Frenchman, Steven Goret, is 19 years old and competes in the French league for Club de Lamothe based in South West France near Bordeaux.
First, let’s wind the clock back nearly 20 months. The French speedway season starts in February and then Goret was only 17 yrs. “It was very good for me with good scores,” he says looking back positively to 2019.
And his speedway season was not just confined to his home country but took him to Gustrow for the U19 Championships and then on Pardubice for the 2019 FOGO FIM U21 World Championship qualifiers. There he got to go head to head with some of the best juniors in the world - Maksym Drabik and Robert Lambert. But at the same time, he also faced some of his rivals for this year’s competition. That included Sweden’s Alexander Woentin and Czech rider, Jan Kvech.
“It went well,” the Frenchman reflects, “but it is a high level of racing. I really like the Pardubice track,” he continues, “I am going to see the famous Golden Helmet race and I have always dreamed of participating in it”.
Like everyone else, 2020 has been a mixed year. But because the French season started so early, Goret had already raced four matches for Lamothe Landerron before the lockdown became came into place. In those matches he had David Bellego and Mads Hansen for teammates. But now the Dane, Hansen, will now be a rival to Goret on 2 October.
The French season limped ahead with a few matches in August and will conclude in October after the race in Pardubice.
And despite all the restrictions, the young Frenchman has also been able to race outside his home country. He travelled to Divisov, Czech Republic to compete in the semi-finals of the European U21 competition. He finished in a disappointing 10th behind rivals such as Kvech, Wiktor Lampart (POL) and Lukas Fienhage (GER).
But now he is just putting that behind him and focusing on a great performance in this year’s FOGO FIM U21 World Championship, “I made a big rise in power this year, but I will need to prepare thoroughly for this event. Every rider wants to win, but I intend to reach the semi-final, and why not the final?” he says with Gallic flair.
