MXGP of Germany at Teutschenthal this weekend

Friday 21 September: Germany has a great history with the sport of Motocross, going all the way back to 1960's and 70's when riders like the late Paul Friedrichs and Adolf Weil were regular Grand Prix winners. Geoff Meyer writes for Youthstream.

In recent years it has been more up to riders like Pit Beirer, Max Nagl and Ken Roczen to hold up for fort for Team Germany.Of course the greatest German rider was Friedrichs, with his three World 500cc Championships and 28 Grand Prix victories. Friedrichs, who unfortunately recently passed away, was a man before his time, showing brilliant style and a ruthless manner on the track.

In the 1970s Weil also proved to be a tough character, winning six Grand Prix's, three in the 250cc class and three in the 500cc class. It wasn't until Pit Beirer came along in the 1990's that another German rider became a regular GP winner. Beirer scored seven Grand Prix victories in his career, and his style was all action as he fought way above his fighting weight against big names like Stefan Everts, Joel Smets and Mickael Pichon.

Max Nagl collected his first Grand Prix win in 2008 at the Faenza circuit. It was a day KTM celebrated victory by Tyla Rattray in the FIM World MX2 Championship and also a day Nagl arrived on the scene as a serious GP contender.

After that GP victory Nagl won another three GPs, the last coming in Bulgaria in 2010, before a handful of injuries put him out of contention. Still a solid rider Nagl was dropped by KTM for 2013 and is currently looking for a new position in the Grand Prix paddock.

As for Roczen, the young teenager who moved to America at the end of last year, had a big impact on the Grand Prix scene in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Picking up his first ever Grand Prix win at the Grand Prix of Germany at the Teutschenthal circuit he has scored another 11 wins, the most coming in 2011 when he was crowned FIM World MX2 Champion.

With 12 GP wins to his name he is the second most successful German rider in the sports history, only behind Friedrichs and ahead of names like Beirer, Nagl and Weil.

Willy Bauer won four Grand Prix, Rolf Dieffenbach won three GPs, while Roland Diepold won two GPs. Other German riders who won GPs in their career are Fritz Schneider, Hans Maisch, Dietmar Lacher, Andreas Kreutz, Bernd Eckenbach, Arno Dreschsel, Siegfrid Bauer and, Frizt Kobele;, all won a single GP each.

Can Nagl or Roczen add to the Germany dynasty in Teutschenthal this weekend. Both will race the MX1 class, which means it is going to be a tough job as Italian legend Antonio Cairoli continues his recent domination of that class.