Max Niedermaier was able to turn around the result of the German championship and beat Markus Jell in the ice speedway race on Saturday in Berlin. Franz Zorn and Harald Simon had to give up.
A total of around 7,500 spectators came to the German championship on Friday and to the “Ice Speedway for Europe” on Saturday. They formed a worthy setting at the cult event in the Horst-Dohm-Eisstadion in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Max Niedermaier from Bavaria won in a sovereign manner in the all-important final of the open-European race on Saturday, which was hard to beat in terms of excitement. The driver from the team of the host Eisspeedwayunion Berlin relegated the new German champion Markus Jell, also from the Free State, and the Czech Jan Klatovsky to their places.
It couldn’t have gone better for Max Niedermaier. After finishing second in Germany behind Markus Jell on Friday, he really turned up the heat on the second day of racing in Berlin. After his five heats, he left the ice as the winner and thus qualified directly for the final with a maximum of 15 points (5 x 3).
Jell did the same feat on Friday, earning him the 2023 DM title, his second after 2019. The next day Niedermaier had the better end of the day in a direct comparison in heat 8, but even with his 14 points he was definitely in the final. The two Czechs Jan Klatovsky and Lukas Hutla also qualified for this one, advancing practically without a fight via the last-chance heat. In the race for those placed third to sixth in the heats, the Austrians Franz Zorn (“… I have Covid and became more and more weak during the race…”) and Harald Simon one after the other had to lay down their arms prematurely.
In the final race, Niedermaier immediately took the lead and never relinquished it. Try as he might, Jell could not endanger his compatriot. Klatovsky kept Hutla in check in the battle for third place.
“I’m speechless, I wouldn’t have thought that,” said the visibly touched Max Niedermaier after his victory and after a short break he still found a few words: “I haven’t ridden an ice speedway since 2020 and I’ve only had four training days this winter started again in Sweden. Berlin were my first and will probably be my last races this year. After the first race I realized that things couldn’t go badly. Then I was in a river, it was amazing. I can hardly describe it.”
Although the result in the top two places was the reverse of Friday’s, Jell couldn’t fault it. “I am by no means unhappy with this second place. It was perfect training for me for the World Cup final in Inzell in two weeks. I wanted to drive well again and not hurt myself. I succeeded,” he said afterwards and added: “Max was a mega cannon and almost unbeatable. Sure, he had nothing to lose, but I didn’t exactly drive sparingly either. Congratulations to him.”
For next year, the Berliner Eis-Spektakel is again planned for the first weekend in March.
Results Ice Speedway Berlin:
1. Max Niedermaier (D), 15+3 points
2. Markus Jell (D), 14+2
3. Jan Klatovsky (CZ), 9+1
4. Lukas Hutla (CZ), 9+0
5. Franky Zorn (A), 13
6. Harald Simon (A), 10
7. Andrej Divis (CZ), 8
8. Franz Mayerbüchler (D), 7
9. Benedikt Monn (D), 7
10. Topi Mustonen (FIN), 6
11. Sebastian Reitsma (NL), 5
12. Artturi Ervasti (FIN), 4
13. Niek Schaap (NL), 4
14. Philipp Lageder (A), 3
15. Finn Loheider (D), 3
16. Maximilian Niedermaier (D), 2
