When the 2023 FIM Long Track World Championship hits the halfway stage this coming Thursday (13 July) at Marmande in France, Dutch rider Mika Meijer will be hoping to pile the pressure on his rivals and climb the rankings.
It will not be an easy task for the talented young rider from the city of Winschoten close to the border with Germany, but a quick look at his form this year and last season indicates that he has a fighting chance.
At the start of the month Meijer was crowned Dutch Open Speedway Champion at Veenoord, despite mechanical problems forcing him to first win the B Final before he could claim the big prize in the last race of the day, but the twenty-two-year-old is not a rider who is afraid to dig deep when he has to.
Meijer started riding at a very early age and grew up around Long Track and Grasstrack.
“My father has always been a Motocross rider himself and was a big fan of Grasstrack and Speedway,” he said. “When I was three years old I got my first bike and that’s when the journey started.”
While he is not as experienced as many of his rivals, he prides himself on taking a thoughtful approach to racing.
“I think a lot what to do and ride with my head. I like to have a track where [I can] ride with the head and have some good lines. At a very slick track I can be very good sometimes because of this.”
Meijer ended the opening round of the 2023 FIM Long Track World Championship at Herxheim in mid-May in a disappointing thirteenth, but at round two staged the following month at Ostrów he advanced to eighth and made it all the way to the Last Chance before being eliminated.
“I started off quite bad in Herxheim, but I responded in Ostrów with eighth which was a lot better. I know I am always in the mix and can beat everyone on a good day.”
He also contested the FIM Long Track World Championship Challenge at La Réole in France in June where he claimed a heat win, although ultimately he slipped to ninth on a night of fiercely-contested racing.
However, if you check out his statistics from last season, Meijer has every reason to feel optimistic heading into the third of this season’s six Finals.
Getting off to a slow start in 2022 with thirteenth at round two in Mühldorf despite winning his first heat, over successive rounds Meijer gradually improved with eleventh and tenth-placed finishes at the following two rounds before coming home eighth at the penultimate round at Vechta.
If he can match this 2022 trajectory this year then Meijer could carry his momentum from Ostrów into Marmande and at the very least be a contender for a place in the Grand Final on Thursday which will help him achieve his long-term plans.
“I want to be in the GPs again for 2024. Due to a bad performance in the Challenge, I will set my goal on being a consistent top-eight rider. This will hopefully lead to a place in the GPs for next year.
“I want to maintain my progress – eighth is okay, but I want to go for more and I think it is a realistic thought.”
The 2023 FIM Long Track World Championship is available as a Pay-Per-View broadcast via a livestream package on the Tapes Up TV channel.