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.