European Motoball Championship
Many countries in mainland Europe have two primary passions in life, motorcycle racing and football.
Obviously it was only a matter of time before they combined the two, the resulting marriage is called Motoball.
The European Championship Motoball series got underway in Kuppenheim (Germany) on Wednesday 20 May with the pre-rounds. All teams faced several matches to gain points and finish among the best 4 placed.
The matches on Saturday decided who was playing for the Semi Final, (place 3 and 4), or the Final for the Championship title.
The four teams which arrived in the Semi Finals were Germany and France and Russia and Belarus. Germany won the match with France 4-0 and Russia won the match with Belarus 11-2. France and Belarus played a match for the 3rd and 4th place and France won 11-2.
“The final was a real thriller between Russia and Germany”, states Mr Martin de Graaff, FIM Europe first vice president, who attended the event during the last two days. “Every time one of the teams scored, shortly after the other did the same. Even after two supplementary 10 minute periods, the result stayed equal. After the penalties the German team could score one point more. Final standing was 6-5 to Germany.
“This event was particularly successful, and there were more than 10.000 spectators in total”, adds Mr de Graaff.
Next year the European Championship of Motoball wil take place in Budel (The Netherlands).
