Bielstein’s old-established circuit to the east of Cologne is the venue for this third ADAC MX Masters meeting. Temperatures here and in the whole of Germany may have taken an unseasonal turn for the worst but conditions for this round are actually ideal despite the cool weather.

Riders contesting the ADAC MX Youngster Cup kicked off proceedings on Saturday with their first qualifying and fought to post fast lap times in order to secure the best positions at the starting gate for Sunday’s two races. Michi Sandner (Thermotec Racing KTM/Mefo Sport Racing Team) in the first qualifying group set the best lap time of 1:48.119 minutes. The Austrian loves Bielstein’s forest ciruit, having won a race here last year. “The track is really great,” said Sandner. “I made one or two small mistakes on my fastest lap, so maybe could have even gone a bit faster. The goal, first of all, for the two races on Sunday is not to come off! A great deal should be possible with good starts.” Championship leader Rene Hofer was 1.6 seconds down on Sandner and will be ninth on the grid tomorrow.

17-year-old Marcel Stauffer (Kini KTM Juniorteam), another Austrian, was second fastest in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup. He was only eight thousandths of a second behind Sandner and was particularly pleased with his success. “I’m just recovering from an elbow injury and rode without my arm in splints for the first time today,” said Stauffer. “I never thought that it would go so well, but I really found my rhythm and got in a terrific lap. Getting away well will be important, and then I’ll just have to see how the race develops.”

In the ADAC MX Junior Cup 85, Constantin Piller (Mefo Sport Racing Team/KTM) set the fastest lap of 1:5855 minutes to finish ahead of Paul Bloy (Bauerschmidt KTM) and Camden Mc Lellan (Kosak Racing Team/KTM). “There was a lot of traffic out on track to begin with,” said Piller, who is sponsored by the ADAC Sports Foundation. “Once I had a clear run, I managed to post a decent time which remained unbeaten at the end of the session. As a rule, I generally like to ride on tracks with a hard surface and just love the circuit here at Bielstein, as you can imagine. My goal on Sunday is to finish on the podium.” Liam Everts (KTM), currently in second place in the championship, was 2.45 seconds adrift of Piller’s time and will only be sixth at the starting gate in Sunday’s race.

Max Nagl (TM Factory Racing) had to go all-out in the top class of the ADAC MX Masters, moving into the lead at literally the last second. Nagl left it until practically the end of the session to beat off competition from Vaclav Kovar (Becker Racing/KTM) and was the only rider to post a sub 1:47 time with a 1:46.895 minutes. “That was really close,” said Nagl after qualifying. “The ground here is very hard and slippery. If you want to be half-a-second quicker while competing at this level, then you have to be prepared to take a big risk. I wasn’t really happy about doing that and had more or less resigned myself to third place, but then I found some quick sections of track and pushed again. Things went really well, even though I had to ride along the last rut in the track. While it’s not absolutely crucial to come top in the quali, it’s obviously nice and shows you’re doing well. I intend to take two wins on Sunday.”

Lukas Neurauter (Cofain Racing Team/KTM) was the quickest rider in the second ADAC MX Masters qualifying group. The Austrian posted his fastest time quite early on which stood for the rest of the session. “The track is very demanding but quite enjoyable to ride too,” said Neurauter after qualifying. “I did really well and am looking forward to Sunday. Unfortunately, posting one fast lap doesn’t mean that things will also go well for me in the race. I don’t want to set my sights too high. Two decent starts and a couple of finishes somewhere around the Top Five would be absolutely fine.”

Henry Jacobi (STC Husqvarna Racing) expressed his delight at achieving third-best time in his group even before qualifying had officially ended. “I’m happy with my quali,” he told us. “The circuit here at Bielstein is pretty narrow, so we decided to use the 250cc bike. My lap time was absolutely okay. There’s no sense in risking a fall in order to gain one or two places in qualifying, and tomorrow is not just about one hot lap.”