Five time World motocross champion Jeffrey Herlings of the Red Bull KTM Factory team impresses with a triple triumph in his guest appearance. Brent van Doninck drives to second place with a lot of fighting spirit. Max Nagl extends his championship lead with third place on the day in Tensfeld.

The guest starter and superstar Jeffrey Herlings (NL/Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) lived up to his role as favorite at the ADAC MX Masters in Tensfeld and dominated both the qualification and the three qualifying races. Max Nagl (KMP-Honda-Racing powered by Krettek) placed himself as the best permanent ADAC MX Masters rider at the weekend and further extended his championship lead with third place overall behind Brent van Doninck (B/JM Honda Racing).

Jeffrey Herlings decided at short notice to take part in Tensfeld and proved his class there by taking pole position as LS2 Best Qualifier and then winning all three races by a clear margin. On Saturday he won the first race with a start-finish victory against Tom Koch (D/Kosak Racing Team) and Brent van Doninck. In the second race on Sunday he snatched the lead from Red Bull Holeshot winner Dennis Ullrich (D/KTM Sarholz Racing Team) in the first lap and sped away from the field. Maximilian Spies (D/Kosak Racing Team) took second place from Nagl early on, but he did not let him shake him off.

In the last third of the race Nagl restored the original order and finished second behind Herlings, ahead of Spies. In the third race, Herlings again took the lead in the first lap ahead of Nagl, who won the Red Bull Holeshot, and impressed with his sand driving skills. Herlings won the race ahead of Nagl and van Doninck.

"I haven't started on dirt for at least a year, so my starts weren't ideal. But I felt comfortable in Tensfeld and had a lot of fun driving. The track was very worn, but that's exactly what I liked. I'm impressed every time by the great and professional organization of the series and its good tracks. Many thanks to all the fans for coming and supporting me from the side of the track," beamed Herlings at the awards ceremony.

After a leg injury, Brent van Doninck tested his performance under racing conditions for the first time. On Saturday he fell on the starting curve and was the last to start. With a lot of fighting spirit and skill, he drove up to third place in the strong field. On Sunday he also didn't get off to a good start twice and finished the first lap around tenth place each time. In the second race he came in fourth, and in the third run he moved up to third position.

"I didn't make life easy for myself with the starts, but it was a very good test of how fit I am after my injury break. I was positively surprised by my condition, even though my legs felt very tired after the third run," said van Doninck, delighted with his second place overall in Tensfeld.

At the start on Saturday, Max Nagl recorded tenth place, the worst race result of his season so far. First a stone got stuck between the chain and chainring, forcing him to make a short stop, then he fell while chasing after the following chase. But on Sunday he showed his usual strength and came second twice. With third place overall, he extended his championship lead over Maximilian Spies to 108 points. Adam Sterry (GB/Schmicker Racing) and Cornelius Töndel (NO/Schmicker Racing) did not have a strong weekend, but remained in third and fourth place in the championship. Tom Koch improved to fifth place.

"Championships are won on your bad days, I guess. Although here in Tensfeld I only had a difficult day on Saturday and Sunday was good. You could assume that Jeffrey would give us a lesson in sand driving. For the championship, it was another good weekend for me," said Nagl, satisfied with third place behind the two guest starters.

ADAC story Ray Archer image