Team Suzuki Press Office – July 21.
Rockstar Energy Suzuki riders Kevin Strijbos, Glenn Coldenhoff and Jeremy Seewer filled the podium at round five of the German ADAC Masters Motocross Championship at Tensfeld in northern Germany on Sunday as Brian Hsu remains in the lead of ADAC MX Youngster Cup series.
The venue, located some 80 km outside Hamburg, offers brutal sandy layout that has long been a fixture in the championship. Because of the tough conditions, Strijbos (Team Rockstar Energy Suzuki World MXGP) and Coldenhoff (Team Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe) were widely considered to be the favourites and both lived-up to the expectations.
Strijbos competed in the series for the second time this season. The Belgian Grand Prix contender finished the first race behind Coldenhoff, before storming to the win in moto two, giving him the overall tied on points with the Dutch rider. “It´s a nice win and a solid practice for the upcoming world championship races,” said the 29-year-old. “Let´s see, maybe there are more starts for me to come over here.”
Coldenhoff was to be found at the front of the pack twice, displaying yet another impressive set of motos. The popular 450cc rookie, fresh from winning the Latvian GP a week ago, extended his lead in the ADAC MX Masters classification to 41 points. He would have loved to take another victory hands down, but ultimately his goal is the 2015 Masters title 2015. “I want the championship, that´s why I have to look after my position in the series,” said Coldenhoff. “I’ve been building a comfortable points advantage and things are looking good.”
Seewer (Team Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe) finally coloured the podium all yellow. The Swiss talent, riding his familiar RM-Z250 against the bigger capacity 450cc bikes, went 3-4 to round-out the top three. Seewer, not the biggest fan of sand tracks like Tensfeld, reduced his points deficit on defending champion Dennis Ullrich to 10.
Meanwhile Ullrich (Team Castrol Power1 Suzuki Moto-Base) took fourth place on the day, putting icing on the cake for the Suzuki camp. The 21-year-old remains runner-up in the title chase with three rounds to go. The German couldn´t quite match the pace of his rivals, but excellent starts helped him to place in the top-five twice.
Brian Hsu is going from the strength to strength. The German-Taiwanese has been competing very successfully in past months, and the 17-year-old also proved he’s performing well in the sand. Even though he sees himself lacking the ideal physical condition, the former Junior World Champ took runner-up by winning the opening moto. Hsu now has a healthy lead of 72 points and well on his way to take the Youngster Cup title.
Tom Koch (Team ADAC Hessen-Thüringen Johannes-Bikes Suzuki), Dennis Wiemann (Team DIGA-Procross), Mathias Gryning (Kaduuz Racing) and Bas Vaessen (Team Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe) ended with sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth positions.
The support programme at Tensfeld saw Larissa Papenmeier (Twenty Suspension Suzuki) celebrate a convincing victory in the DMV Ladies Cup after winning both motos.
The next round of the ADAC Masters series will be held on August 8-9th in Ried, Austria.