Czech star Ervin Krajčovič (KTM) delivered a cool, calm and collected performance on Saturday night in Donji Kraljevec, racing to a commanding Grand Final victory and extending his lead at the front of the 2025 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by HKC Koopmann, Anlas, Kineo and Blackburst.

  • Ervin Krajčovič takes his second win of the season to consolidate series lead
  • Defending champion Sammy Halbert fights back from a crash to fifth
  • Czech one-two at top of 2025 FIM Flat Track World Championship standings

On a dramatic night in Croatia, the thirty-four-year-old – champion in 2023 – managed to stay clear of trouble and despite faltering in his first Heat looked in complete control at the front of the pack as he extended his championship advantage to six points at the halfway mark in the six-round series.

It was 2022 champion Gerard Bailo (Zaeta) from Spain who got the floodlit programme under way with victory in the opening Heat ahead of defending champion Sammy Halbert from the USA and Ondřej Švédík (KTM) from the Czech Republic who started the programme holding second in the championship, one point in front of Halbert and two adrift of Krajčovič.

Britain’s Tim Neave (Yamaha) won his first Heat from his compatriot Jack Bell (Honda) and Italian Kevin Corradetti (Yamaha) with Krajčovič only managing fifth before Germany’s Nikita Alyani won the third Heat ahead of wildcard Tom Neave (Zaeta) – Tim’s twin brother – and title contender Daniele Tonelli (TM).

Krajčovič was back on the pace to win his second Heat from veteran German racer Markus Jell (KTM) and fellow Czech Vít Janoušek (Honda) before Tim Neave claimed his second win of the night – this time ahead of Bailo and Tonelli – and Švédík won from Halbert and Corradetti.

At the halfway stage unbeaten Tim Neave led by a point from Bailo with Halbert and Švédík tied for third, but the leaderboard was shaken up with a dramatic third block of Heats that saw Janoušek, Krajčovič and Tonelli all claim wins. This resulted in a three-way tie for the lead between Tim Neave, Švédík and Bailo with Krajčovič, Tonelli and Halbert locked together in fourth.

With the top ten riders after the Heat stages transferring directly to the Grand Final, the pressure was on heading into the final block, but as expected all the major players progressed with Krajčovič, Tonelli and Bell signing off with victories and Tim Neave, Halbert, Švédík, Bailo and Corradetti all comfortably making the cut along with Italy’s consistent Michele Guerra (Husqvarna) and Janoušek.

The next ten contested the five-lap Last Chance Heat with Dutch racer Menno Van Meer (Honda) repeating his performance at the previous round at Meissen to win from Jell before the twelve-lap Grand Final brought proceedings to an end.

Švédík reacted quickly from his outside gate on the front row to move into an early lead, but the race was red-flagged after Halbert and Neave crashed heavily. With Neave unable to continue due to medical reasons, a staggered restart – taking into account riders’ positions before the red flag – got the action under way again with Švédík leading before Krajčovič began to pour on the pressure.

In an incredible display of courage, skill and mutual respect, the Czech pairing raced side by side before Krajčovič was able to get around his friend and training partner on lap five and open up an advantage he held to the flag with Tonelli overhauling Švédík – who got the extra point for posting the fastest lap – in the closing stages.

Battered and bruised, Halbert fought his way through from the back of the field to take fifth behind Corradetti and despite his exercise in damage limitation, the reigning champion now sits fourth in the points, twelve behind Krajčovič, six behind Švédík and two adrift of Tonelli with three rounds remaining.

Focus now shifts to the Eichenring in Scheessel, Germany, for round four on 23 August.
To stay fully up to date with the 2025 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by HKC Koopmann, Anlas, Kineo and Blackburst please download the Sportity App and use the password FIMFT to access Flat Track news.