With the Cremona brother securing a one-two in the opening heat and Péter Bodor failing to finish, the advantage certainly laid in the Italian camp, but they knew they had been there before only to fluff their lines when it really mattered and the Hungarian to secure all the points.

Heat two had gone to Massimiliano Cremona with Bodor sandwiched in second place between the brothers. It now all came down to who could hold their nerve.

As the F250 racers sped away from the start pontoon Massimiliano Cremona hit the front whilst Bodor trailed back in the pack and had to fight his way through. The Hungarian knew he had the speed to close in on the leaders and as he caught up with Alex Cremona the pair touched as they exited the third turn. It was just enough to leave the Italian stranded and for Bodor to take second place.

I’m gutted that it happened like that, as he came incredibly angry at me in the turn. Sure, there is contact, but we are not in cockpits, and it could have been dangerous.

With Alex Cremona now drifting onto the racing line the race officials decided to halt proceedings. As they frantically waved the red flags the racers decided to ignore them as they were all convinced that Cremona was not in harm’s way.

Eventually they all returned to the start pontoon where the Officer of the Day Pelle Larsson was waiting to explain just why he felt it was safer to bring the proceedings to a temporary halt.

With engine and drivers’ temperatures now cooled down, it was business as usual out in front with the sole remaining Cremona in the lead with Bodor just waiting to see if the Italian would slip up.

Not on this occasion though as that’s how they crossed the finish line with Britain’s Wayne Turner securing another third-place finish and with it enough points to take second overall, an excellent result for the quiet Englishman aboard.

Once the UIM Technical officials had weighed both the hull and driver Cremona spoke to PRW.

This is so becoming one of my favourite circuits. I remembered winning here way back in 2007 and how much joy that brought me and today is the same feeling. When we missed the practice on Friday, I really didn’t think this result would be possible, but we made excellent work and found good solutions. Now we can go home happy.

As for the officials stopping the race, it’s my brother out there, if I thought there was a risk for sure I would have come in. It would have been safer to run the race and not have a dangerous re-start.

For Bodor he was happy that he had manged to salvage a good haul of championship points after his mis fortune in the second heat.

Fighting for world championship points is more important than individual race glory.

The three racers who made their way onto the podium in Mora have now pulled away from the rest of the pack and although he might be in third place Turner is still in the hunt for the 2022 UIM F250 World Championship title as he is only five points off Cremona currently sitting at the top of the table and just three behind Bodor with just one round to go.

All images by Chris Davies/PRW

It was Cremona though that had not started the day in a confident mood after the team had discovered a fuel feed issue with his engine. It meant the Italian would miss the whole of Free Practice denying him the opportunity to fine tune his propeller selection. He need not have worried because he went with his ‘normal’ one.

I know that this particular propeller will give me the start that I need as when you are out in front in the first few metres it makes for a great race.

The crowds that were now lining the banks of the lake were also expecting a great race between Bodor and the rest of the field, but it was not to be.

After the first turn I was closed down and then hosed down, the engine stopped and that was it.

So, whilst the bitterly disappointed Hungarian was left stranded, the remaining drivers now screamed their way back down the straight with Massimiliano Cremona now out in front. The battle was on for second place and that went to Alex Cremona who had hunted down Wayne Turner in the opening few laps.

After the first turn I could see Turner just ahead of me, so I needed to make up some ground. I followed him through a few more turns then I crossed over just behind him and out accelerated him which got me past.

For Turner he quickly knew the game was up.

I thought I made a decent start but there is always room for improvement. The problem though was that I came out on the wrong side of the battle with Cremona, these things happen.

And happen they will again when the F250 racers recommence battle for world championship points on Saturday.

Photos: Chris Davies/PRW

In front of thousands of spectators all enjoying the beautiful weather ten competitors from all over Europe were battling it out on Lake Olšovec and amongst them were the Italian brothers Alex and Massimiliano Cremona. Last season the F-250 championship title battle was between Alex Cremona and the Hungarian racer Peter Bodor, with the outcome certainly going ‘down to the wire’. It was here in Jedovnice that the title was eventually decided following a mechanical issue for the Italian in the second heat. That left the Hungarian only needing to finish third in the final heat to clinch the title, which Bodor promptly did.

This time it was Massimiliano that looked all set to take victory with Bodor back in second place. His brother Alex though was having a weekend to forget. When he spoke to PRW Alex admitted that he was unable to tune the engine prior to the race weekend.

I already had some problems at home in the tests, but we thought we had solved it, but no.

It was certainly a very tense weekend for the team’s mechanics because try as they might they couldn’t find a solution even after changing two motors, two fuel lines, and one battery, if they could change it, they did but to no avail.

With Massimiliano Cremona now two hundred points ahead of Bodor with just one heat remaining the odds now looked in favour of the Italian finishing on the top step of the podium, but it wasn’t to be. Unfortunately for Cremona his engine stopped just a few metres from the dock, a small error probably due to the use of the mufflers meant he was now down in fifth place. Meanwhile Bodor was out in front ironically being chased by Alex Cremona.

So, in a repeat of last year’s final heat the Hungarian did exactly what he needed to do, although this time round crossing that finish line in first place was the priority, which is precisely what he did. Not settling for second place and securing those twenty valuable points in a season that might only have three rounds is a sure sign that Bodor is not about to give up his title without a fight.

Second place Massimiliano Cremona said after the race

We came so close to touching the top step of the podium, shame about the problems we had in the third heat.

Congratulations to Britain’s Wayne Turner in getting a very credible third place. A great achievement especially with Turner suffering illness whilst competing.

For Alex Cremona it certainly was a difficult race weekend

With many issues at least I managed to finish the last heat in second place. Being able to finish the weekend in sixth place in the championship allows me to stay in the race for the title and whatever happens I’ll give it my all to the end. We couldn’t get the engine to perform as it should, we don’t have to understand why. When we return home, we will do new tests to be ready for the next battle with Bodor.

Images supplied by Milan Spurný at Studio diSTy