Dominique Thury is a real joker of a dirt bike rider. He is rarely ever in a bad mood or down in the mouth. On the contrary, the 21-year-old from Bad Schlema is always quick to crack a joke and even laugh sometimes at his own ineptness. But no matter how scatter-brained he may be in his private life, when it comes to his sporting career, he turns from being the ditzy person who knows everybody and everything into an ambitious MX star with the goal of finishing on the podium always firmly in mind. 'Nique', as he is known in the motocross scene did particularly well in that respect last year. In 2013, he finished second overall in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup, was impressive as runner-up in the ADAC SX Cup and secured third place in the German championship.

Results that the young German from Saxony has been working on for years, as motocross featured very prominently in Thury's life even as a three-year-old: "I first had to learn to ride a bicycle, but I'd sussed that within four hours, so that I was then able to whiz around on a PW 50," said the motocrosser. Little Dominique then contested his first race aged four, and a year later, competed in the regional championship in Saxony. In the end, from 2002 onwards, the teenager was to become a permanent fixture on the podium in various championships, which led the schoolboy to move to Belgium at the age of 15 years to work more seriously on developing his motocross career.

"That was a very informative time for me, because I met many world championship riders with whom I was able to swap ideas," said Thury. Belgian mechanic Gunter Peeters, who gave the junior rider a home, still clearly remembers the time with the 'little scatter-brain'," as he calls him, telling us with a big grin on his face: "Nique is a real character with whom we've had many a good laugh. He once cleaned my motorhome and then forget to unplug the vacuum cleaner. He then drove off in it and wondered why everyone was laughing at him as he went down the road. Arriving back home, it then struck him that he'd been pulling the vac along behind him the whole time, causing one almighty din. There's always something going on where Thury is concerned."

In 2009, the youngster returned to his native Germany, finished school and got a contract as an MX driver with Monster Energy Kawasaki Elf Team Pfeil under team manager Harald Pfeil. "All my hard work and training appeared to have paid off. In 2010, I slotted straight into the Top Five in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup, which not only gave me a lot of motivation but also plenty of confidence to perform more consistently," said the motocrosser. As from this year, Thury has been competing with the 'Big Boys' in the Masters class.

The 21-year-old lines up as a local rider in the ADAC MX Masters at the track in Jauer northeast of Dresden. After learning to jump properly on the 1,700-metre Am Hahneberg clay track, the Kawasaki rider aims to use his home advantage to score points on his training track: "I know all the really tough bits and the table jumps better than any of the the competition and will definitely try to use that to my advantage and finish in the Top Ten," said Thury, full of optimism.

He is keenly supported in his motocross endeavours by his brother Terence, who is four years younger, and his mother Peggy. His mechanic Tobias Pfeil has also become an important figure in his life. Thury looks on the son of team boss Harald Pfeil not just as his best friend but also as something like a second brother. "Actually, it's very rare that I'm ever down, but if a race does not go my way, for which I only ever blame myself, then Tobias always knows just what to say," commented the Masters rider. And if that doesn't help, then he just has to have a bowl of great-grandma's goulash with dumplings - that's Dominique Thury's favourite food when he's not contesting a race.