Rockstar Energy Suzuki Europe’s Glenn Coldenhoff and Brian Hsu both raced to podium positions at the opening round of the German ADAC MX Masters series at Fürstlich Drehna in Brandenburg on Sunday.
Coldenhoff put his RM-Z450 into second place overall in the MX Masters class at the sandy circuit, 100 kilometres south of Berlin, while Hsu raced his RM-Z250 to third overall in the ADAC MX Youngster Cup.
MXGP rider Coldenhoff was joined by MX2 team-mate Jeremy Seewer on his RM-Z250 while Hsu was joined by his EMX250 team-mate Bas Vaessen.
Coldenhoff, who clocked the fastest time in Saturday’s practice and qualifying, had a dominant ride in the first race on Sunday and the event victory then came down to the wire in the second moto as the Dutchman battled hard with his Grand Prix rival Max Nagl, the German claiming the overall.
Said Coldenhoff: "Max won the start and was flying. Finishing second is on and I leave here tied on points at the top of the standings. That´s a very good beginning to my Masters season."
Seewer, aboard the smaller Suzuki RM-Z250, faced some disadvantage against his mostly 450cc powered opponents on the deep Drehna track. Seewer, fresh off his GP podium in Argentina, rode a brilliant first moto to finish right behind his team-mate with Nagl in third place. "The long start straight here is giving me a hard time," said Seewer. "But I progressed well in both races and my speed was fine. Unfortunately I had to retire from the second moto with some technical problems".
Dennis Ullrich (Team Castrol Power1 Suzuki Moto-Base) had some trouble to get going in the opening heat. The German made amends afterwards by finishing third behind Nagl and Coldenhoff. "The second moto was okay," the defending Masters champ said.
Hsu is in his second year in the hotly-contested ADAC MX Youngster Cup. Now riding a four-stroke, the Junior World Champ, started by posting the fastest qualifying time on Saturday. He finished the first moto on Sunday behind Lithuania´s Arminas Jasikonis, then after a mid-pack start in moto two the German-Taiwanese talent powered through the field from 14th to seventh, giving him third overall on the day.
Tom Koch (Team ADAC Hessen-Thüringen Johannes-Bikes Suzuki) rounded out a strong weekend for the Suzuki teams, claiming fourth behind Hsu thanks to ninth and a sixth-place finish.
