Led by an unapproachable Romano Hummel from Hoogkerk, the Dutch team won the world title for national teams during the FIM Long Track of Nations.
On Sunday in Roden, Hummel formed a team with his fellow fighters Dave Meijerink from Schuinesloot, Jannick de Jong from Gorredijk and Mika Meijer from Winschoten. That foursome defeated the German national team in the final on the track in Een. Germany defended its world title during the Long Track of Nations, but was ultimately unable to cope with the Dutch drivers.
The German foursome was led by Martin Smolinski, who had become the individual world long track champion a week ago. He was at the start with Erik Riss, Jörg Tebbe and Stephan Katt. This experienced and strong team reached the final after the heats, just like the Netherlands, but with fewer points than Hummel and associates.
Romano Hummel is in brilliant form
Hummel, who struggled with his form and motivation earlier this season, is back in brilliant form. In Roden he referred Smolinski to second place in the final, while Meijerink, the national ONK champion, came third. They were followed respectively by Erik Riss, Mika Meijer in fifth for the Netherlands and Jörg Tebbe on behalf of the eastern neighbors. This meant that the Netherlands had also trumped Germany in terms of points in the final and could call themselves the new long track world champion for national teams.
That success was already announced in the heats due to the strong riding of the Dutch. The Groningen Hummel won all the competitions he participated in in Roden. This gave the Dutch team 64 points before the final, with nine more points added after the final race. Germany started the final with 57 points and then added six more.
British strongest in the battle for bronze
The British team was the strongest in the battle for bronze. Chris Harris, Andrew Appleton, Zach Wajtknecht and Paul Hurry stayed ahead of Finland, who ended up outside the podium. The Finns appeared at the start with Tero Aarnio, Henri Ahlbom, Jesse Mustonen and Topi Mustonen. Due to the heavy rain on Saturday evening in particular, which meant that the track had not completely dried, the organizing Foundation Motorsport Roden was faced with some delays in the program. But that had no major consequences for the course of the match.
A total of seven countries participated in the FIM Long Track of Nations. These were also the Czech Republic, Denmark and France. They finished after the countries already mentioned in that order in the final rankings.