2026 FIM Flat Track World Championship, Teterow © Jesper Veldhuizen
For the third time in the opening three rounds of the 2026 FIM Flat Track World Championship, a British rider racing for the VRX Dirt Store Ducati team climbed onto the top step of the podium, but this afternoon at Teterow in Germany it was Tim Neave – not his team-mate Ashton Boughen – who stormed to victory in the Grand Final.
So far this season the thirty-one-year-old has been playing catch-up behind his teenaged team-mate who won the opening rounds in the Netherlands and Italy, but on a scorchingly hot day in northern Germany it was Neave’s time to shine as he dropped just a single point through the Heat races – that were cut to six laps because of soaring temperatures – before dominating the Grand Final to claim a career-first win in the series.
The victory catapults him up to second in the standings alongside former champion Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) and with the pair now just nine points adrift of Boughen, with seven rounds to run until the series signs off with a double date in Argentina in October it is safe to say that the title fight is wide open.
In just his second race for his new team after sitting out the opening round without a ride, American former champion Sammy Halbert (OMT Squadra Corse Italiana – Picasso Engineering) showed the potential of the Swiss-designed OMT 450 project bike when he took maximum points in the opening Heat ahead of the Ukraine’s Stanislav Ohorodnik (Husqvarna) with Boughen back in fifth from a second row start as the short, fast Teterow circuit made its championship debut.
Argentinian Mathias Lorenzato, making his first appearance in the series since 2023, then claimed victory from Spain’s 2022 champion Bailo as defending and two-time champion Ervin Krajčovič (KTM Schruf – Zucco Racing) from the Czech Republic pulled out with an apparent mechanical issue on the opening lap.
Neave opened his account with victory ahead of Nikita Alyani (OMT Squadra Corse Italiana – Beta) from Germany to make it three riders from three different continents sharing the early lead, but the international tie at the top only lasted until the second block when Finland’s Saku Purtilo (Honda) led home Italian Daniele Tuzi with Lorenzato fourth before Boughen won his Heat from Czech racer Ondřej Svědík (KTM Schruf – Zucco Racing) with Halbert also fourth.
Neave’s second win, this time from Bailo, gave him a two-point advantage over the Spaniard at the halfway stage with a six-way tie for third between Lorenzato, Halbert, Tuzi, Alyani, Ohorodnik and Svědík showing just how competitive this sport is at its highest level.
With only the top ten riders after the Heat races transferring directly to the Grand Final, the pressure was on as Bailo opened the third block of racing with a win from fast Frenchman Sébastien Jeanpierre before Neave led home Halbert with Lorenzato losing ground back in fourth and Boughen took his second win of the programme, this time ahead of Dutchman Stef Hamstra (KTM).
Heading into the fourth and deciding block, Neave still led Bailo by two before another two-point gap to Boughen and Halbert, but while the leaders were looking like safe bets for the Grand Final it was incredibly close behind as the chasing pack attempted to secure a finish in the top ten and avoid the Last Chance Heat for riders finishing from eleventh to twentieth.
Lorenzato guaranteed his place behind the tapes in the Grand Final when he won from compatriot Santiago Arangio (Zaeta) and Britain’s Gary Birtwistle (Dirt Craft Powered by Royal Enfield), after a series of mid-pack finishes, ensured his direct progression with a well-timed victory from Halbert before Svědík forced Neave to drop his first point.
Having failed to fully recover from a no-score in his opening Heat, Krajčovič found himself in the five-lap Last Chance Heat, but after a fierce fight with Arangio in the early stages he broke clear to take second behind Britain’s Jack Bell (Triumph) as the pair progressed to the twelve-lap Grand Final.
When the tapes went up in the Grand Final it was Lorenzato who led out of the first corner as Neave pushed Bailo wide to take second before handing the position back to the Spaniard after Lorenzato appeared to slow him. With Halbert running fourth and Boughen fifth, Neave swiftly regrouped and repassed Bailo for second and as the leading pair began to pull clear, the British rider made a decisive pass to seal victory.
Halbert took third from Boughen – who scored the extra point for the fastest lap in the Grand Final – with Bailo fifth ahead of Krajčovič and Svědík with Birtwistle, Jeanpierre and Ohorodnik completing the top ten.
The focus now shifts to Donji Kraljevec in Croatia where round four of the 2026 FIM Flat Track World Championship will be staged next Saturday (4 July).
