The first day of the fourth ADAC MX Masters weekend in 2018 took place under clear blue skies on the perfectly prepared track at Möggers in Austria. In the meadows high above Lake Constance, a large crowd were treated to fast laps by top riders and to a thrilling race in the ADAC MX Junior Cup 85.

Saturday's proceedings in the ADAC MX Masters class were dominated by World Championship runner-up Jeremy Seewer (Wilvo Yamaha Offical MXGP Team). The Swiss MX star, who is using the race on the grippy grass track at Möggers as the ideal preparation for his next World Championship run, left no-one in any doubt about his ambitions. "I set a time of 1:40 minutes very early on in the qualifying session," said Seewer of his impressive performance. "But as I wanted to get under it 1:40, I kept trying and finally made it on an unobstructed lap. I didn't quite hit the limit, but it was fast." So fast, in fact, that no other rider was able to match his time, and with a stunning quali time of 01:39.980 minutes, Seewer was the only contestant to crack the 01:40 mark.

The home fans were delighted to see Austria's Lukas Neurauter (Cofain Racing Team, KTM) post the second-fastest lap with a time of 01:41.416 minutes. Neurauter, who lives in the Tyrol not all that far away from Möggers, confirmed his ambitions for the two races on Sunday with his strong performance: "A place in the Top Five would be a great thing. The home fans are fantastic and will definitely be pushing me tomorrow." The fastest rider in the first qualifying group was Sulivan Jaulin (Kosak Racing Team, KTM). The Frenchman was clearly pleased with his achievement: "Even though it's just the quali and ultimately only the races on Sunday count, I'm very satisfied that I've at last been able to show how fast I can ride. I've had a lot of bad luck this season, so hopefully I'll be up with the front-runners in tomorrow's race as well."

Max Nagl (TM Factory Racing) clocked the second-fastest time in this group, but the German injured himself towards the end of the session and was unable to respond to the Frenchman's attack: "I struck my hand on a barrier on one of the jumps. Let's see how the injury develops between now and tomorrow." Henry Jacobi (STC Husqvarna Racing) and Jeffrey Dewulf (Motoshop Desmet-KTM) were each third in their groups and will start from fifth and sixth respectively on Sunday.

To the delight of the home crowd, four Austrians were among the fastest six riders in the qualifying sessions for the ADAC MX Youngster Cup. Fastest of all was 16-year-old Rene Hofer (KTM Junior Racing) who left his pole-setting time to literally the last second: "As the track had been freshly watered, I initially held back. Eventually, though, I managed to get a really good lap in. The fans at the track have been great today, and I'm sure that there will be even more of them tomorrow. As for the two races, I'm hoping for solid starts in both; then a lot should be possible."

In the second qualifying group, Glenn Maier (Kosak Racing Team, KTM) set the fastest lap time ahead of Roland Edelbacher (Dimoco Europe Racing, KTM) and Michael Sandner (Thermotec Racing KTM / Mefo Sport Racing Team). Maier was enthusiastic about the Möggers circuit: "The track is really fun. In some places it has a lot of grip and great berms. I hope I manage two good starts on Sunday and at last come away with some decent results."

In the ADAC MX Junior Cup 125, Lion Florian (KTM) bested Filip Olsson (Team Diga-Procross, Husqvarna) and Simon Längenfelder (Pfeil Husqvarna Junior Team) by the wafer-thin margin of just 18 hundredths of a second. "The track at Möggers is really great," said the German enthusiastically. "At home in Erding, I regularly practise on the MSC Freisinger Bär circuit which is very similar in terms of surface and big jumps, so I feel quite at home here in Möggers. On Sunday, I'm aiming for two good results and podium finishes."

The first race in the ADAC MX Junior Cup 85 was contested on Saturday afternoon, and what a spectacle it turned out to be for the fans! Constantin Piller (Mefo Sport Racing Team / MSC Freisinger Bär, KTM) took the lead at the start and immediately set a fast pace. Despite not having made perfect starts, Liam Everts (KTM) and Camden McLellan (Kosak Racing Team, KTM) both quickly moved to the head of the field and put pressure on Piller in the last third of the race. "Towards the end, we were having to lap quite a few of the tail-enders, and it got really tight again," said the Bavarian teenager with some relief. "I was able to pull out a small lead in the early stages, but later on I saw that Liam was getting closer and that Camden was also pushing from behind. But I gave it everything I'd got and managed to wrap up the victory. A great start to the weekend for me, so let's hope it continues tomorrow."