Jeffrey Herlings wins with two lights-to-flag victories. Max Nagl defends his championship lead, Tom Koch is the top German. Storm causes event to be abandoned before race three.
Record Grand Prix winner Jeffrey Herlings (NL/Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) lived up to his billing as favourite in extremely varied track conditions at the ADAC MX Masters event in Gaildorf, winning both qualifying and the two races to take place. Pauls Jonass (LVA/Standing Construct Honda MXGP) and Tom Koch (D/Kosak Racing Team) joined him on the overall podium. Max Nagl (D/KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek) retained his position at the top of the table.
In Saturday’s opening ADAC MX Masters race, Jeffrey Herlings was first over the Red Bull Holeshot line in dry conditions, having previously clocked the fastest time in qualifying. The Dutchman, making a guest appearance, established himself at the front of the field and extended his lead over second-placed Henry Jacobi (D/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) to over 20 seconds. Jacobi took second place at the start and went on to finish runner-up, despite never really being able to distance the chasing duo of Jonass and Koch. Jordi Tixier (F/KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek) was also able to match the pace of this group in the first half of the race, but then dropped away a little as the race progressed. Koch, however, continued to put pressure on Jonass and passed him on the final lap to take third place behind Herlings and Jacobi. Nagl, struggling with a faulty clutch, had to settle for eighth place behind Boris Maillard (F/stielergruppe.mx Johannes-Bikes) and Maximilian Spies (D/Kosak Racing Team).
It rained a lot on Saturday night, making for a deep, soft and muddy surface on Sunday. Persistent rain made conditions very challenging for all the classes. Despite this, Herlings still managed to lead race two on Sunday afternoon from start to finish, putting a full 26 seconds between himself and the opposition. Jonass and Nagl took up the chase at the start, followed by Koch and Jacobi. Nagl managed to close to within a few seconds of Jonass as the race progressed, but was then held up by a lapped rider on what had become a single-rut track and consequently lost touch with the Latvian. Jacobi overtook Koch to take fourth place on lap five. Four laps later, however, he dropped back to tenth place within one lap with a smoking bike. Spies initially moved into fifth place as a result, but was then unable to hold off Simone Croci (I/Enduro Koch Racing).
Race three was cancelled due to the weather and track conditions. An undefeated Herlings won the event, ahead of Jonass, Koch, Jacobi and Nagl, who continues to lead the championship.
“Saturday was a lot of fun in the dry. Today, the conditions were very different and difficult. It was good preparation for me ahead of the coming world championship races. It is a shame for the fans that we had one race fewer, due to the rain. However, I am already looking forward to the next event in Tensfeld, where I will be racing again,” said a delighted Herlings at the presentation ceremony.
“After a poor qualifying, which meant I had a poor starting position, I then found myself struggling with a faulty clutch on Saturday. That was very tough. As every point counts in the championship, I tried to make the best of race one. Today, despite the difficult conditions, everything worked well. On the whole, it was a good day,” said Nagl, summing up his weekend.
All the races from both days of the event can be watched in a full replay or as individual races via the free ADAC MX Masters playlist on the ADAC Motorsport YouTube channel. You can find all the weekend’s results online at adac.de/mx-masters.
