Racing ReportNO. 2/12 I DECEMBER 2012 I www.motorex.com

MOTOCROss 3

Italy: Pasta, Amore and Motocross

ROAD RACING1 11

15 podium finishes in 17 races

BIKE 16

World Champion at the premiere

MOTOREX dOEsn’T MakE jusT pROducTs.BuT alsO wORld chaMpiOns.

Dear Readers,

At the beginning of the year it is always difficult to predict what a season will be like. It was even more difficult to predict what would happen in the 2012 season, because so many

innovations and changes were being introduced. For example, there was a new rule in the MotoGP class with the Claiming Rule Bikes. Has this change created more excitement in the class? Or will the introduction of the Moto3 class bring similar battles and exciting races as Moto2, which was premiered in 2010? New teams joined the Superbike world championship and some existing ones changed their manufacturer. Also, how would our partners’ new riders get on and how would familiar riders cope with the challenges of new classes and series? Now, it is the end of the season and we know what happened. There are so many successes to record – more than ever before!

We are sure you will enjoy this new format for the Racing Report and, above all, the more detailed background reporting – so much more than just the final results of the individual series.

But before you start reading, I would like to mention a few highlights. Some MOTOREX riders have managed to get their names in the history books!

• Ryan Dungey achieved the first podium finish and victory for KTM in the US Supercross Championship

• Ryan Dungey won the very first US Motocross Championship for the Austrian marque

• KTM won all Motocross World Championship titles

• Sandro Cortese became the world’s first ever Moto3 World Champion

• The Enduro Teams from Mattighofen, KTM and Husaberg have all (!) won Enduro World Championship titles

• For the Motocross of the Nations (MXON), with Max Nagl and Ken Roczen, two out of three riders on the podium were sponsored by MOTOREX. Furthermore, all races and all classes were won by riders who ride for Motorex.

Close co-operation with the teams, which also includes intensive product development work, has produced exceptional new prod-ucts and experiences. New racing oils for Motocross and road racing, which are considered to be genuine milestones, have been de-veloped as a result of intensive tests and evaluation with KTM in Austria and the USA as well as Suzuki and Yoshimura in Japan. On this solid basis and with good, successful partners we are expecting that this success will continue in the future.

I hope that you will enjoy reading the Racing Report and that it will tide you over the period when there is no motorsport.

With best regards,

Ronald KabellaDirector Powersports

EDITORIAL

A phenomenal season has ended

« 10 World Champions, 2 European Championships and at least 8 National Champions »

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In contrast to the previous year, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Rider Cairoli started the 2012 season with the red shield on his KTM after the first race and he kept it firmly in his grasp until the ninth race in Uddevalla (Sweden). He started the Swedish GP in pole position but he then had to retire from both races and sit on the sidelines as he watched his lead, which had taken so much effort to establish, evaporate into nothing. The GP in Sweden was a turning point in his season.

Cairoli: “Something changed in Sweden. My normal racing style is cautious – good speed but without tak-ing too many risks. After Uddevalle I said to myself: I’ll win every race from now and we’ll see what happens.”

His strategy was successful! The Italian from the KTM Factory Team actually won eleven of the last twelve races and, by the time of the Faenza GP – three races before the end of the season – nobody could catch him.

The 26-year-old rider from Sicily has now won six titles during his career. He has won the MX1 crown for each of the last four years but, before this, the former Yama-ha rider triumphed in the MX2 World Championship.

In the all-time rankings only the immortal Stefan Everts put Cairoli in the shade. Cairoli has won six World Championship titles, which gives him equal sta-tus with Joel Robert. Everts has won ten.

ANTONIO CAIROLI

DOMINANT IN MX1 FOR FOUR YEARs:

« I’ll win every race from now and we’ll see what happens. »

MOTOCROss

For nearly three decades now, it is impossible to envisage Motocross without Italy. And it is not World Champion Antonio Cairoli alone who is responsible for this.

It started in 1984, when Michele Rinaldi triumphed in the 125 cc World Championship. Six years later, another Ital-ian took the World Championship title in the 250 cc class: Alex Puzar, who also won the 125 cc World Championship in 1995.

His compatriot, Alessio Chiodi, won the 125 cc World Championship twice (in 1998 and 1999) and another Ital-ian won the 500 cc World Championship in 1999 – Andrea Bartolini. The same year saw an Italian triumph for the first time in the Motocross of the Nations.

A couple of years later, another Azzurro demonstrated his talent: Antonio Cairoli won his first MX2 World Champi-onship in 2005 and collected another four World Champi-onship titles for the MX1 category in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Still only 26 years old, this brilliant series has put

Cairoli among the elite group of Motocross riders, which also includes legendary World Champions such as Roger De Coster, Eric Geboers, Georges Jobé and Joel Smets. Just out of interest, in 2008, the year in which – for once – Cai-roli did not take top spot, the title was won by another Italian David Philippaerts.

Antonio Cairoli is very conscious of Italy’s importance in Motocross Sport and, in spite of his young years, knows the Italian riders of the last 30 years well. “I like Alex Pu-zar’s riding style. He was one of my heroes when I was small. Although I know Michele Rinaldi more as the man-ager of the Yamaha Team, I was riding in the same team as Alessio Chiodi when he won the World Championship

title. Andrea Bartolini also had a very good year in 1999. He won the World Championship title and contributed to our Motocross of the Nations win. The fact that David Philippaerts is another strong rider is ideal for Italian Mo-tocross Sport. This makes it even more popular.”

« I like Alex Puzar’s riding style.

He was my favourite rider when I was small. » Tony Cairoli

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Italy: Pasta, Amore and Motocross

MOTOCROss

5

Italy: Pasta, Amore and Motocross

MOTOCROss

By the last but one round of the MX2 World Champi-onship it was already clear that Jeffrey Herlings would be the new World Champion. It was not surprising that a big, boozy party was immediately organised in his home town of Gemert in Holland to celebrate the 19-year old’s first World Championship title.

And there is even more good news for Herlings’ fans. At the last meeting of the FIM Motocross Commission be-fore the Motocross of Nations in Lommel, the members passed a proposal to change Paragraph 01.2.2032 of the FIM rules. This states that an MX2 World Champion is only allowed to defend his title once – in the year af-ter he won the championship. This additional clause is now going to be abolished. “That would naturally be great,” was Jeffrey Herlings’ opinion, feeling confident. “This would even give me an opportunity of achieving the first MX2 hat trick, before I move up to a more pow-erful class.”

There were two reasons for introducing an age limit in 2010. Firstly, they wanted to prevent older riders from

reducing the opportunities for younger riders to enter the sport and, secondly, the clause was supposed to ensure that the champions change to the King’s Class as soon as possible. However, because this class filled up with top riders more quickly as a result of this, tal-ent was migrating to America. This was why the World Championship lost riders such as Marvin Musquin and Ken Roczen, both of whom pursued opportunities in the US. When confronted with the current rule during the summer, Herlings view was: “Perhaps I’ll have to emigrate to America in 2014.”

The ultimate decision about the change to Paragraph 01.2.2032 will be taken by the GP Permanent Bureau, which consists of the Chairman of the FIM Cross Com-mission Wolfgang Srb, FIM President Vito Ippolito and Youthstream President Giuseppe Luongo. However, passing the rule change is likely to be just a formality, because Commission President Srb has already spoken out clearly in its favour and series promoter Luongo ac-knowledges the marketing advantages.

MX2

Herlings wins his first World Championship title

further RACE RESULTS» The Belgian Ken de Dycker of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team and a team colleague of World Champion Cairoli in the MX1 class finished the season in a creditable fifth position. The 28-year-old Belgian extended his contract with KTM. Pit Beirer: “Ken integrated into the team well and proved to be an excellent team player. He can achieve a podium position with the new 450 cc and for us it was important to have a rider who did not jeopardise the harmony of the team. We see Toni as the rider to beat in the next few years and we didn’t want to put someone next to him who continually wanted to challenge him.” » Jake Nicolls from the HM Plant Red Bull KTM UK Team was unfortunate to miss out on a podium place in the MX 2 class, finishing in fourth position. » In the Swiss Motocross Championship for the MX Junior 125 cc class, Patric Schnegg from the MX-Team Schnegg secured the title of Vice-Champion. » Philippe Dupasquier finished second in the Supermoto Prestige Class of the Swiss Championship. Marcel Götz from Team Emil Weber was third. » The Pascal Geiser of the Monnin Trial Team took the title of Swiss Champion. Team colleague Cédric Robert was Vice-Champion.

With third place in the MX1 class, the 22-year-old Frenchman achieved the best Kawasaki result for years. Paulin confirmed that he had signed to stay with the Kawasaki Factory Team for another two years.

Jeremy van Horebeek is also delighted to have joined the KRT Team. This year the Belgian rode for the Red Bull KTM Fac-tory Team and came third in the MX2 World Championship behind Herlings and Searle. Van Horebeek left the CLS-Kawa-saki Team at the end of 2010 to move to the KTM works team. He is now moving back to the Japanese team to earn his first laurels in the MX1 class.

van Horebeek concedes: “It will definitely not be easy in the MX1 class. However, I am confident that Kawasaki is one of the best motorcycles in the field and can make my dream of being one of the top five riders come true.”

KRT KAWASAKI

Rookie of the year: GAuTIeR PAulIn In THIRd PlACe

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MOTOCROss

KRT KAWASAKI

Rookie of the year: GAuTIeR PAulIn In THIRd PlACe

History was made in the 2012 Supercross series. Ryan Dungey won KTM’s first race in the King’s Class and

finished in third position overall at the end of the series.

The KTM works team and Ryan Dungey already started to conduct extensive pre-season tests

at the end of 2011. At the same time, MOTOREX worked closely with the team to press on with the

development of innovative racing oils, thus putting down a milestone for 2012.

Two MX2 World Champions en-hanced the SX Lites Class in East

and West Coast races – Ken Roc-zen and Marvin Musquin. In

these classes, too, KTM saw a

successful end of season, with Roczen in second position (SX Lites East) and Musquin in third position (SX Lites West).

As soon as the SX season finished, the Outdoor National Moto-cross Series started. Here the races are not held in stadiums or halls but instead on normal Motocross tracks in a natural en-vironment. Ryan Dungey turned out to be the truly dominant force here. He won ten out of twelve race weekends, 18 out of 24 races, ten of which were in succession.

It is interesting to note that all twelve race weekends were won by Motorex drivers! James Stewart, who has been riding for Yoshimura Suzuki since the summer of 2012, which is also a Motorex Team, won the first two events. These two riders have therefore been able to achieve the best possible result for Motorex and both riders relied on the new Racing Pro 4T 5W30 Multi Esther FS oil.

The heroes of the American sX and MX series

AMA MOTOCROss + sUPERCROss

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When not training, sleeping or racing, Ken Roc-

zen watched Supercross videos. He wanted to be

able to ride like the best American crossers. The

18-year-old German is now well on the way to

achieving this – in the USA.

The answer from GOAT was short and clear: “Ken who? Sorry, I never heard that name.”

GOAT stands for “Greatest Of All Time” – the honorary title of Ricky Carmichael, the most successful Motocross rider of all time. He said what he did in 2005, when Ken Roczen was in the USA for the first time. Although he was only 11, at the time he was streets ahead of all his competitors and it was hoped that a German rider would – finally – be able to celebrate international success again. Paul Friedrichs, the last and also the only German Motocross World Champion, won his title in 1968 and, what’s more, he came from a part of Germany that no longer exists – East Germany. Roczen appeared to have the calibre to end this famine, and he is well on the way to achieving this. However, this will not be in Germany, which is regrettably still considered to be a developing country as far as Motocross is concerned. In-

stead, it will be in the USA.

The American Motocross Championship consists of the Na-tionals, a summer series that comprises twelve races, which is roughly equivalent to the MX1 and MX2 World Championships but with outdoor tracks. In addition to this, there are sixteen races in the Supercross series, which starts at the beginning of January and holds races all over the USA. Its races are held every weekend and, what’s more, in baseball and football stadiums of cities with millions of inhabitants.

This is because Motocross has become so popular in the USA over the last 40 years that it is quite common for over 60,000 fans to attend races. TV broadcasts and worldwide media inter-est ensure that motorcycle and accessories manufacturers are increasing their investment in the sport – and, of course, this also reaches talented Motocross riders such as Ken Roczen, who is on the point of establishing himself in the USA after his first victory of the season in Houston. However, the German’s victory was because his rival, Justin Barcia, crashed out of the race, so Roczen still has to prove that he is no one-hit wonder.

The preparations for this started last spring. Even during the Outdoor season, the teams arrange for tracks to be built that comply with the SX season, which starts in January. Parallel to

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How to make a name for yourself in America!

this, weeks are spent optimising engines, tyres, chassis set-tings and exhaust systems. Here what is termed the “produc-tion rule” is intended to ensure that privateers have the same chance. It governs which parts of a motorcycle must be series-produced and which are allowed to be changed. However, if one looks at the $100,000 motorcycle of a top team, you soon realise that the expensively modified parts of these bikes sim-ply makes them unassailable for privateers.

As for the World Championships, in the USA there is a 450 cc and a 250 cc class, which is also called “lites”. Two-stroke engines are only allowed to have half the cylinder capacity. However, they are hardly developed further, because they have no chance at all today. In the 450 cc field, even KTM’s 350 cc loses valuable tenths of seconds between the start and the first bend and, as the races only last around 14 to 16 minutes, there is not really enough time for overtaking manoeuvres. So, it is not possible to have too much horsepower during the start phase.

There is chaos before a race starts. Buses and 40-tonne road trains roll up from eve-rywhere and specialist companies come with 500trucks loaded with earth to build cross tracks in baseball and football stadi-ums, which – when compared with Euro-pean tracks – are bigger, more difficult and also more dangerous. However, the riders’ hunger for success has no boundaries. What was actually planned as a triple-double-tri-ple section is jumped as a quad-quad com-bination. And that is not always successful. Participants who can still move after they fall, end up losing a few teeth. The others are carried away quickly. It’s not a very nice thought but, as they say: “The show must go on,” – but what a show it is! A Motocross spectacle is offered in XXL in just over two hours, with a sideshow, four preliminary rounds, two repechages and one final each for the 250 cc and the 450 cc riders. No soon-er is the winners’ ceremony over than huge crawler bulldozers arrive to remove the cross track and the road trains drive off to the next conurbation.

To survive in this entertainment machine, you have to be in top form. Preparation for the season is also important, because nothing much can be optimised during the series, which in-volves 16 races in 16 weeks and they come in quick succes-sion. So that private riders, who are still at the start of their careers, are not put under too much financial pressure, the 250 cc championship is divided into a West and East series. This allows them to concentrate on one region instead of having to travel thousands of kilometres to the next race.

Ken Roczen was originally supposed to ride in the West se-ries, because he lived in southern California (incidentally, in

a dream house). Here he was tipped as a favourite by the me-dia, after his victory in the last race of 2011. However, all the trouble he took to prepare was wasted within a fraction of a second. A tiny error caused him to skid and the result was a broken arm. Because the East championship races start later, Roczen changed over to this series. However, he was under-standably not so fit as before his accident. On top of this came further crashes, botched starts, a flu infection and just bad luck. When Roczen finally led the field in Indianapolis, the race was halted and restarted. Then he took the lead again but fell once more and in the end came down the finishing straight in 19th place.

However, it takes a true champion to put this behind them. Everyone who takes part in the night shows can accelerate

but to finish the race at the top of the podium steps takes more. And it would appear that Roczen has what it takes. “Ken is not only exceptionally talented: he is also a fast learner. He is a young man with a tremendous zest for life,” says Roger de Coster, KTM’s team leader in North America and himself a five times Motocross World Champion. “If he has a weakness, it is that he lacks a bit of focus. On the day of the race, he goes around shaking hands and the start almost comes as a sur-prise to him. But he’s still young and also still has time to learn how to win.”

By the way, when commentating for the television even GOAT recently had nothing but praise for the German. “Ken who?” – that was then.

« Ken is not only exceptionally talented: he is also a fast learner. »

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ENDURO

The year 2012 will go down as one of the most success-ful in MOTOREX’s history of Enduro racing. Either KTM or Husaberg riders won the World Championship titles in all classes. Even junior World Championship titles went to MOTOREX riders. Here is some detailed information on this:

In the E1 Class, Antoine Meo from the KTM Enduro Factory Racing Team won his second E1 World Championship title, his third title overall.

In the French Grand Prix, Pierre Alexandre Renet was way ahead of his competitors and took the World Champion-ship title in the E2 class. It was also Husaberg’s first title in a major class for 14 years. Christobal Guerrero from the KTM Enduro Factory Team was Vice-Champion.

In the E3 category the KTM rider Christophe Nambotin was unbeatable for the whole season and was a worthy winner of the World Championship title. The success was complete when the Swede Joakim Ljunggren from the Husaberg Factory Team was Vice-Champion. After com-ing third the previous year, this season Ljunggren was able to move up one place with the TE 300 and thus achieve the best result of his career!

Mathias Bellino’s title in the junior World Championship is further proof of Husaberg’s long tradition of nurturing young talent. At the last event of the season, he won on both days and therefore increased the number of day vic-tories in this EWC season to 12.

Winner of all four titles

MOTOReX RuleS THe enduRO WORld!

MISCELLANEOUS » Twenty-two-year-old Kailub Russell from the FMF KTM OffRoad Racing Team took the honours in the AMA GNCC

X1 series. » Russell’s team mate, Baylor Stewart, won in the X2 class, followed by Jason Thomas (also KTM) in second place. » Russell Bobbitt from

the FMF KTM OffRoad Racing Team won the AMA Enduro National. » The American Kurt Caselli (FMF KTM OffRoad Racing Team) was victorious

in the AMA Hare & Hound series. His team mate, David Pearson, finished in second place. » Taddy Blazusiak from the Red Bull KTM OffRoad Racing

Team won in the AMA Enduro Cross » This year’s Dakar Rally winner was Cyril Despres (KTM Red Bull Factory). The 2013 Dakar rally will take place

from 5 – 19 January 2013.

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MOTOGP

MotoGP - Karel Abraham

On the road with aprilia in 2013

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The start of the season was difficult for Karel Abraham and he suffered a number of falls, some serious. From Laguna Seca onwards, stability fi-nally returned and some races ended successfully.

Over the course of the season, Ducati had to devote more effort than ex-pected to the further development of the works machines for Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden. Consequently, they lost sight of the semi-works teams such as AB Cardion and these increasingly lost ground. This meant that Karel Abraham rode through the 2012 season without any further developments on the motorcycle and was only able to achieve more posi-tive results in the second half of the year through extremely personal commitment.

For 2013 he has been able to come to an agreement with another manu-facturer and he hopes to obtain more support from them.

At the beginning of the season the Swiss rider was one of the hot tips for the title and the weight of expectations on Lüthi were corre-spondingly high, particularly after the good pre-season testing. After five races Lüthi was leading his World Championship class. How-ever, ultimately, he did not have a chance against the high-flier Marc Marquez. Team boss Daniel Epp makes some relevant observations: “Marquez is an exceptional rider – you only find one like him every ten years. When it came down to it, none of the riders could keep pace with him. Leaving the young Span-iard aside – and he will now move up to the MotoGP class in 2013 – we are in fairly close contention. Essentially, around four riders each year have the potential to take the World Championship title. We hope we will be the ones to win next year.”

In terms of the number of points gained, 2012 was Lüthis’ best sea-son since he won the World Cham-pionship title in the 125 cc class seven years ago.

The team support-ing Tom Lüthi for the coming season is well armed. The aim is to try to finish making the further devel-opments to the Suter in March/April and so eliminate the need to do any updating in the middle of the season, thus avoiding unrest and uncertainty in the team. Also, the team is concentrating on continuity – the same rider, the same team and the same motor-bike manufactur-er. We wish Tom every success for 2013 and hope that he has that little bit of luck he needs.

Moto2

lühi misses the podiumby three points

Sandro Cortese - Moto3 World Champion

The German Sandro Cortese gave the Red Bull KTM Ajo Team its first Moto3 title in the road World Championship. Cortese’s riding was in another league and he secured the desired title in Malaysia with three races to go. The friendly man from Berkheim rode a brilliant race, overtaking Zulfahmi Khairuddin (KTM) on the last lap, thus winning both the race and the World Championship. He only needed to come third to secure the World Championship title.

The race was a huge success for KTM CEO Stefan Pierer: “These are incredible and wonderful days for KTM and all KTM Racing Fans. Sandro is the first rider to win a World

Championship for KTM on asphalt and this event is an unforgettable mile-stone in the company’s history.”

Cortese crossed the chequered flag for every race of this phenomenal 2012 season. He was on the top step of the podium five times, second five times and third five times. In the two other races he was sixth both

times. The season was rounded off by KTM winning the constructors’ ti-tle.

CORTEsE IN ThE MOTO2 CLAss IN 2013Cortese has now ridden in the smallest GP class for eight years,

so he has now achieved the promotion he was craving. He will be riding for the Intact Team in 2013. KTM is only letting him

go with a heavy heart and wanted him to sign with them for another year. “However, we understand that he, as World

Champion, must seize the opportunity to progress. We are sad, because Sandro will always remain one of us,” said

Pit Beirer.

To date, KTM is only active in the Moto3 class. This will remain the position, as long as the rules dictate that

a manufacturer cannot install its own engines in the Moto2 class.

15 podium finishes in 17 races

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The Briton Leon Camier, who is very committed to the sport, was really unlucky this season and was knocked out of races several times through adverse circum-stances. Consequently, he was unable to demonstrate his tremendous potential and had to be satisfied with 14th position at the end of the season. In spite of every-thing, the FIXI Crescent Suzuki Team ended the season on a positive note.

At the start of the season, Camier was at a disadvantage in terms of engine power with his Suzuki GSX-R. How-ever, Camier praised its fantastic chassis! The Briton believed in the potential of his machine and therefore never gave up and always gave his all. The racing speed was acceptable for the whole of the season and he could catch up or even overtake competitors in the bends. It was only on the straights that he had no chance against competitors.

The team worked hard throughout the season to im-prove the bike. The first fruits of this work could be seen in Brünn. The electronics were improved at the same time as they worked on the engine with Yoshimura to obtain more power. The result was a third place at the Nürnburgring.

The fact that the motorcycle was running better than ever before at the end of the season left the whole team optimistic about the coming season. This was also con-firmed by the good test in Aragon.

In order to improve the performance further MOTOREX cooperated closely with Crescent Suzuki and Yoshimu-ra Japan to develop a new MOTOREX Racing oil, thus boosting performance yet again.

superbike World Championship

Cautious start with promising ending

MIX » Moto3: Danny Kent, who rides for the KTM Red Bull Team, will move up to the Moto 2 class in 2013. This means that, with his new Tech3 team, he will no longer be a team mate of Sandro Cortese and instead will be a direct competitor. » The Kiefer Racing pilot Max Neukirchner withdrew from the Moto 2 circuit for the rest of the season after being injured in the Brünn race. He also decided to terminate his collaboration with Kiefer Racing prematurely and by mutual agreement. He is now concentrating fully and completely on the 2013 season, when he will ride in the Superbike World Championship. Neukirchner is the most successful German in the Superbike World Championship. To date, the 29-year-old from Stollberg has achieved two victories and ten podium finishes. » John Hopkins (Fixi Crescent Suzuki) can be said to be a tragic figure in the motorsport business. The Briton has been almost continuously injured for three years. In 2012 one of his fingers was amputated and he was unable to take part in the race at Magny-Cours because of an old hip injury. Hopkins has now announced that he will take a break in 2013 to recuperate from his injuries. It is uncertain whether he will ever race again.

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During the 2012 season Syl-vain Guintoli moved from Team Effenbert Liberty Rac-ing to Pata Ducati Team. Although the Frenchman was the best Liberty-Racing rider, according to a state-ment he was fired because of his poor results.

The 30-year-old won his first race at Silverstone, which was his first race for Pata-Farben! By the end of the season he had notched up another victory and achieved several podium

finishes. This is how Guin-toli finished the SBK season in seventh place.

From 2004 to 2008 Guintoli rode in the MotoGP series. He achieved his best result in 2006, when he finished 9th. Since 2010 the 30-year-old has only ridden in the World Superbike Champi-onship. It is still not known which team Sylvain Guin-toli will sign for in 2013.

Team change during the season – in spite of 7th place

AMA Superbike: In the American Superbike Cham-pionship Motorex has worked with Team Yoshimura Su-zuki since 1999. Over the years they won nine Cham-pionship titles together, with well-known riders such as Mat Mladin and Ben Spies. Since the rule change for the 2011 season, the motorcycles are close to series production standard. The term used is the stock rule. The scope for tuning is limited and this means the right racing oil is even more important. In 2012 the rider Blake Young won the Vice-Championship

for Yoshimura Suzuki. In addition to this, the privately financed Team HMC-KTM led by Mitch Hansen gained the championship with two riders. The KTM RC 8 R has been developed to meet the rules, with help from Europe, and became increasingly competi-tive towards the end of the season. Apart from a respectable 11th place for Chris Fillmore, KTM definitely won the unofficial “Sound ranking” this year.

This year Hämpu Bolliger’s team will have been involved in endurance racing for 30 years. The successful team boss made his debut in 1982 with long-distance racing in Imola. To date, he has been Vice-World Champion twice. The two main sponsors – MOTOREX and Fibag AG Kawasaki – presented Hämpu and his wife Barbara with a voucher for a long weekend in a beautiful hotel. As Hämpu has a full-time job as a vehicle mechanic and sacrifices all his holidays for his endurance team and racing, this voucher is especially appropriate. Once again, we congratulate Hämpu on this special anniversary and look forward to another three decades with Hämpu’s team!

In spite of missing two races, Team Bolliger Switzerland managed to end the season with a 7th place in the race at Le Mans.

endurance

30 years of Endurance Team Bolliger, switzerland

AMA Superbike

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Always secondMichael Ranseder was unlucky again. The Austrian had a brilliant season, scored points, tri-umphed and, race after race, the team put in perfect performances. As a result, Ranseder had a lead of eight points before the final race in Hockenheim, eight points ahead of Erwan Nigon in pursuit.

In Hockenheim each race was worth 25 points and so even Jörg Teuchert in third place still had a chance of winning the title. During the formation lap, Ranseder’s engine started to smoke badly. The team decided to change over to the replacement machine, which was ready for action. As the steward ruled against this decision, the race started without Ranseder! His closest competitor Nigon won the first race, so instead of being in the lead by 8 points he was now trailing by 17 points. Even a protest by Technogym Racing Austria could not change anything.

Absolutely furious, Ranseder on his replacement bike left all his rivals behind him. In the end, he won – a superb 6.1 seconds ahead of everyone. It was a small consolation prize for the Austrian, because – in spite of his blazing second race – he was no longer able to win the title. This was the third Vice-Champion’s title in a row for Ranseder. In 2013 Ranseder is compet-ing in the IDM Superbike event for the HRP Holzhauer Team and is therefore still one of the MOTOREX riders.

Karl Muggeridge, the 38-year-old Australian who lives in Switzerland, announced his retirement at the end of the season. Mug-geridge: “Every career has to end sometime. The decision to go now is linked to the fact that my children at home in Switzerland will soon have to start school. If we do not move now, it will be difficult – even impossible – in the future. Honda and Holzhauer would like me to continue, yet I cannot imagine my family being in Australia with me remaining in Germany to race. My wife and my two boys are too important to me to do that. It has been decided: on 15 December I will fly back to Australia with my family.”

In his last season as an IDM Superbike rider for HRP Holzhauer, Muggeridge finished in 6th position. His greatest triumphs in-clude the Supersport World Championship title in 2004 and the IDM Superbike Champion’s title in 2010.

IdM Superbike

MUGGERIDGE ANNOUNCEs RETIREMENT

IdM Superbike, Michael Randseder, Team Technogym BMW by Fritze Tuning

MOUNTAINBIKE - ELIMINATOR

Ralph Näf

World Champion at the premiereAt an advanced stage of his career Ralph Näf, the Marathon World Champion of 2006, once again pulled on the rainbow-coloured jersey of UCI. The rider from the Multivan Merida Biking Team, now 32, won the title races in the Cross Country Eliminator, a discipline which was in the World Championship programme for the first time in Saalfelden. In the final Näf was able to prevail against the Slovenian Miha Halzer, who was the best rider in qualification.

For the Cross-Country Eliminator race, four riders raced against each other in every heat. In this discipline a combination of elements from both the Four Cross (4X) and the Cross Country (XCO) area are applied.

The two fastest go forward to the next round before the World Champion is decided in the final. This is the first time that medals have been awarded for this discipline.

Endurance and assertiveness are needed to be the fastest over the 600-metre-long course through the centre of Saalfelden. Jostling for position through winding lanes, jumps over steps and the man-to-man competition are the key features of this spectacle.

Congratulations, Ralph, for a tremendous performance!

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Even an exceptional athlete finds it difficult to return to an elite sport. Gunn-Rita Dahle Fles-jå actually wanted to return to the top of the sport after her maternity break in 2009 and had trained hard and systematically to achieve this. However, the results were less successful than expected. Then, in 2011, the Norwegian demon-strated that she would be a force to be reckoned with in the 2012 season.

Vice-World Champion in MTB Marathon, Vice-World Champion in MTB Cross Country, Euro-pean Cross Country Champion and third place in the Word Cup are excellent results for the 2012 season. Dahle is back!

Gunn-Rita dahle Flesjå

dAHle BACK TO THe WORld elITe

The very good late form of the Flückiger brothers resulted in a dual tri-umph at the World Championship in Saalfelden-Leogang (Austria) at the race of the XC elite. The podium was shared by Lukas (2) and Mat-thias Flückiger (3) with their fellow countryman Nino Schurter. This fulfilled the Flückiger Brothers’ long-held dream of standing together on the podium for a World Championship. An all-Swiss podium im-pressively underlined the dominance of Switzerland on the mountain bike racing circuit.

The start of the race was not ideal for the brothers and became a real roller-coaster, which ultimately ended with a well-earned finish in second and third place. To do this, Lukas had to work his way forward from twelfth position in round three. This was only successful be-cause he rode faster than the ultimate victor Schurter in rounds four, five and six. Perfect preparation by the brothers and perfect engineer-ing of the Trek Racing Shop, which with Superfly developed the light-est and fastest 29th Race Hardtail in the world.

Team Trek World Racing

ThE FLÜCKIGER BROThERs WRITE hIsTORY

No other rider before has won so many World Cup races within one season than the young man from the USA.

He was the hot favourite for this year’s MTB Downhill World Championship in Leogang. Until now, he had failed to win the title he craved and the triumph would have been all the greater, if he had been able to win the World Championship title on top of his overall victory in the World Cup. However, it was not to be – once again, Aaron Gwin was the big loser at the World Cham-pionship.

Aaron Gwin

second overall World Cup winner in a row

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The 18-year-old Anton Cooper from New Zealand rode his Superfly Ulti-mate (Trek World Racing Custom de-sign) as the supreme rider in the jun-ior class, winning the gold medal and the prestigious rainbow jersey. Anton is still at school and will finish High School this year. He is the first New Zealander to be placed and thus finish on the podium in a bike World Cham-pionship.

The season as a whole for the trek jun-ior has been flawless to date, because he won all three World Cup races in which he competed. Alongside reign-ing World Champion Victor Koretzky (France), Anton was clearly the favour-ite. The world’s fastest mountain bike combined with the fastest junior rider formed the perfect unit and could not be beaten. It will be exciting to see how his career evolves.

Cross Country

Junior World Champion

The European Champion in Cross-Country, Vice-World Champion over the marathon distance and three times German Champion, Moritz Milatz is the mountain bike pro-fessional who focuses on the Olympic Cross-Country discipline. He began his sporting career in track and field athletics and was discovered by his current PR Manager in 2002. In 2005, the 30-year-old from Freiburg signed his first contract as a professional. One of the high points of his sporting career was in 2006, when he won the German Championship in cross-country for the first time. Further outstanding successes were the victory in the 2005 Marathon World Cup in Bad Goisern (Austria) and his first top-ten position in 2006, when he was ranked sixth at the Cross-Country World Cup in Fort William (Scotland). When he took third place in Madrid (Spain), Milatz gained his first World Cup podium finish. In 2010 he won the international MTB German national league series for the third time in succession and in 2011 he became German Cham-pion for the third time in the Olympic Cross-Country discipline, following on from his earlier victories in 2006 and 2010, and in 2011. He also achieved the same accolade over the marathon distance.

On 10 June 2012, Milatz became the first German mountain biker to win the European title. On 7 October 2012, he also became Vice-World Champion over the marathon dis-tance.

MORITZ MIlATZ

Firt german mountain biker to win a european championship title

Victor Koretzky from Bikepark.ch won the Junior World Cup in Val d’Isère. The French rider was 29 seconds ahead of his fellow coun-tryman Titouan Carod and a Swiss trio of Dominic Zumstein, Enea Vetsch and Andri Frischknecht.

Koretzky was unsuccessful in de-fending his Cross-Country World Champion’s title, finishing in sec-ond place behind Anton Cooper.

Cross Country

JunIOR WORld CuP VICTOR

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CAR

The Austria Formula 3 Cup in Hockenheim started successful-ly. Sandro Zeller (Jo Zeller Racing) had already left no doubts about his role as a favourite in the first race of the season, winning both races. As the season progressed, the situation

changed and he saw the ma-con driver Andre Rudersdorf overtake him. The battle for the Vice-Championship title was decided at the last race in Hockenheim. Zeller clearly won both races and with it the points he required to become Vice-Champion.

This year the Jo Zeller Racing Team took a twin-track approach and competed in the Austria Formula 3 Cup, as well as the For-mula 3 Euroseries. In the Euroseries Sandro Zeller finished the season in 12th position.

The Austria Formula 3 Trophy (Formula 3 cars from 1992 to 2001) was won by the Swiss driver Daniel Roider from the Jo Zeller Racing Team, with a generous margin of 27.5 points ahead of the second driver.

The Austria Formula Renault Cup is also dominated by Swiss drivers. Here it was the champion Thomas Amweg (Amweg Motorsport) who was being chased. His brother Manuel, also from Amweg Motorsport, and the Swiss driver Kurt Böhlen wanted to take the title from him. Nothing changed and this

three-way battle continued until the final. In the end, Thomas took the title by a margin of 24 points ahead of his brother Manuel.

Which racing car is permitted? Formula 3 racing cars manufactured until 2010 are permitted in the Austria Formula 3 Cup. The Austria Formula 3 Trophy is reserved for cars built be-tween 1992 and 2001 exclusively. The Formula Renault is clearly defined. For-mula Renault 2.0 status 2004 to 2009 come into play here. Last year Swiss drivers set the pace and all three titles went to Switzerland.

This season a number of drivers from Switzerland made the most of the opportunities to take part under reasonable financial conditions. In addition, drivers from France, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Austria, Poland and Germany also participated in both formula racing catego-ries. “We want to create further incentives for the drivers and teams and develop new concepts for 2013,” said Franz Wöss with the coming year in mind. The new Austria Formula 1600 Cup has been well received by the teams. Cooperation with Formula LO is already a done deal. The series for young Swiss drivers will be continued in 2013 under the name Junior For-mula Master and will take place at the Austria Formula 3 Cup events.

Swiss drivers well to the fore in the Austria Cups

MIX CAR » At the end of a keenly contested season in the FIA ETCC 2012, Rickli Motorsport took the European Vice-Championship with a wafer-thin margin of one point. » Team Volluz with Joel Volluz was Vice-Champion in the Swiss mountain racing championship. » MOTOREX cooperates with Jenzer Motorsport on development work. Among other things, they also compete in the highly competitive GP3 races. Here Patric Niederhauser took 7th position. The good team result was enhanced with 14th overall position for Robert Visoiu and 18th position for Alex Fontana.

Jenzer Motorsport

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