First pole position, maiden race win and first overall victory for Maximilian Spies. Tom Koch and Jordi Tixier on the podium. Max Nagl remains championship leader, despite DNF.
Maximilian Spies (D/KTM Kosak Racing) achieved several milestones en route to overall victory at the ADAC MX Masters in Tensfeld. After three races, watched by roughly 11,000 delighted spectators, the class rookie ended the weekend ahead of Tom Koch (D/KTM Kosak Racing) and Jordi Tixier (F/KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek). Max Nagl (D/KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek) brought a difficult weekend to a close with a race win. However, a technical issue meant he was unable to finish the opening race and consequently saw his lead at the top of the table shrink.
Maximilian Spies laid the foundation for a successful weekend with his first pole position in qualifying. Noah Ludwig (D/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) took the Red Bull Holeshot in Saturday’s opening race. Max Nagl (D/KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek) also made it round the first corner well, but was then forced out of the race on the third straight with a broken rear wheel. Jakub Teresak (CZ/Enduro Koch Racing), Spies and brothers Tim Koch (D/VisuAlz Production) and Tom Koch slotted in behind Ludwig at the head of the field. Spies soon worked his way to the front and took the lead on lap three. Once Koch had climbed into second place, he upped his pace and tried to close the gap to Spies. Teresak retired after ten laps, which saw Sterry (GB/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) and his team-mate Lukas Platt (D) move into the top five. One lap later, however, Jordi Tixier overtook Platt to take fifth place. Rookie Spies held his nerve to claim his first race win in the ADAC MX Masters, ahead of Koch, Ludwig, Sterry and Tixier.
On Sunday, Tixier set himself up beautifully for race two with the Red Bull Holeshot, while Koch and Nagl found themselves stuck in the pack. A small mistake from Tixier saw Sterry take the lead for three laps, before the Frenchman hit back. Tixier kept his nose in front in a thrilling three-way battle at the head of the field, and went on to take his second race win of the season. Championship rivals Koch and Nagl were wheel to wheel in the final few laps, with Koch just gaining the upper hand to finish fourth.
Nagl lined up for race three with some fire in his belly and promptly took the Red Bull Holeshot ahead of Teresak, Sterry and Koch. He then set about opening a small gap, before Koch took second place on lap three. Spies and Tixier were initially forced to fight their way back towards the front of the field in race three. Spies recovered to take his place in the top five by the third lap. Koch set off in pursuit of Nagl, but the leader was setting a fearsome pace. Lap five saw Spies pass Teresak to take fourth, after which he slowly but surely closed in on Sterry. With three laps remaining, Spies pulled off a successful attack on the Brit to take third place. Nagl extended his lead in the closing stages to claim a lights-to-flag victory, followed by Koch, Spies, Sterry and Tixier, who had taken fifth place in the middle of the race.
In the event classification, three podium finishes for Spies saw him end the weekend five points clear of Koch, Tixier, Sterry and Ken Bengtson (S). Nagl was sixth overall and conceded no fewer than 21 points to Koch. However, he still leads the championship by ten points.
“That was an awesome weekend! All three races were exciting. I felt good on the track from the word go and wanted to take overall victory in Tensfeld for the third time in a row, despite having stepped up a class. I lost my radiator cap in race three, which meant I then lost my cooling water, but my KTM ran well despite that. That only makes me all the happier to have claimed the first overall victory of my career in this class,” said a beaming Maximilian Spies at the presentation ceremony.
“That was a tough weekend for me: technical issues and a DNF in race one, a poor start in race two, then a crash later in the race. In the third race, I then successfully managed to limit the damage with a lights-to-flag victory. Sometimes these things happen in motorsport, and I would like to thank my team for the good support. I will now head to Holzgerlingen with a positive mindset,” said Max Nagl.
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. All the weekend’s results can be found online at adac.de/mx-masters.
