The 551m track at Reiterwaldstadion in Vechta will be the venue for the fifth final of the FIM Long Track World Championship on Saturday when series leader Mathieu Trésarrieu will attempt to seal his grip on the 2022 title with a fourth victory in the series.

Trésarrieu who has been in superior form this year, holds a 21 point lead over his nearest rival and if he can increase this advantage he will be confirmed as champion before the final round in in Roden later this month.

The Start List has now been published and can be found HERE and the draw produces a critical Heat 2 where the top three contenders will meet, and which will have a huge bearing on the destiny of the title.

Leading scorers at this stage are:

1 Mathieu Trésarrieu (France) 78 points
2 Chris Harris (Great Britain)  57
3 Romano Hummel (Netherlands) 52
4 Lukas Fienhage (Germany) 50
5 Zach Wajtknecht (Great Britain) 46
6 Theo Pijper (Netherlands) 43
7 Hynek Stichauer (Czech Rep) 33
8 Jacob Bukhave (Denmark) 33

If the destination of the gold medal seems in little doubt, there is still tremendous competition for the silver and bronze and none of the contenders can afford their challenge to slip. Chris Harris missed an opportunity when he finished last in the final in the last round at Morizes as he continued to battle against machine problems and slow gating.

Current champion Romano Hummel also disappointed with a fourth place although his climb up the table after the disaster in Rzesow has been spectacular. He is racing regularly and was successful in the International Meeting in Berghaupten at the weekend despite an overnight drive from Morizes and a foot injury in his third ride.

Lukas Fienhage has also recovered from a poor start to the championship and now stands in fourth place only two points behind Hummel.

Zach Wajtknecht took the runner up spot in Final 4 and is now potentially in a medal winning position. If he can repeat this result in Vechta he could end the season as the top Brit.

Theo Pijper has been scoring consistently through the series and will be hoping for a good score here to take to the last round in his homeland with a chance of a medal place.

Kenneth Kruse Hansen, Martin Malek, Max Dilger, Josef Franc and Tero Aarnio had been hoping to make their return to the track in this meeting after injury had disrupted their season, but none are yet fit enough to race.

FIM Jury President for this meeting will be Pavel Ondrasik and FIM Referee Tomas Topinka

FIM