Jeffrey Herlings impresses with triple success on his guest appearance. Brent van Doninck shows great fighting spirit to take second place. Max Nagl finishes third in Tensfeld and extends his lead in the championship.
Guest starter and superstar Jeffrey Herlings (NL/Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) lived up to his billing as favourite in the ADAC MX Masters in Tensfeld, dominating qualifying and the three races. Max Nagl (KMP-Honda-Racing powered by Krettek) was the best-placed regular ADAC MX Masters rider at the weekend. He extended his lead at the top of the table, courtesy of third place overall behind Brent van Doninck (B/JM Honda Racing).
Jeffrey Herlings in a class of his own
Jeffrey Herlings made a last-minute decision to race in Tensfeld, and soon showed his class by securing pole position as the LS2 Best Qualifier, before going on to comfortably win all three races. On Saturday, he led the opening race from start to finish, taking victory ahead of Tom Koch (D/Kosak Racing Team) and Brent van Doninck. In race two on Sunday, he passed Red Bull Holeshot winner Dennis Ullrich (D/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) to take the lead on lap one, before racing clear of the field. Maximilian Spies (D/Kosak Racing Team) overtook Nagl to take second place early in the race, but was then unable to shake him off. Into the final third of the race, Nagl gained his revenge and went on to finish runner-up behind Herlings and ahead of Spies. Nagl then took the Red Bull Holeshot in race three, but was soon passed on the opening lap by Herlings, who impressed in the Tensfeld sand. Herlings took the chequered flag again, followed by Nagl and van Doninck.
“It must be a year since I last raced on soil, so my starts were not ideal. However, I felt good in Tensfeld and really enjoyed my riding. The track was very churned up, but I actually liked that. I am repeatedly impressed by the great, professional organisation of the series and its good tracks. Thank you to the fans for turning up and supporting us trackside,” said a beaming Herlings at the presentation ceremony.
Successful comeback for Brent van Doninck
Returning from a leg injury, Brent van Doninck was testing his fitness under race conditions for the first time. On Saturday, he hit the deck in the first corner and rejoined the race in last place. However, with plenty of grit, determination and skill he was able to fight his way through the strong field and into third place. On Sunday, he again failed to get out of the starting gate well in both races, finding himself down in tenth place after the opening lap on both occasions. He managed to salvage fourth place in race two, before battling back to finish third in race three.
“I didn’t make my life easy with those starts, but that made it a good test of how fit I was after my injury. I was positively surprised by my fitness levels, although my legs do feel very tired after the third race,” said van Doninck, who was more than happy with second place overall in Tensfeld.
Max Nagl turns the tide
Tenth place in Saturday’s opening race was the worst result of the season so far for Max Nagl. He was first hampered by a stone that lodged itself between the chain and the chain ring, causing him to stop briefly. Then he crashed whilst attempting to fight back. However, he was back to his usual strength on Sunday, twice finishing runner-up. Third place overall was sufficient to extend his lead over Maximilian Spies to 108 points at the top of the table. Adam Sterry (GB/Schmicker Racing) and Cornelius Töndel (NO/Schmicker Racing) did not have strong weekends, but remain third and fourth in the championship. Tom Koch climbed to fifth place.
“I reckon you win championships on your bad days. I had a tough day here in Tensfeld on Saturday, but Sunday was good. We could take it as read that Jeffrey would give us a lesson in how to ride on sand. It was another good weekend for me in the championship,” said Nagl, satisfied with third place behind the two guest starters.
All the races from both days of the event can be seen as full replays of Saturday and Sunday, or as individual races via ADAC MX Masters playlist on the free ADAC Motorsport YouTube channel. All of the weekend’s results can be found online at adac.de/mx-masters.
