What a thrilling ADAC MX Masters race weekend at the MSC Drabenderhöhe-Bielstein eV! The 40 entrants in both the top flight and in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup had plenty of exciting wheel-to-wheel scraps on Race Sunday in Bielstein in North Rhine-Westphalia and had the estimated 7,300 fans on the edge of their seats until just before the very end. ADAC MX Masters front-runner Dennis Ullrich (23, KTM Sarholz Racing Team) did particularly well, impressing the crowds not once but twice with his performance. First, as the winner of two races and subsequent victor on the day and then as a two-time Red Bull Holeshot winner. Ulle: “I'm now being more relaxed about the races, because I'm well prepared. I don't take any risks but ride intelligently. Bielstein is one of the more difficult tracks for me, as the ground is very unstable. Your front wheel can easily slip away, which you need to avoid at all costs. So, I'm very happy with the result and delighted to be able to extend my lead in the standings. This race weekend was just the ticket as far as I'm concerned.” Czech Republic rider Jaromir Romancik (26, JD 191 KTM Racing Team) placed second. Angus Heidecke (27, KTM Sarholz Racing Team) was third on the day at the 1.655-km Bielstein circuit in the forest.

The race weekend did not go particularly well, though, for Jens Getteman (23, BEL, Monster Energy Kawasaki Elf Team Pfeil), who is currently second in the standings. The Belgian had an exciting race in the first round, seeing off the competition to finally finish second. However, the 23-year-old was involved in a crash immediately after the start of the second race and had to fight hard afterwards as a result. He finally placed 12th. As far as the standings on the day go, his finishes secured him a good fifth place, and Getteman is still in second place overall in the rankings. Highlights from the ADAC MX Masters in Bielstein will be featured by Motorvision TV on July 23rd at 3.55pm and by Sport1+ on June 24th at 10.30am.

ADAC MX Youngster Cup

Two ADAC MX Youngster Cup riders were particularly happy with their results at the end of the race weekend in Bielstein. After his success in qualifying on Saturday, Czech rider Martin Krc (21, Sturm Racing Team, KTM) was delighted with victory on the day on Sunday. Having secured P4 in Race 1 and second place in Race 2, he finished on the top rung of the podium as the winner of Class 2. "My best time in qualifying gave me a big boost, and I'm very relieved that I was able to assert myself so successfully in the second race. I improved my speed relatively quickly. I reduced the lead that Tom Koch has had up until now and have finally overtaken him. What a great result!" said the 21-year-old. Championship leader Tom Koch (19, KTM Sarholz Racing Team) was just as relieved. After having taken the lead in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup after his victory on the day at the last ADAC MX Masters meeting in Mölln, he finished third in Race 1 and second in Race 2. By finishing second overall, Koch gained vital points towards consolidating his position at the top. Winner of Race 1, Austrian Michael Sandner (18, Thermotec-Racing, KTM), was third.

Local rider Lukas Platt (20, DW Racing Team, KTM) was a bit down-hearted after Race Sunday at his home track. The master carpenter from Leverkusen had intended to place in the Top 15, but only reached P19 in the end. "Things went really well in the qualifying session, but I was hit by bad luck twice today. I fell in both races and had to work my way forwards from the back each time. It ought to have been a whole lot better. I now intend to work hard at improving my starts and try to approach races in a more relaxed fashion in future," said the 20-year-old, who has now slipped down the standings from P12 to P14 after the weekend in Bielstein.

Ladies Cup

The race weekend in the Ladies Cup revolved mainly around the three world championship riders, Courtney Duncan, Larissa Papenmeier and Nicky van Wordragen. New Zealand's Duncan, who currently leads the women's motocross world championship, took P1 in both races immediately after the start and secured the win twice. As a result, the 20-year-old also won the daily standings. Duncan: "I didn't prepare for Bielstein, as I see this event as training for my next world championship outing. It was a lot of fun. I really found the support of the spectators extremely fascinating. I've never seen so many fans at an MX event apart from in the world championship. Her German rival, Papenmeier, who currently ranks fifth in the WMX, finished second in both races and in the day's ranking. Dutch rider van Wordragen took two third places and secured the trophy for third overall.

Preview

On 15th and 16th July, the ADAC MX Masters will head to Tensfeld in the north of Germany where a special milestone will be celebrated, as the 100th ADAC MX Masters meeting will be staged this year at MCE Tensfeld eV which is located about 50 kilometres from Lübeck. The North German club has organised events for the ADAC MX Masters for twelve years now. In April 2005, the motocross elite went head-to-head in Germany's biggest MX sand pit for the first ADAC MX Masters meeting as hail and snow beat down. ADAC MX Masters rider Mike Stender (26, Team Castrol Power1, Suzuki Moto-Base) joins the line-up for this fifth race meeting of the season as the local favourite and is really pleased that the 100th meeting of the race series is to be staged in his home town in North Germany. Stender has grown up on sand and knows for a fact that you need to be extremely fit in order to be able to assert yourself there on the 1,850-metre Tensfeld track. The constantly shifting ruts and the unstable ground will make huge demands on the riders as they head north for a second time.