Max Nagl claims his third overall victory of the season, courtesy of two race wins. Valentin Guillod wins race two. Henry Jacobi completes the overall podium.
Glorious summer weather and thrilling racing in front of packed spectator terraces made for a fantastic race weekend at round three of the ADAC MX Masters in Bielstein. Max Nagl (GER/Krettek-Haas-Racing-Team) emerged triumphant in the event standings at the Waldkurs track, with two race wins helping him to victory ahead of Valentin Guillod (SUI/SHR Motorsports) and Henry Jacobi (GER/JM Honda Racing Team). Nagl thus extends his championship lead over Jordi Tixier (FRA/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) and Tom Koch (GER/Kosak Racing Team), who ended the weekend in fourth and fifth place respectively.
In Saturday’s opening race, Nagl was the first sprint across the Red Bull Holeshot line on his Husqvarna, before heading off into the forest section. He was followed by guest starter Valentin Guillod, who usually rides for the iXS hostettler Yamaha Team in MXGP, and Henry Jacobi. Nagl consistently pulled clear of the rest of the field, while the LS2 Best Qualifier Guillod kept Jacobi at bay. The leading trio crossed the finish line in that same order, although Jacobi did manage to close in on the Swiss champion towards the end of the race. Koch passed Elias Stapel (GER/Finkmoto Holzgerlingen), the top-starting privateer, on lap three to take fourth place. Stapel was then powerless to prevent first Tixier then Michael Sandner (AUT/Raths Motorsports) and Ivo Monticelli (ITA/JM Honda Racing Team) overtaking him in the second half of the race. Tixier went on to finish fifth, followed by Sandner and Stapel.
On Sunday, Jacobi was the fastest out of the gate in race two, ahead of Guillod, Tixier, Monticelli and Koch. Meanwhile, Nagl found himself in the pack after the opening lap. Leading on his Honda, Jacobi was unable to put any distance between himself and Swiss rider Guillod. However, whilst they were battling it out, this duo did consistently manage to pull clear of reigning ADAC MX Masters champion Tixier. On the tenth lap, Nagl passed Tixier to take third place and set off in pursuit of the leaders. Jacobi crashed at the start of the final third of the race, leaving Guillod to inherit the lead. Nagl had made it onto the rear wheel of his compatriot by the finish, but ultimately had to settle for third place behind Guillod and Jacobi. Tixier and Monticelli rounded out the top five.
Jacobi again took the Red Bull Holeshot in race three, followed by Sandner, Guillod, Nagl and Tixier. Sandner then crashed on lap three and slotted back into sixth place behind Adam Sterry (GBR/KTM Sarholz Racing Team). The first half of the race saw a fierce battle between the top three. When Jacobi and Guillod had a disagreement about who had the right of way after the finish line, Nagl took his opportunity and passed the squabbling duo. Tixier also benefitted from the situation and climbed into third place ahead of Guillod, who crashed. In the closing stages, the battle for second place between Jacobi and Tixier intensified. However, when Tixier crashed on the final lap, Guillod took third place behind race winner Nagl and Jacobi. Sterry finished fifth behind his team-mate to claim his best result of the weekend.
In the event standings, Nagl maintains his clean slate with a third win from three events. Guillod ended the race weekend in second place, ahead of Jacobi, Tixier and Koch. Nagl’s latest success sees him extend his lead in the championship over Tixier and Koch ahead of the next race weekend in Tensfeld.
“After the lights-to-flag victory on Saturday, I initially made life difficult for myself with a mediocre start on Sunday. The fightback cost me a lot of energy. In race three, I was already really tired after just ten minutes, and held back a little in the three-way battle. When the opportunity arose, thanks to the battle between Henry and Valentin, I took it. I feel really comfortable at the moment and am already looking forward to the fourth event this weekend in Tensfeld,” said a satisfied Nagl.
“I am a bit cross about the incident in race three, as I had the pace to take the win. Henry and I exchanged opinions after the race and cleared things up. On the whole, I am happy with the weekend and plan to race in the ADAC MX Masters again in Holzgerlingen and Gaildorf,” said Guillod at the presentation ceremony.
“The weekend in Bielstein was really mixed. In race two, I made a mistake whilst leading, and that cost me the win. In race three, Valentin and I had a coming together. However, I would put that down as ‘part and parcel of Motocross’. I had a lot of fun here,” said Jacobi of his guest start in the championship.
Replays of all the races from both days of the event can be watched as a complete livestream or as individual races, free of charge, via the playlist ADAC MX Masters Bielstein. All the results of the weekend can be found online at adac.de/mx-masters.
