Riss extends 2026 FIM Long Track World Championship lead with victory in Morizès

Erik Riss dropped his first points of the season on Saturday night as Morizès hosted the second Final of the 2026 FIM Long Track World Championship, but the German – a two-time champion – still dominated the Grand Final to claim back-to-back wins and extend his advantage at the top of the standings to ten points.

With just the deciding Final at Marmande in France at the end of September remaining on the 2026 calendar, time is running out for Riss’ rivals to prevent him adding to the gold medals he won in 2014 and 2016. Dutch rider Dave Meijerink and reigning champion Zach Wajtknecht from Great Britain – who are now tied for second – are leading the charge, just three points clear of 2020 champion Lukas Fienhage from Germany.

Following a hot day in southwest France, the five-hundred-and-thirty-metre track was dry and fast and presented a very different challenge to the one-thousand-metre Scheessel circuit that got the championship under way last month – although it was very much a case as business as usual for Riss who, one week before his thirty-first birthday, was a man on a mission.

Finland’s Jesse Mustonen got the nighttime programme under way with a victory from home hero Mathias Trésarrieu and Wajtknecht before Fienhage claimed a win ahead of Mika Meijer from the Netherlands. Riss – who won all five of his Heats and the Grand Final at Scheessel – then extended his 2026 championship win-streak to seven consecutive races when he led home Dutch former champion Romano Hummel with Meijerink ending the opening block on top from Norwegian Glenn Moi.

Riss, who has been struggling with a medical condition that affects his eyesight, made no mistake when he made it eight wins in a row to end Mustonen’s hopes of retaining a share of the lead and Fienhage then defeated Wajtknecht. Trésarrieu – making his comeback after sustaining a concussion in June – picked up his first victory in a dramatic Heat that saw Chris Harris, the 2025 silver medallist, disqualified for a false start and Hummel pull out with a puncture.

After Meijerink had taken his second win – this time ahead of Finland’s Tero Aarnio – to make it a three-way tie at the top, Riss moved into the lead on his own when he won his third Heat from Fienhage, Mustonen and Meijerink before Dutchman William Kruit claimed victory ahead of Hummel, Trésarrieu won from Moi and Harris and Wajtknecht defeated eighteen-year-old Patrick Kruse from Denmark.

Getting the fourth block under way with the best performance of his short senior career, eighteen-year-old event wild card Noah Urda from France – the 2023 FIM Track Racing Youth Gold Trophy winner – won from Wajtknecht and Trésarrieu then had the home fans on their feet again when he led Aarnio and Riss across the line.

Fienhage tied Trésarrieu at the top with his third win of the night before Harris claimed a crucial victory from Meijerink to double his points total to eight with just one block remaining to decide the three automatic qualifiers for the Grand Final.

A third victory for Meijerink assured the Dutchman of a place behind the tapes in the programme’s main race before further wins for Fienhage and Riss ensured their progression and Meijer kept himself in contention when he defeated Kruse, but Harris almost missed a place in one of the two Last Chance Heats when he was again disqualified for a false start.

This season there are two five-rider Last Chance Heats contested by competitors finishing from fourth to thirteenth with points carried over from the Heats and only two riders making the cut and it was Trésarrieu and Wajtknecht who took care of business.

When the tapes went up on the Grand Final for the first time, Meijerink was disqualified for a false start and from the restart it was Riss who powered to the front from the inside gate before checking out to win ahead of Fienhage and Wajtknecht.

The third and concluding Final will take place in Marmande on 26 September, six days after the FIM Long Track of Nations at Roden in the Netherlands.