Ducati extend Flat Track Championship lead at King’s Lynn

Dirt Store Ducati Race Team rider Tim Neave has extended his FIM Flat Track World Championship lead after a tough night in tricky conditions at King’s Lynn on Saturday.

The sixth round of the series proved to be the first time this season that neither Neave nor team-mate Ashton Boughen reached the podium, although Neave consolidated his overall position with fifth place.

However, a late meeting downpour spelt bad news for Boughen, as with the last two races cancelled he was unable to improve on his position and was classified 17th on the night, both Ducati riders having hit trouble during the qualifying races.The meeting was won by Jack Bell, who took his second consecutive victory and is now the closest challenger in the standings, with Neave nine points clear having gone into the meeting five points ahead of Boughen.

Racing was delayed at the Adrian Flux Arena by around two hours due to heavy afternoon rain, although the track had been prepared with this in mind and staff were able to blade the surface and then apply dry material to enable the meeting to go ahead.

Neave was out in Heat 2 and he held off the challenge of the in-form Thomas Hunt in a race dominated by the British riders such that they finished over five seconds clear of their rivals.

Boughen had a tougher first outing in Heat 3 and he managed to make it through to fifth place having started from the back row, whilst his second ride saw him make better progress into third spot, although home wild card Adam James rode well to prevent Boughen moving up to second behind Gerard Bailo.

Neave’s second ride saw him finish third as Hunt and Bell led a British one-two-three, but Neave was firmly in contention when he impressively worked his way through from the back row to win Heat 8, he and James finishing ahead of Daniele Tonelli.

Boughen looked set to ignite his challenge in Heat 9, but fate would ultimately decree this would not be the case, and instead it set in motion a disastrous chain of events for the British youngster.

Initially all appeared to be going to plan as Boughen established a big lead in a race which featured several fancied competitors – but on lap three, the red lights came on due to a clash between Gary Birtwistle and Bell on the third bend.

Birtwistle was penalised and Boughen was due to start at the front of the reset single file grid – but he then jumped the start, which sent him to the back, and he was only able to pass Sebastian Thalheim to complete the race sixth, with Conny Ivarsson already having retired.

Neave entered Heat 10 just a point behind Bell and Hunt, but he was next to strike trouble as he fell on turn four at the end of the first lap when looking to take the lead from Tom Woolley.

He did remount as the race continued, but he was disqualified for crossing the inner white line when it may have been possible to recover a couple of points.

Boughen went into his final race still with a good chance of making the Final as he was only one point outside the top ten – but with the inside starting position on the front row, he lurched forward before the green light went off, and as this was deemed to be a second offence, he was disqualified from the race completely.

That was set to leave him facing a big job in the Last Chance, but he was not even afforded that opportunity as drizzle which had returned during the final block of races became heavier rain.

Track staff looked to apply more dry shale, but the decision was taken by the FIM jury that conditions were unsafe to continue, and the result was therefore declared based on the scores from Heats 1-12.

That was good news for Bell, who had edged out Hunt in a close battle in Heat 12 which turned out to be enough for the win on the night, whilst Bailo and Krajcovic took third and fourth overall to keep themselves in title contention.

Neave was classified fifth, which could well have been second but for the fall, whilst Boughen was restricted to just four championship points, a score he would certainly have been looking to add to had the Last Chance been able to take place.

It means Neave leads Bell by nine points in the standings with Boughen a further eight adrift, whilst Bailo and Krajcovic are also still in contention in what appears to now be a five-way fight for honours.

There are four rounds remaining in the series, with a two-week break before the trip to Hungarian venue Vasad on September 12.

Image courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen.