German MXGP at Lausitzring this weekend

Germany and Motocross

Germany is a very proud country, with sporting success in most forms of sport, be it Formula 1, Tennis, Golf, Football or even Motocross. Names like Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Boris Becker, Steffi Graf, Franz Beckenbauer, Bernard Langer have given Germany a lot of credibility in world sports.

Fortunately Motocross has not gone unnoticed as riders like Ken Roczen and Paul Friedrichs have both given Germany FIM World Motocross Championships.

Ken Roczen. Photo: Ray Archer image

Whilst Ken Roczen is the last rider to win a World Motocross Championship for Germany when he clinched the 2011 FIM World MX2 Championship, the previous German to win a World Motocross Championships was Paul Friedrichs way back in 1966, '67 and '68, Germany has often been one of the most important countries in World Motocross.

Friedrichs was the first of the German success stories, with World 500cc Championships in 1966, 1967 and 1968. Friedrichs was also a rider who clocked up 28 Grand Prix victories and until recent years was inside the top ten all time GP winners list (Mickael Pichon and Joel Smets both passed his tally), as will Jeffrey Herlings soon as he now has 28 GP wins.

As for Roczen, his 2011 FIM World MX2 Championship brought a lot of interest from the German public and as former German Grand Prix rider Pit Beirer once told me, the performance of Roczen really helped the sport in their country.

"On one side it was a pity Ken moved to America,” Beirer said. "He had really been seen on a lot of German television, placed no other German rider had been seen and the interest was growing fast.” (Editor: Before he went Senior he had one of the biggest Fan Clubs in Europe, with five fuull-time staff)

Of course one of the most popular German riders to never win a World Motocross Championships was Pit Beirer. Beirer had his share of success in Germany, winning a 125cc GP at the Reil circuit in 1991 and a 250cc GP at the Gaildorf circuit in 1997. Unfortunately, at the same Gaildorf circuit in 1999 Beirer would have a bad day and lose his chance to be World Motocross Champion.

Pit Beirer:  "I always enjoyed racing at my home Grand Prix. I was lucky to win some races and GPs, and the German crowd was always supportive. I know for any German rider it was important to show your best form at home and try and give the crowd something.”

Max Nagl. Photo: Youthstream image

Present German GP rider Max Nagl has also contributed with his four Grand Prix victories and successful Motocross of Nations appearance in 2012. Nagl, like Beirer, is a fighter who never gives up and that is why he is so popular within the Grand Prix paddock and around the World.

Other names like Adolf Weil, Willy Bauer, Rolf Dieffenbach, Roland Diepold, all had multiple GP victories, while another bunch of riders clicked up single GP wins, those being Siegfrid Bauer, Arno Drechsel, Bernd Eckenbach, Fritz Köbele, Klaus-Bernd Kreutz, Dietmar Lacher, Hans Maisch and Fritz Schneider.

Lausitzring

This weekend at the beautiful Lausitzring circuit Nagl will try and continue his quest to win another Grand Prix. With the circuit new to all riders anything is possible and you can be sure the German public will arrive with air horns screaming into the air with huge enthusiasm for the local riders.

Circuits like Gaildorf, Teutschental, Bielstein, Beuern or Holzgerlingen have given the FIM World Motocross Championships special moments, but this year we turn our attention to a new venue, and a place that will once again give the 2013 FIM World Motocross Championships a feeling of change, while we also continue with some of the best old school circuits in Europe.

"We are very happy to have Lausitzring involved,” Giuseppe Luongo mentioned earlier in the season. "We need to have circuits like this one, and also like we had in Qatar. I am from the era of the 1980s and I love the old school circuits, but we also have to look at the future and these facilities are important for the whole package of the FIM World Motocross Championships.”

A new circuit always attracts a lot of attention and there is no doubt on 28 July the spectators will come to witness another turn of history as we enjoy this very professional circuit.