For many years now, the ADAC MX Masters has been known for bringing on young talent, helping them develop their full potential. Starting out as ten-year-olds, young rookies first get the chance to earn their spurs in the ADAC MX Junior Cup and compete against a tremendously strong international field of riders at an early age. Austria’s Rene Hofer (15, AUT, Kini KTM Junior Racing Team) is one such rider. He managed to lift the 2016 ADAC MX Junior Cup around the same time as he was becoming junior world champion and winning the European Championship. After securing all the most important titles on an 85cc machine, the 15-year-old now intends to prove himself on a 125cc motorbike in a number of series this season, including the ADAC MX Youngster Cup. This challenge represents the next important step in his career for Hofer. By competing in the ADAC MX Masters race series, the Austrian aims to prepare himself as best he can for his future international career. “I lined up in the ADAC MX Junior Cup in 2013 and have consistently improved. The race series is ideal for learning how to deal with strong competition and which factors are important to be able to contest the world championship. I can make brilliant use of the training for youngsters I’m receiving here,” said the teenager.

Many more former juniors will also be moving up into the ADAC MX Youngster Cup along with the young Austrian, including German riders Maximilian Spies (12, Husqvarna), Laurenz Falke (16, Zap Racing Team), Ruben Schmid (15, MX Handel Gibson Tire Tech Racing Team) and Justin Trache (14, STC Racing Team). The Slovenian Maks Mausser (14, Yamaha), the Russian Maksim Kraev (14, RUS, Garim MX Team, KTM) and Finnish rider Matias Vesterinen (14, KTM Diga Junior Racing Team) are also newcomers to the ADAC MX Youngster Cup which has been inundated with entries. Ultimately, performance will decide who gets to contest Class 2 in Europe’s most popular motocross race series.

But the ‘men’ in the ADAC MX Masters, in the top echelons of the sport, are also set to get fresh competition from the junior ranks. Five young MX talents, who placed among the top six riders in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup standings last year – reigning ADAC MX Youngster Cup Champion Bas Vaessen (19, Team Suzuki World MX2), Stefan Ekerold (21, Team Castrol Power1 Suzuki Moto Base), Luca Nijenhuis (21, NED, Monster Energy Kawasaki Elf Team Arrow), Cedric (21, KTM) and Nathan Renkens (18, Falcon Motorsports, KTM) – will be preparing to do battle in qualifying for one of the 40 coveted places at the starting gate. Stephan Büttner (21, Monster Energy Kawasaki Elf Team Pfeil) and Sven van der Mierden (21, Husqvarna SKS Racing NL Team) are also moving up to join the topmost category of the ADAC MX Masters. Büttner recently emerged as overall winner in the SX2 supercross class, while van de Mierden made his debut last year as a world championship competitor in Assen.

Three-time ADAC MX Masters winner Dennis Ullrich (23, KTM Sarholz Racing Team) will be among the top German stars in the ADAC MX Masters. The 23-year-old secured a win last weekend in his first preparatory race of 2017 at the international winter motocross meeting in Frankenbach. World championship rider Henry Jacobi (20, STC Racing Team), Christian Brockel (33, KTM GST Berlin), Dominique Thury (24, KTM GST Belrin), Angus Heidecke (26, KTM Sarholz Racing Team) and Mike Stender (25, Team Castrol Power1 Suzuki Moto-Base) will also be among those hoping to see their names in lights at the top of the rankings in this year’s ADAC MX Masters.

We’ll find out in just under four weeks’ time which MX talents can make the best first impression as the season opener of the ADAC MX Masters gets under way to the south of Berlin in Fürstlich Drehna on the weekend of 8th - 9th April. Some 270 riders from more than 25 different countries will go head-to-head at the Rund um den Mühlberg circuit. This meeting will be followed by a further six ADAC MX Masters events throughout Germany, so that each competitor will have around six months to win the international German MX championship.