Ducati history made in the FIM Flat Track World Championship

• VRX Dirt Store Ducati's Ashton Boughen wins Round 1 of the FIM Flat Track World Championship in Roden 
• Tim Neave steps onto the podium 
• Boughen claims Ducati's first FIM off-road World Championship category event win

VRX Dirt Store Ducati Race Team have made history with their sensational debut in the FIM Flat Track World Championship series in Roden.

The opening appearance for the newly formed team saw them become the first ever Ducati entry to take victory in any round of an FIM off-road World Championship category event.

It was Dutch delight for 18-year-old Ashton Boughen, who produced one of the biggest shocks in the history of the competition by winning on his first-ever appearance in the Championship, barely months after switching to the discipline. And completing a remarkable start for the brand new Desmo450 MX, Tim Neave was also on the podium in third place, the two British riders being split by former World No.2 Gerard Bailo.

Boughen collected the full haul of 26 Championship points as he clocked the fastest lap time in the Final, and the result also means Ducati sit top of the manufacturer standings after the opening round.

Both Ducati riders comfortably qualified for the Final on the front row of the grid, Boughen easing any nerves by winning his opening ride where he headed Bailo. After finishing fourth and third in his next two outings, he defeated Bailo again to win Heat 12 and end the qualifiers on 23 points, with only Bailo (26) and Jack Bell (25) scoring more.

Neave was also on 23 points after a consistent display which saw him open up with a third place before recording wins in Heats 6 and 11, and a fourth in Heat 7.

Gate selections for the Final saw the Ducati pair lining up side by side on the outside of the front row of the 12-rider field, with Boughen in gate 5 and Neave in gate 6. Boughen immediately raced to the front and into a battle with Daniele Tonelli, whilst Neave was under threat from Bailo as they contested third place.

After rounding Tonelli on the third lap Boughen had little time to relax as he immediately faced a fresh challenge from Bailo, with Neave clearing Tonelli midway through the 12-lap race. Remaining fully committed to the outside, Boughen repeatedly held his nerve as Bailo looked to make an inside move stick, and when Neave caught the front pair on lap eight the battle was firmly joined.

The ninth lap saw Boughen move decisively ahead of Bailo, who found himself under threat from Neave looking to follow through on the same line, and their battle enabled World No.3 Ondrej Svedik to close in and make it a three-way scrap for second place. However, the Czech Republic rider exceeded track limits at the start of the last lap as he went too wide, and briefly Neave held second place before Bailo re-took the position – before the Spaniard’s late bid to catch Boughen saw him fall short by just over a tenth of a second.

That meant it was celebrations for Boughen and the Ducati camp, with Bailo second and Neave third. Svedik was disqualified for his track limits transgression, which elevated Bell to fourth place whilst defending Champion Ervin Krajkcovic rescued fifth ahead of Tonelli.

Ashton Boughen (VRX Dirt Store Ducati #522)
“I don’t really know how it feels! It’s only my fourth go on Flat Track and I’m just having fun, that’s what I came here to do and the results are what they are. I’m really happy and I just want to keep improving, keep riding my bike and keep having fun.”

Rob Painter, VRX Management MD
“The first round of a new season is always an exciting and tense time, but after setting up a completely new race team from scratch and building new bikes, especially considering this was the debut race in FIM Flat Track for Ducati and it being Ashton’s debut as well, things couldn’t have gone much better!

Having Tim’s experience in the team is a real bonus for us. Tim is calm and focused to get everything possible out of the Desmo450 MX, and it’s really exciting to think that we know there is still lots more to come from the riders and the bikes.

The team in the pits did an amazing job. Tomasin R&D's Enrico, Pietro and Lorenzo made sure that the bikes were immaculate both visually and technically, their vast expertise and experience in the off road category is invaluable and when you consider that Flat Track is a new discipline to them as well, those guys really were impressive.

Ashton’s performance was spectacular. I said to him at the beginning of the day that we’ll start ticking off a list of his achievements in the Championship as we go, and to start making small goals that he can focus on like first race win, first Last Chance and so on… at the end of the day he came to me and said that he’d ticked them all off in one day!

It was a special day for Ashton, a unique way to enter a new World Championship discipline and I’m so pleased for him and his Dad, Brad.

I’m sure that it hasn’t really sunk in yet but that is Ducati’s first ever off-road FIM World Championship round win, which is something very special.”

World Championship Standings
1. Ashton Boughen (VRX Dirt Store Ducati)
3. Tim Neave (VRX Dirt Store Ducati)

Manufacturer Standings
1. Ducati (25 points)

After a three-week break, the series heads to Italy on May 30 for Round 2, which takes place at the famous Speedway venue of Terenzano.

Images courtesy of Jesper Veldhuizen