The 2025 FIM Motocross World Championship heads to its easternmost point yet for round 10 at the glorious Talkessel circuit in the municipality of Teutschenthal, in the former East Germany.
The venue is on classic Saxon grassland, and has played host to 27 MXGP events, as well as the 2013 Monster Energy Motocross of Nations that saw the most recent win in that event for Team Belgium.
Just like that weekend, when the Germans were reigning champions, this year’s event sees a home favourite wearing a red plate, as Red Bull KTM Factory Racing star Simon Längenfelder (pictured here) took the lead in the MX2 World Championship with a double victory at last weekend’s MXGP of France and looks to be in the form of his life.
Längenfelder will look to get the chainsaws revving and the smoke flares ignited in the tight German valley.
Längenfelder will be looking to emulate Frenchman Romain Febvre’s performance at Ernée, as the MXGP red plate holder took a loudly-cheered home GP victory to consolidate his lead in the world championship for Kawasaki Racing Team MXGP.
The veteran Frenchman holds a 47-point championship lead over Längenfelder’s team-mate Lucas Coenen, who had a perfect Sunday in MX2 at this venue last season.
Injured Honda HRC rider Tim Gajser, second overall at Teutshenthal to the eventual Champion Jorge Prado in 2024, is still third in the 2025 series.
Fantic Factory Racing MXGP’s Glenn Coldenhoff and Gajser’s team-mate Ruben Fernandez, as well as Maxime Renaux of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team, are all poised to move past the absent Slovenian this weekend.
Längenfelder will certainly have stiff competition at the German circuit, as fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing pilot Andrea Adamo also leapfrogged the reigning Champion Kay de Wolf at Ernée after a terrible GP for the Nestaan Husqvarna Factory Racing star.
Adamo is only 11 points behind the home favourite, with De Wolf now 14 points further back, and with question marks over his physical status after a painful crash on Saturday in France.
Behind them, the chasing pair of De Wolf’s team-mate Liam Everts and Thibault Benistant of the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MX2 squad have both won Grands Prix here and will be looking to repeat the feat to get back in the title fight.
For the twelfth time at this venue, the Women’s Motocross World Championship will be blasting around the Talkessel, the site of the first ever Women’s Motocross World Cup event, and round three of the 2025 series has many contenders with great records at the German circuit.
Last year saw an emotional overall win for home heroine Larissa Papenmeier, although she currently sits in seventh place in the 2025 Championship for SYE Racing Team 423. Spanish star Daniela Guillén won the opening race last year, and she is fourth this season for RFME Spain National Team GASGAS.
Lynn Valk, lining up for Van Venrooy KTM Racing this year, is joint second with FontaMX Racing’s Kiara Fontanesi, who last time out in Spain took her first overall victory since 2021.
They are all chasing the De Baets Yamaha star and defending World Champion Lotte van Drunen, who has a slender 8-point buffer at the top.
The EMX125 Presented by FMF Racing series fires into the second half of its campaign with its eighth round this weekend.
In France there was a massive turnaround at the top of the standings as Racestore KTM Factory Juniors rider Nicolò Alvisi took both wins, while his team-mate Áron Katona suffered a zero-point weekend to lose the red plate, leaving him 25 points behind the Italian.
Mano Faure also jumped up a position at his home round to lie third for Yamaha Europe EMX125.
Last year’s event saw one of the most enthusiastic crowds of the season make a lot of noise for their riders, and with a championship leader to get behind, the 2025 event promises to be even more boisterous.
Photo courtesy KTM
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STANDINGS AFTER ROUND NINE:
MXGP – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Romain Febvre (FRA, KAW), 441 points; 2. Lucas Coenen (BEL, KTM), 394 p.; 3. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 305 p.; 4. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, FAN), 302 p.; 5. Ruben Fernandez (ESP, HON), 292 p.; 6. Maxime Renaux (FRA, YAM), 289 p.; 7. Andrea Bonacorsi (ITA, FAN), 253 p.; 8. Calvin Vlaanderen (NED, YAM), 228 p.; 9. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, DUC), 219 p.; 10. Kevin Horgmo (NOR, HON), 204 p.
MX2 – World Championship – Top 10 Classification:
1. Simon Längenfelder (GER, KTM), 424 points; 2. Andrea Adamo (ITA, KTM), 413 p.; 3. Kay de Wolf (NED, HUS), 399 p.; 4. Liam Everts (BEL, HUS), 343 p.; 5. Thibault Benistant (FRA, YAM), 308 p.; 6. Sacha Coenen (BEL, KTM), 305 p.; 7. Camden Mc Lellan (RSA, TRI), 265 p.; 8. Ferruccio Zanchi (ITA, HON), 220 p.; 9. Valerio Lata (ITA, HON), 219 p.; 10. Cas Valk (NED, KTM), 217 p.