Throwing a speeding motorcycle weighing over one-hundred kilograms sideways into a long, arcing turn takes a very special combination of skill, courage and confidence, but it is something that has very quickly become second nature to Matteo Boncinelli (Beta).
The fantastically fast Italian, from the commune of Calenzano just north of Florence, is one of the major players in the 2024 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo, Blackburst and HKC Koopmann and at the tender age of twenty he is fully focussed on claiming his third FIM medal in only his third full year in the series.
With the fifth and penultimate round of the championship taking place tomorrow (Saturday 5 October) at Pardubice in the Czech Republic, Boncinelli sits just four points away from third and is carrying considerable momentum after dominating the previous round at Morizès in France.
His form in France at the start of September when he won all four of his Heats before leading home an international field in the Grand Final was nothing short of sensational, but Boncinelli’s natural talent on two wheels combined with the fearlessness of youth has earned him the respect of his much more experienced rivals in a sport where he is still a relative newcomer.
He got his first motorcycle – a minibike – at the age of eight after watching MotoGP™ on television and won multiple Italian titles before turning his attention to Moto3™. Just like his legendary compatriot Valentino Rossi, Boncinelli initially used Flat Track strictly for training purposes but when the costs involved with Moto3™ became too high he decided to switch sports.
Making his FIM World Championship debut as a wildcard at the final round of 2021 on home ground at Boves-Cuneo, he showcased his considerable potential when he finished an impressive tenth before embarking on a full campaign the following year.
After winning three of the opening four rounds of 2022 he went into the decider at Boves-Cuneo with the series lead, but a crash at the rain-hit finale dropped him to second and it was a very similar story in 2023 when a hard fall – again at Boves-Cuneo – proved to be the difference between gold and bronze at the end of the season and he missed out on the title by nine points.
A talented Speedway rider who came close to qualifying for this year’s FIM SGP2 Finals despite taking up the sport just two years ago, the FIM Flat Track World Championship title is realistically out of Boncinelli’s reach this season, but time is very much on the young man’s side.
“Flat Track is so much fun,” he said. “I love the speed. I am confident with my team and myself and it would mean a lot to win the championship one day because I make a lot of sacrifices to race with training, injuries and driving a lot of kilometres.”
The action at round five of the 2024 FIM Flat Track World Championship powered by Anlas, Kineo, Blackburst and HKC Koopmann is scheduled to get underway in the Stadion Pardubice – Svítkov on Saturday with the first Heat at 13:00 local time. The action will be streamed LIVE on FIM-MOTO-TV.
For more information on the FIM Flat Track World Championship click here.
