Roden showdown for 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship

• Just four points separate top three with one round to go
• Lukas Fienhage leads from Zach Wajtknecht and Chris Harris
• Defending champion Martin Smolinski ruled out due to injury

This season has been one of the most exciting and unpredictable in recent years with reigning champion Martin Smolinski, who will unfortunately not race this weekend due to injury and hence will not be able to defend his title, who took the lead after round one in Mühldorf. Then Zach Wajtknecht who held the advantage following round two in Marmande, followed by former champion Lukas Fienhage who seized control last time out in Scheessel.

Chosen to host the final round of the championship for the second successive season, the six-hundred-metre track at the Speed Centre Roden in the north of the country is renowned for close, competitive racing and should put the perfect seal on a dramatic and incredibly hard-fought championship.

Germany’s Fienhage, the champion in 2020 and runner-up last year, holds a slender two-point advantage over Wajtknecht heading into the fourth and deciding round, but the twenty-seven-year-old British rider is just two points ahead of his compatriot Chris Harris – who won in Scheessel, the scene is set for a sensational showdown.

It was the now sidelined German veteran Smolinski, who was bidding to win his third title in a row and his fourth in total, who struck first on home ground in Mühldorf at the start of July ahead of Wajtknecht and Fienhage, however the British rider fought back one week later in France.

With a below-par performance from Smolinski, who failed to make the Grand Final in Marmande, Wajtknecht’s first victory in almost three years gave him the series lead ahead of Fienhage as the championship headed to Scheessel in the second half of August.

Following a slow start at the opening round, forty-two-year-old Harris had been steadily building and after finishing third in Marmande he raced to victory in Scheessel to assert his claim to the title he came within a few points of winning in 2023.

Both Wajtknecht and Smolinski saw their title aspirations suffer heavy blows in Scheessel following a collision in the Grand Final that resulted in the British rider being disqualified – and, therefore, limited to thirteen points for fifth – while an injured Smolinski trailed home fourth in the re-run as Fienhage followed Harris across the line to take the championship lead from Wajtknecht and set up this coming Sunday’s thrilling finale.

Of course, while the focus will predominantly be on the leading championship contenders, they are by no means the only riders who will be aiming to make their presence felt at the front. Dutchman Dave Meijerink – who currently lies fifth in the points – knows he needs to remain in the top six to earn an automatic starting position for next year and British veteran Andrew Appleton, who is holding that all-important sixth position, will want to build on his podium finish in Scheessel to guarantee his place in next season’s elite.

Both riders’ main threat to their top-six status should come from Mathias Trésarrieu who sits seventh, although after winning the FIM Long Track Challenge earlier this month the young Frenchman has already booked his place behind the tapes for 2026 and as a result may not be quite as determined to pull back the six-point deficit to Appleton. The inclusion of newcomers such as Patrick Kruse, Fabian Wachs, Jake Mulford, William Kruit plus Nynke Sijbesma as a female reserve rider is sure to add an extra ingredient to the season finale.

The action in the Speed Centre Roden is scheduled to get under way at 14:00 (local time) with the first of fifteen Heats.