Roc and roll at ADAC
By Alex Hodgkinson on 3rd Aug 12
Ken Roczen came, saw and conquered. Taking advantage of the summer break in the AMA Outdoor National schedule to chill out in his homeland courtesy of Fox Germany, the 2011 world MX2 champion stormed to an emphatic double win in the ADAC Masters round at Gaildorf as he raced a 450 for the first time.
But equally impressive was comeback boy, Max Nagl, who ran down the teenager in the first moto before lappers got in the way.
"I'm here to have fun and it's the first time I've raced a 450, so I just concentrated on setting consistent laps,” enthused Roczen after his perfect weekend, adding, "But the new 450 KTM is the hammer!”
Both wins came from gate to chequered flag, but the large crowd were kept on their toes as Nagl, pushed out at turn one each time after risking a central gate, set fastest lap as he reeled in Kenny several times in race one: "We were in the lappers pretty quick. The blue flags were out, but it's not easy for them to realise there are two riders coming through. And they were racing for points!” Good points too – Valentin Guillod, sixth finisher of 40 starters, was lapped!
Such was the pace of the leaders that third finisher Xavier Boog crossed the line almost half a minute down on Nagl. The French factory man looked like he lost a pound and found a tanner on the moto podium and declared: "I have to get out of the gate and race with them next time.”
And he did just that, at least he started second, tagged Roczen for a lap and dug deep to stay with Nagl after Max slammed past through the rhythm section a few laps in. It was wheel-to-wheel through the final laps. In the end a lapper decided matters as he took Nagl's line through the final turn and Boog nipped past to collect second by seven-thousandths of a second.
Nearly a minute back Marcus Schiffer, having celebrated his 25th in the famous beer tent last Friday, was a clear-cut fourth each time to extend his series lead and can already consider himself champion elect. With the next round in the Dutch sand at Emmen, neither Filip Neugebauer nor Romain Febvre, the only riders still even with a mathematical chance of beating him, can hardly expect to record the podium placings they need to stay in the hunt.
The support races were dominated by Suzuki – Jeremy Seewer and Brian Hsu were in a class of their own in the Youngsters and Junior Cup, respectively.
ADAC MASTERS CHAMPS
Rd 6 – Gaildorf
OVERALL: 1 Ken Roczen (D - Red Bull KTM) 1-1, 2 Xavier Boog (F - Pfeil Kawasaki) 3-2, 3 Max Nagl (D - Red Bull KTM) 2-3, 4 Marcus Schiffer (D - Silent Sport Suzuki) 4-4, 5 Filip Neugebauer (CZ - Pfeil Kawasaki) 4-6, 6 Romain Febvre (F - Bodo Schmidt KTM) 8-5, 7 Tim Gajser (Slo - Silver Action KTM) 7-7, 8 Günther Schmidinger (A - Mibag Honda) 9-8, 9 Dennis Baudrexl (D - Cofain KTM) 11-9, 10 Valentin Guillod (CH - Scott KTM) 6-15
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Schiffer 263 points, 2 Neugebauer 176, 3 Febvre 174, 4 Boog 139, 5 Dennis Ullrich (D - Sarholz KTM) 138, 6 Stefan Kjer Olsen (DK - MoTeC Yamaha) 129,...
