Defending champion Martin Smolinski fired a clear warning shot when he raced to a commanding victory at round one of the 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann at Mühldorf on Sunday.

  • 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship gets under way in Germany
  • Defending champion Martin Smolinski is dominant on home soil
  • Zach Wajtknecht and Lukas Fienhage complete Mühldorf podium

Competing less than eighty kilometres from his home city of Munich, Smolinski was very much the local hero in the Rennbahn Mühldorf and on a sunny afternoon in southern Germany he produced a near faultless performance in front of a large turnout of passionate fans with just a single dropped point in his opening Heat the only blot on an otherwise perfect scorecard.

At one-thousand metres in length, Mühldorf is renowned for producing fast, exciting racing and last season’s vice-champion Lukas Fienhage from Germany – who won the title in 2020 – had the home fans on their feet as he kicked off his campaign with victory in the opening Heat of the afternoon from French racer Jordan Dubernard.

The last time Mühldorf hosted an FIM Long Track World Championship Final was in 2023 when Smolinski clinched the second of his three crowns. On that occasion he was beaten by Kenneth Kruse Hansen and the dynamite Dane put in a repeat performance in the second Heat of the day, taking a cool and collected victory ahead of the forty-year-old reigning champion before the opening block was completed with a win for Britain’s Zach Wajtknecht chased by Mathias Trésarrieu from France.

After retiring from his opening race, Dutchman Dave Meijerink bounced back with victory in his second Heat ahead of Fienhage before Trésarrieu defeated Finland’s Tero Aarnio and Smolinski took his first win of the afternoon ahead of Wajtknecht, resulting in a four-way tie at the top of the table with Smolinski, Fienhage, Wajtknecht and Trésarrieu locked together on seven points.

Victory for Daniel Spiller in his third Heat brought the German into contention before Smolinski claimed his second win of the programme and Wajtknecht defeated Fienhage as the pair moved clear of the chasing pack.

With only the top three riders following the five blocks of Heat races guaranteed a place behind the tapes in the Grand Final, the rising tension in the pits was unmistakable as the world’s leading Long Track racers fought for position.

The fourth block saw Fienhage avenge his loss to Wajtknecht in their third Heat and Britain’s Chris Harris – who had started the afternoon with a fourth, a third and a second – record a vital victory before Smolinski moved into a clear lead with his third win of the afternoon.

Win number four in his final Heat race ensured Smolinski had first gate pick for the Grand Final and Wajtknecht then booked his place with second behind Harris and the pair were joined by Fienhage who claimed his third victory to progress directly to the main race of the day.

The next five riders assembled behind the tapes for the Last Chance Heat with Spiller, Trésarrieu, Meijerink, his compatriot Mika Meijer and Harris competing for the remaining two places in the Grand Final and it was Harris – who was vice-champion in 2023 – who took the win with second-placed Spiller booking his first-ever appearance in a Grand Final.

With riders favouring the outside gates, Smolinski opted to start wide in gate four and raced into an immediate lead ahead of Wajtknecht before Harris charged down the back straight into second. However, as he piled pressure on the leader Harris suffered a technical issue on lap two and withdrew, leaving Smolinski clear to race to his thirteenth career Grand Final victory with Wajtknecht second from Fienhage.

The 2025 FIM Long Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo and HKC Koopmann continues this coming Sunday (13 July) at Marmande in France with tapes scheduled to go up on the opening Heat race at 21:15 (local time).