished on 27 points from a possible 28.

His countryman Svedik also won three races, with a fourth place in Heat 7 leaving him on 25, ahead of the Ducati duo who scored 24 (Neave) and 22 (Boughen).

Neave opened up with two second places behind Svedik, before he won Heat 8 in a Great Britain 1-2-3 with Boughen frustrated in his efforts to pass the lively Gary Birtwistle.

When the Ducati riders met again in Heat 10, this time it was Boughen ahead of Neave as they finished second and third behind Krajcovic.

The Last Chance could have proved significant for the title race as top-five riders Gerard Bailo and Jack Bell both found themselves outside the top ten on the day, but both made it into the Final – Bailo doing so from the penalty lane after an initial jump start.

It was there that the drama really began, with Krajcovic and Svedik electing to start mid-grid on the front row in the Final, leaving Neave and Boughen on their outside, and Birtwistle and Sammy Halbert on their inside.

When the race got underway, Boughen made full use of space to work with on the outside and charged into the lead, only for the red flags to come out on the second lap as Svedik came down heading into turn one, and he was sent to the penalty lane for the re-run.

What followed was an almost unbelievable sequence of events as time after time Neave made the best job of the start and the first bend only to be frustrated by repeated red lights due to incidents behind him.

In the third running of the race Neave had established a huge lead before Mathias Lorenzato and Sebastien Jeanpierre crashed on turn two of the third lap; whilst the fourth running lasted barely yards before Birtwistle and Halbert clashed on the run to the first bend.

Lorenzato and Birtwistle joined Svedik in the penalty lane but further stoppages for incidents involving Lorenzato and Daniele Tonelli followed, and it was only on the seventh attempt that the race appeared to be settling.

Then there was near carnage at the end of lap five as Halbert slammed into Boughen, who remarkably stayed on his machine, but shortly afterwards Tonelli came to grief again and the stop signs came out once more.

The mid-race stoppage meant a far more complex re-start procedure with the riders sequenced by their positions at the time, and separated by one metre at the start for what turned out to be a six-lap dash.

This thankfully passed with fewer incidents as Neave held off Krajcovic at the front to replicate his victory from Teterow, whilst Boughen found himself in mid-pack and had to be content with sixth place.

There was one last surprise at the end of a marathon evening, as with Neave seemingly holding a one-point championship lead, a review of transponder data meant Boughen was awarded the point for fastest lap, this having initially been allocated to Krajcovic. It means the two Ducati riders are level on 86 points at the top of the standings.

Neave said: “That one was probably the best one yet. It’s only my second win, but of all my podiums and everything, that was right at the top.

“That Final was re-started seven times, and every time I got to the front. I was thinking my luck was going to run out in a minute, but we did what we needed to do.

“We came good when it mattered, and that one was for (partner) Lydia!”

The series now goes into its mid-summer break before resuming with a very different test – the 1,000-metre circuit at Scheessel, Germany for Round 5 on August 22.

RESULT: 1 Tim Neave, 2 Ervin Krajcovic, 3 Jack Bell, 4 Sammy Halbert, 5 Ondrej Svedik,  6 Ashton Boughen, 7 Gary Birtwistle, 8 Sebastian Jeanpierre, 9 Matias Lorenzato, 10 Gerard Bailo, 11 Daniele Tonelli, 12 Stanislav Ohorodnik. 

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4:  Neave 86, Boughen 86, Krajcovic 73, Bailo 72, Bell 66, Svedik 53, Halbert 49, Jeanpierre 47, Tonelli 46, Ohorodinik 39.

MANUFACTURER STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 4: Ducati 100, Zaeta 80, KTM 78, Triumph 73, Picasso 65, TM 60, Husqvarna 57, Honda 50, Suzuki 50, Beta 49.

FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 PREVIEW - DONJI KRALJEVEC

Image Courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team head to Croatia this weekend looking to further strengthen their position in the FIM Flat Track World Championship heading into the mid-season break.

The Donji Kraljevec (Gorican) venue stages the fourth of the ten-round series on Saturday, forming the second half of a hectic back-to-back schedule which started in Germany at Teterow last weekend.

There is then a seven-week gap in the calendar enabling riders and teams to refocus for the run-in, and the VRX operation want to sign off until late summer with their Championship advantage intact.

They have won all three rounds so far, all of which have provided dramatic stories with youngster Ashton Boughen making a sensational early impact to register a debut win for Ducati at Roden, and then following up with another success at Terenzano.

Not to be outdone, Boughen’s team-mate Tim Neave then registered his long-awaited first win in the series with his victory in Round 3 at Teterow.

With Boughen finishing a solid fourth in that meeting, it means he holds a nine-point advantage in the overall standings as he sits on 70 points, with Neave and 2022 World Champion Gerard Bailo his nearest challengers on 61, ten clear of defending Champion Ervin Krajcovic on 51.

Meanwhile Ducati top the manufacturer’s standings with a maximum 75 points from three rounds, 11 clear of Zaeta.

Krajcovic has managed just one podium finish so far this season but he may take some comfort from the fact that he was the winner in Croatia last year ahead of Daniele Tonelli and Ondrej Svedik, both of whom are outside the current top five in 2026. That meeting, though, proved a painful one for Neave as he delivered a near-perfect performance in the heats to finish joint top of the scoreboard, only to be ruled out of the re-start in the Final due to injury after a clash with Sammy Halbert.

The action in Croatia takes place at an established speedway venue which until recently was the host of Grand Prix events, and is also a popular setting for pre-season testing.

VRX Management Ltd MD Rob Painter said: “Heading into Croatia we’ll be focusing on consistency. We want the riders to keep honing their routines and really concentrating on the controllables.

“We expect the track to suit both our guys, and it will be well prepared as the team there do a great job and have excellent machinery. “We have seven weeks until the next round after Croatia so it would be good to go into that break holding the top two positions, and then we have some testing scheduled before Scheessel in Germany which I’m really looking forward to.”

The Flat Track meeting is part of a busy programme of activities with the FIM Women’s Speedway World Cup and Gold Trophy also taking place on Saturday.

Flat Track racing gets underway at 7pm BST and live streaming will be available from https://fim-moto.tv/ .

3 ROUNDS, 3 WINS! DUCATI LEAD THE FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP IN P1 & P2

Image Courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen - Tim Neave lands his first World Championship Round win!

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team completed a hat-trick of FIM Flat Track World Championship wins at a sweltering Teterow on Saturday – and this time it was Tim Neave taking his long-awaited maiden victory in the series.

The more experienced Neave had played second fiddle to newcomer Ashton Boughen in the first two rounds of 2026, but in Germany nobody was going to deny him his night of glory after five previous podium appearances.

Neave was the class of the field throughout the meeting, winning three of his four qualifying races and finishing second behind Ondrej Svedik in the other, before emerging on top in the decider when he went from third to first.

And whilst Boughen’s remarkable winning run came to an end, it was still a positive night for the youngster as he raced to fourth place overall and added the point for fastest lap in the Final, meaning he left Teterow having extended his Championship lead to nine points.

Conditions were just as tricky as expected given the searing heat, with the decision taken to reduce the length of the qualifying races to six laps.

Whilst Neave dominated proceedings and Boughen recovered nicely from being relegated to fourth place in his opener – he then won his next two rides – there were difficulties for big names elsewhere.

Defending Champion Ervin Krajcovic retired from his first race and finished outside the top ten after Heat 12, meaning he had to go through the Last Chance to even make it to the Final.

Daniele Tonelli was eliminated from the meeting at the Last Chance stage, whilst Jack Bell – who had gone into the meeting level with Neave in the standings – also had to take that route into the Final, but he was unable to make an impression in the decider.

Neave selected the inside starting position for the Final with Boughen going from grid three on the front row, with Sammy Halbert in between the two Ducati riders. But it was the returning Mathias Lorenzato, from grid five, who made the best start with Neave finding himself in third place behind Gerard Bailo as Boughen got caught in traffic and dropped outside the top six. Neave quickly moved inside Bailo for second but his first attempt to go round Lorenzato ended in contact on the back straight, which briefly put Bailo back into second place as the top four broke away with Halbert also in contention.

As Boughen was working his way through to fifth, Neave went back inside Bailo on lap four and then applied the pressure on Lorenzato, finally hitting the front on the seventh out of twelve laps and he dominated the race thereafter.

Boughen received a little assistance from a clash between Halbert and Bailo bringing him closer to the battle, and the penultimate lap saw Boughen take Bailo for fourth place – a move which provided an effective four-point swing in the overall title race, and also helped Neave move level overall with the Spaniard.

Lorenzato was a worthy second with Halbert third to underline his own strength after missing the opening round. But there was no question it was Neave’s night after a meeting which had challenged the very best in the sport to their limits.

Neave said: “It’s amazing. It’s been a while coming, I’ve been working at this for two or three years now, and obviously I’ve got a young new team-mate in who I’d never heard of, and he goes and wins the first two rounds – so I knew I needed to pull my finger out! “It’s been good all day. I won three of my four heat races and got my head down in the Final, I didn’t make the best of starts but I knew I had the pace.

“I just had to work out where to put my pass on and sure enough we got it done and pulled away a little bit, so a perfect win.

“You just have to use your lines. I knew the dirt had been building up on the outside of the track all day, and I thought they might pull it down for the Final, but they kept it high so I just knew I needed to get a good start, get into the dirt high, avoid the bumps in the middle of the track and just ride hard every lap, and that’s what I did!

“I just want to say a big thanks to Rob and Vicky and all the team at VRX Dirt Store Ducati. It’s a hell of an opportunity and I’m pleased to repay them with a win.”

VRX Management Ltd MD Rob Painter said: “We knew this was going to be a challenging round with the high temperatures forecast, so track preparations were always going to be difficult resulting in patchy conditions, and we also expected rider fitness to be a big factor. 

“We asked the riders to focus on their hydration in the lead up to the event and on race day we introduced some products and procedures to make sure they were both at their best, and it was really pleasing to see how well they both came through it. 

“I’ve mentioned before how it was a target of ours to see Tim get his first World Championship round win, so I couldn’t be happier for him. Tim put on a display, showing everyone the best way to get around a tough track and he really was the standout rider. 

“Ashton found himself in traffic in the first turn of the Final but showed composure to work his way through to finish just behind the podium places, picking up the extra World Championship points for the fastest lap at the same time. 

“We have once again shown the versatility and high level of performance from the Ducati Desmo 450 MX by continuing our 100% winning start to the season across three very different tracks and it is a proud moment to see Ducati leading the Manufacturers Championship.

“Ashton and Tim are now P1 and P2 in the World Championship and I’m sure they’ll be keen to keep hold of the top two spots after next week’s Round 4 in Croatia.”

RESULT: 1 Tim Neave, 2 Mathias Lorenzato, 3 Sammy Halbert, 4 Ashton Boughen, 5 Gerard Bailo, 6 Ervin Krajcovic, 7 Ondrej Svedik, 8 Gary Birtwistle, 9 Sebastian Jeanpierre, 10 Stanislav Ohorodnik, 11 Jack Bell, 12 Nikita Alyani.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3: Boughen 70, Neave 61, Bailo 61, Krajcovic 51, Bell 46, Svedik 37, Daniele Tonelli 36, Jeanpierre 34, Halbert 31, Ohorodnik 30.

MANUFACTURER STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 3: Ducati 75, Zaeta 64, KTM 56, Triumph 53, Picasso Engineering 47, TM 45, Husqvarna 43, Honda 39, Beta 37, Suzuki 37.