FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 3 PREVIEW - TETEROW

Image Courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team head into a vital double-header over the next two weekends as they look to extend their remarkable start to the FIM Flat Track World Championship series.

With 18-year-old Ashton Boughen having sensationally triumphed in both of the opening two rounds at Roden and Terenzano, the next two events take place on back-to-back Saturdays meaning a total of 52 points are available.First up is a trip to North-East Germany and the Bergring Arena, Teterow, on June 27 which will provide a very different challenge to the Dutch and Italian circuits experienced so far.

Then one week later the series heads to Donji Kraljevec, Croatia, and it seems clear that by the end of that event the overall standings will really be taking shape.

The German round has moved location this season, having taken place in the last two years at Meissen, and in fact the trip to Teterow is also a change to the original 2026 calendar, as the series was set to visit Haunstetten before the alteration to the schedule was made in late March.

However, the Bergring Arena is no stranger to hosting major events as it has on six occasions been the staging venue for the FIM German Speedway Grand Prix, before that meeting moved to Landshut in 2024.

At just 314m it is considerably shorter than Roden and Terenzano with only Hungarian venue Vasad – the staging post for Round 7 in mid-September – being fractionally smaller in length on the 2026 schedule.

That means the action is likely to be fast and frantic around the Teterow circuit, and the ability to fight through traffic will be all-important.

Boughen holds a six-point lead going into the meeting having taken a maximum 26 points from the first round, including fastest lap, and then 25 from his victory at Terenzano.

Former World Champion Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) has finished second to Boughen in both meetings so far, and he added the fastest lap in Italy to give him 45 points compared to Boughen’s 51.

Meanwhile the second Ducati representative Tim Neave finds himself in a three-way tie on points with defending World Champion Ervin Krajcovic (KTM) and fellow countryman Jack Bell (Triumph) in the Bronze medal position overall.

Both Neave and Krajcovic have taken a third and a fifth so far this season, with Bell making up his 36 points courtesy of two fourth places.

The parity between Neave and Bell extends to the ACU British Flat Track Championship where they share the lead at the halfway stage of that series, having each taken one win and one second place from last weekend’s double header at King’s Lynn.

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Team Manager Rob Painter said: “I want our riders to travel to Teterow both confident and focused on keeping their level of performance high.

“We are prepared for another strong weekend, and I think the track will suit both riders well.

“The weather conditions will be a challenge for some as it’s expected to be in the region of 36 degrees, but we have prepared well so I don’t believe this will be a negative factor for us.“I know Tim is focused on maintaining his run of recent podiums in the UK, and I’m sure that Ashton will be doing everything he can to retain the Red Plate.”

Full coverage of the racing from Teterow will be available on FIM-MOTO.TV and our review of the action will follow early next week.

BOUGHEN AND DUCATI MAKE IT 2 OUT OF 2!

Images courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team and rookie Ashton Boughen made it two wins out of two at Terenzano on Saturday to continue an extraordinary start to the FIM Flat Track World Championship campaign.

18-year-old Boughen, who has stunned the establishment with the speed in which he has adapted to a new discipline, went through the card in Round 2 with wins in his four qualifying races before a spectacular effort from the back in the Final.

Having added to his victory at Roden earlier this month, Boughen now holds a six-point lead in the Championship standings, whilst team-mate Tim Neave is in a three-way tie for third overall after a strong fifth-place finish in Italy. And it also means that Ducati, in their first year in the competition, lead the manufacturer’s standings with a six-point advantage over Zaeta.

Both Ducati riders were prominent throughout the proceedings with Boughen showing impressive speed to romp to a string of wins in the qualifiers.

There was a clear statement of intent when he stormed around the outside in the early stages to finish ahead of Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) and defending World Champion Ervin Krajcovic (KTM) in Heat 4 as three of the top riders clashed.

In a terrific Heat 8 Boughen started from the back row of the grid but he made into second place on lap two before reeling in Ondrej Svedik (KTM), dramatically diving inside the Czech rider on the last bend to win by less than five-hundredths of a second.

Then in Heat 11 he was again on the back row, but a superb outside line saw him go past his rivals and hit the front by the time they went into the second lap.

Neave also made it safely through the qualifiers and secured a place on the front row of the grid for the Final, starting with second places behind Krajcovic and Svedik, before he won Heat 9 and finished third in Heat 12.

That meant Boughen had first pick of starting position for the 12-rider, 12-lap Final and he selected gate 5 whilst Neave, with fourth pick, went for gate 3. It turned out to be Boughen’s toughest race of the day as his outside run was blocked in the early stages with Bailo and Krajcovic contesting the lead, whilst Neave stormed inside Boughen at the end of lap one to go into third place. Bailo moved ahead after three laps of close racing against Krajcovic, whilst Boughen making it inside Neave on lap five as the Ducati duo also had to fend off pressure from Jack Bell. The leaders then delayed each other with a lap six battle which brought Boughen right into contention, and having gone for the tighter inside line he rode a sensational seventh lap to get past both Krajcovic and Bailo in one move on turns three and four. The top five were now clear, with the main action taking place for runners-up spot as Bailo and Krajcovic continued their race-long scrap, and Boughen raced clear to win by nearly a full second whilst Nevae just missed out on re-passing Bell for fourth place.

Boughen said: “I’m just having fun riding my bike and racing, and the results have come. I know I can ride any bike, I can do anything on a bike – it’s my life, I grew up racing bikes and it just shows.“I’m in a good team, the best team, and we’re all working together. Tim and I are racing against each other, but we still work together and it’s a perfect set-up.“This is only my fifth go on a Flat Track bike, I’ve done no training, just racing and having fun!”

VRX Management Ltd MD Rob Painter said: “I’m really proud of the whole team today, a fantastic performance from everyone. We are starting to build some momentum, which is excellent considering the limited time we’ve had.

“Tim put in the fastest lap of the round which shows again that we’ve got good pace, and Ashton’s fastest lap came in the Final which pleases me as we spoke a lot today about pushing at the right time.

“We didn’t make very good starts in the Final, which was a shame as we had the capability to finish 1-2 but unfortunately found ourselves in traffic, and that can make it hard to push as you have riders all around you.“Ashton managed to use his Speedway experience and find some grip down low on turn 3, and that made all the difference so he could get to the front.

“Outstanding from everyone today and Ashton’s performance was close to perfect. He is showing the level of ability we knew he had and the reason that we bought him into Flat Track World Championship.”

The series now takes a break of one month before a vital double of two rounds in two weeks, starting at Teterow in Germany on June 27 before moving on to Donji Kraljevec (Gorican) in Croatia on July 4.

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

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2: Boughen 51, Bailo 45, Krajcovic 36, Neave 36, Bell 36, Tonelli 28, Svedik 23, Jeanpierre 22, Ohorodnik 19, Stef Hamstra 16.

MANFACTURER STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2: Ducati 50, Zaeta 44, KTM 38, Triumph 38, TM 32, Honda 28, Husqvarna 27, Picasso Engineering 25, Suzuki 25, Beta 25.

FIM FLAT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 2 PREVIEW - TERENZANO

Image Courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team head into Saturday’s second round of the FIM Flat Track World Championship aiming to build on a stunning start to the series.

First and third places in the Netherlands earlier this month for debutant Ashton Boughen and Tim Neave represented a remarkable opening, as both riders and their machinery performed at the highest level with a double podium finish being the outcome.

The Desmo450 MX became the first Ducati entry to take victory in any round of an FIM off-road category, and to achieve the result on debut was a moment of immense pride for all concerned.

With that success will undoubtedly come increased expectations, although all within the team are aware that this is a long series, running right through until October, and every round will present a different challenge.

From the grasstrack based circuit of Roden, Round 2 takes place in Italy at the well-established venue of Terenzano, which is also set to host this year’s Speedway Grand Prix Challenge in July.

At 400m, Terenzano is a big track in Speedway terms but given the wide variety of Flat Track venues, there is a marked contrast from Roden (600m) both in size and surface.

Boughen will proudly carry the Championship leader’s Red plate after his incredible Round 1 victory on his series debut, and Saturday will once again be new territory as he has never raced in Terenzano.

Meanwhile Neave goes into the event in good form having secured back-to-back wins in Rounds 3 and 4 of the DTRA Flat Track Nationals series at Greenfield earlier this month, enjoying success on both the oval and TT tracks.

Competition will be fierce, especially with the return of 2024 World Champion Sammy Halbert (Picasso Engineering) who is competing in selected events this season and will be racing a new OMT450 project machine.

Defending champion Ervin Krajcovic (KTM) finished fifth in the opening round but will take confidence from the fact that he won at Terenzano last year ahead of Daniele Tonelli, Ondrej Svedik and Gerard Bailo, all of whom can be expected to be in contention.

Tonelli was sixth in the opener and has been putting together a dominant run of results in the Italian series, where he has won all three rounds so far.

Meanwhile Bailo battled Boughen all the way in Roden before eventually finishing second, whilst Svedik’s late charge in the Final was thwarted by disqualification for exceeding track limits.

VRX Management Ltd MD Rob Painter said: “The opening round was a dream start for us, and now the challenge is to maintain that momentum in what is a very competitive series.

“We are under no illusions as to the difficulty of remaining on top, but everyone is focused on the job in hand.

“Ashton had a training session in Lonigo on Wednesday, and he is developing his Flat Track style every time he is on the bike.

“Tim will take the confidence of an excellent start to the season into Round 2, and overall it’s another meeting we can look forward to with high hopes.”

Coverage of Round 2 in Terenzano is available from https://fim-moto.tv/flat_track and will get underway from 6.30pm BST.