Defending champion Max Nagl from KMP Honda Racing powered by Krettek dominated the season opener of the ADAC MX Masters with three perfect victories in Drehna. Behind him, Tom Koch (Kosak Racing Team) and Adam Sterry (KTM Sarholz) completed the podium. And in the Youngster Cup class, Cato Nickel prevails after three eventful races. Next round will be held in Molln on April 13 & 14.
Nagl came into the season riding for a new brand and a new race team. However, his performance was strong as usual. In the opening race, celebrated on Saturday afternoon, he grabbed the holeshot and run away with the victory. Series returnee Henry Jacobi (D/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) was able to follow Nagl throughout the race but did not start an attack until the finish. Tom Koch quickly took over the chasing position behind the top duo with a little distance and was third without any threats. On the other hand, Jordi Tixier was running in ninth place until suffered a crash that ended in a DNF.
On Sunday, Nagl continued in the second race as he had started on Saturday. He won the holeshot and took the lead ahead of Sterry. Again Nagl controlled his lead until the finish, while Koch put Sterry under pressure at the end of the race, but was unable to pass the Briton. Jacobi fought his way up to fourth place ahead of Tixier.
To no one surprise at this point, Nagl took the lead at the start in order to achieve another wire-to-wire victory en route to a perfect 1-1-1. Tom Koch had moved up from eighth place to second place and started chasing Nagl. In the meantime, he was able to reduce his lead a bit, but Nagl countered and also increased the pace. Nico Koch held the third position until five laps before the end of the race, before being overtaken by Tixier and Sterry, one lap later Ludwig passed him, rounding out the top five of the race.
In the Youngster Cup class, it was a different story with three race winners through the weekend. Spaniard Oriol Oliver won the first moto on Saturday afternoon. The WZ KTM rider push hard lap by lap after grabbing the holeshot, and in the end, he won by a considerable margin of 15 seconds. Behind him, Cato Nickel caught Manrique Appelt for second in the final lap. Oriol´s teammate Mike Gwerder showed great speed in the first stages of the race while he was battling for the top three, but a crash put him back in ninth place.
Oliver couldn´t repeat his dominance on Sunday’s first moto. He had to remount from outside the top to fourth position after a small crash in the middle of the race. Instead, it was Cato Nickel who earn the win over Rasmus Pedersen and Mike Gwerder.
Things went even worse for Oliver in the third and final race. His chances to grab the overall win vanished due to a mechanical problem in the first stages of the race. Oriol was running first until this happen. On the other side, Mike Gwerder emerged with the win over Cato Nickel and Peter Koning.
A solid Nickel, from WZ KTM, took the overall via 2-1-2. His teammate Mike Gwerder went second overall by a 9-3-1, while joining them on the podium went KTM Sarholz´s Peter Konig with a 5-10-3. Oliver and Greutmann rounded the top five.
FULL RESULTS:
ADAC MX MASTERS OVERALL:
YOUNGSTER CUP OVERALL:
