If you are looking for someone to throw a powerful motorcycle sideways at high speed, Martin Smolinski ticks all the correct boxes.

The thirty-eight-year-old German has well over two decades of experience under his belt racing various disciplines including Speedway – he won an FIM Speedway Grand Prix in New Zealand in 2014 – and Grasstrack, but it is his Long Track prowess that has earned him the ultimate accolade of FIM World Champion.

Smolinski clinched the championship by a single point in 2018 and then narrowly failed to defend it the following season before an accident in training in 2020 resulted in hip replacement surgery.

He was back in action in 2021 and came close to regaining the title, but was forced to settle for second. It is a result he is aiming to improve on in 2023 and judging by his form at this season’s opening Final at Herxheim last month he has to be considered a serious contender.

After winning his first four heats on home ground, Smolinski progressed directly to the Final, although a mechanical issue dropped him out of contention and a possible twenty-one points became just thirteen. However, the man from Munich has already put this disappointment behind him and is fully focussed on the remaining five Finals, starting this coming Saturday (17 June) in the Municipal Stadium in Ostrów in Poland.

“It was a nice event in Herxheim,” he said. “The retirement was a shame, but there are still a few World Championship rounds to make up the points.”
When he is not racing, the chances are Smolinski is thinking about racing and if not he could very well be surrounded by engine components as part of his day job or indulging in his passion for vintage cars and motorcycles.

“I am a professional racing driver and much more. I have an oil business and I am in the engine tuning business – my work revolves around motorsport.”

For now, though, his main aim is to replicate the feelings he experienced almost five years ago in Mühldorf in Germany where he clinched his first FIM Long Track World Championship and where this year’s title fight will again conclude in September.

“It was a wonderful moment to be able to call myself World Champion. Can I reclaim the title this year? Yes!”

Long Track fans who are unable to make it to Ostrów on Saturday will still be able to watch Smolinski and his rivals battle it out – live with the full series available as a Pay-Per-View broadcast via a livestream package on the Tapes Up TV channel with the opening Heat scheduled for 19:00 CET.
WATCH LONG TRACK LIVE HERE!