Heinz Rosner

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Heinz Rosner 2011 on MZ
Heinz Rosner 2010

Heinz Rosner (born January 14, 1939 in Hundshübel ) is a former German motorcycle racer .

Rosner competed in the motorcycle world championship between 1964 and 1969 and was third in the 1968 world championship in the 250 cm³ class.

During his entire career he always started on MZ , which is why he is still known as “Mr. MZ "is known.

Career

Beginnings

Heinz Rosner began an apprenticeship as a car mechanic in an EMW agency in 1953 at the age of 14 .

In 1958 Rosner competed in his first motorcycle race. He competed in the ID driver's race on a self-prepared MZ RT 125 with a three-speed series engine on the Halle-Saale loop and came in seventh. In the following run at the Leipzig city park race , he was fifth. He was then able to buy a four-speed rotary valve engine from MZ, with which he won so many races by the end of 1959 that he was no longer allowed to compete in the ID class. His talent caught the eye of the then MZ racing manager Walter Kaaden , who provided him with an old 250cc MZ in the late autumn of 1959.

In 1960 the Erzgebirge was to compete for the MC Wismut Aue in the 125 cc license class, which was peppered with many former MZ factory machines. However, his machine was not delivered in time for the championship run on April 24th on the Halle-Saale loop, which is why Rosner replaced the injured Walter Brehme in the quarter-liter class on the works team at short notice . He was able to win the 250cc race, but the then MZ race director Bernhard Petruschke decided that Rosner should drive in second place, as he was not a regular works driver. The Saxon was satisfied with this decision, but retired in second place with damage to the ignition of his machine. Walter Kaaden was so enthusiastic about Rosner's performance that he let him compete in a 125cc at the following Finnish Grand Prix . After another stall order , Rosner finished second behind Hans Fischer and, on his return to the GDR, made positive comments about the beauty of the Finnish landscape.

When Walter Brehme was operational again, Heinz Rosner was no longer considered for the works team of the Zschopau manufacturer, which initially didn't surprise him, as he was only a substitute driver. Rosner started again for the MC Wismut Aue and was only allowed to compete in races in the Eastern Bloc in addition to the GDR championship . Only after Bernhard Petruschke no longer acted as MZ race director did Rosner find out the real reasons for not being included in the works team. Petruschke had informed the SED leadership of his statements about Finland. Since he was young and unmarried, the party found that there was a risk of fleeing, which is why Rosner was no longer considered for the works team.

MZ factory driver

Only Walter Kaaden brought Heinz Rosner back into the factory team of the Zschopau manufacturer in 1964 , which was in a state of upheaval at the time. After Ernst Degner, who fled to the FRG in 1961 , could never be replaced equally, the old stars Hans Fischer and Walter Brehme have now ended their careers, which left a large gap in the team. Kaaden then called three young riders who were to start in the eight-liter class: Klaus Enderlein , Dieter Krumpholz and Rosner, who made his debut in the motorcycle world championship at the 1964 GDR Grand Prix at the Sachsenring with fourth place in the 125cc race gave.

After the veteran Werner Musiol had also ended his career at the end of the 1964 season, Rosner started the 1965 season as the Zschopau number 1 driver . At the Grand Prix of Czechoslovakia on the Masaryk-Ring near Brno , he took third place in the 125cc race behind Britons Frank Perris ( Suzuki ) and Derek Woodman (MZ), the first World Championship podium of his career. A little later, the Saxon took second place in the 250cc races in Finland and at the Nations Grand Prix in Monza , which earned him fourth place in the final ranking of the quarter-liter class. Rosner had the opportunity to become a works driver at Suzuki as early as 1965. But this would only have been possible with an escape from the GDR, which was never an option for the Saxons.

In 1966 Heinz Rosner competed in five 250cc and two 350cc World Championship races, in which he achieved second and third place in each class. In the 1967 season Rosner took part in five 250 and five 350 Grand Prix. The highlight was the 350 cc race for the Czechoslovak Grand Prix, when he finished second behind Honda factory driver Mike Hailwood . In the 350 overall standings, Rosner finished fourth with three podiums from five races.

For the 1968 season, the dominant Japanese manufacturers Honda and Suzuki withdrew from the World Cup. However, Yamaha continued to compete with its superior V4 machines in the classes up to 125 and up to 250 cc. This year, Heinz Rosner started as the sole MZ works driver for the first time, after he had always formed the works team with the Briton Derek Woodman until 1967, and experienced the best season of his career. In the 125 cc class, he competed in three races and came third in each case, which brought him fourth in the overall standings. In the quarter liter class, Rosner finished on the podium seven times in eight races and only had to give way to the Yamaha factory riders Phil Read and Bill Ivy in the final classification , which meant the best World Championship placement in his career. In the 350s, the Saxon took part in two races. Both in the GDR and in Czechoslovakia, he was the then with its three-cylinder - MV Agusta far superior Italian Giacomo Agostini defy and go each to second place. On top of that, Rosner won the GDR championship in the 250 cm³ class for MC Motorradwerke Zschopau .

When, after the 1968 season, Yamaha announced that it was withdrawing from the motorcycle world championship, Heinz Rosner's chances of winning the 1969 title only apparently increased. Walter Kaaden was able to increase the performance of the two-stroke engines considerably over the winter , but this was at the expense of the machines' stability. The further development of the factory machines had been suffering for some time from the poor material quality of the engine parts, which came exclusively from the GDR. The budget for Kaaden's MZ racing department also got smaller from year to year. In a season characterized by many technical failures, Rosner achieved three podium places in a total of nine Grands Prix in three different classes. In the 350cc class, he finished the season again in fourth place. Only a damaged clutch at the last race of the season, the Grand Prix of Yugoslavia in Opatija, prevented the runner-up title behind the vastly superior Agostini and his MV. The Erzgebirger was able to successfully defend his 250 title in the GDR championship.

End of career

At the end of the 1969 season, Heinz Rosner drew his conclusions from the unsatisfactory development for him, terminated his contract with MZ and ended his active racing career disappointedly in Hundshübel in the Ore Mountains to go to his private truck and taxi company with an attached gas station , which he founded in 1964 with his wife Katja had taken over from his parents. His passport was immediately withdrawn. In previous years, he was the only factory driver who was not an employee of the factory to be subject to reprisals and branded as a private capitalist. When his friend Günter Bartusch , whom Rosner had helped into the MZ works team, had a fatal accident at the Sachsenring in 1971 , he turned away from racing for a long time.

New start in motorcycle and veteran racing

Even before the turn of Rosner in 1989 received permission to one of the Veteran Vehicle Association (VFV) in Hockenheim aligned veterans races participate and approached on a with the help of Walter Kadan from parts rebuilt 251er MZ. In the years that followed, Heinz Rosner fell completely into racing again. Together with Kaaden, who accompanied him until his death in 1996, he provided the machines that were still available with high-quality and reliable parts that were lacking in GDR times, and thus competed in numerous veteran races. Heinz Rosner fell so badly in 2005 with a recently completed 7-speed 250 model according to the 1966 specification that he broke a hip joint and the attending physicians were not sure whether he would ever walk again. Rosner then sold his taxis and trucks and retired, but did not stop with motorcycle racing. In July 2008, Rosner bone fragments had to be removed from the brain, which were pressing on important nerve tracts, which at times even led to half-sided paralysis. He was already racing again in September. At the 23rd International Halle / Saale Loop Race in 2010, Rosner took third place in the 500 cm³ class on a factory MZ-RE Twin. To this day he is a regular guest at numerous veteran races in Germany and Europe.

statistics

successes

In the motorcycle world championship

season class motorcycle run Victories Podiums Points Result
1964 125 cc MZ 1 - - 3 14th
1965 125 cc MZ 1 - 1 4th 15th
250 cc MZ 5 - 2 18th 4th
1966 250 cc MZ 5 - 2 15th 5.
350 cc MZ 2 - 2 10 7th
1967 250 cc MZ 5 - 1 13 6th
350 cc MZ 5 - 3 18th 4th
1968 125 cc MZ 3 - 3 12 4th
250 cc MZ 8th - 7th 32 3.
350 cc MZ 2 - 2 12 4th
1969 125 cc MZ 1 - - 6th 28.
250 cc MZ 4th - 1 28 7th
350 cc MZ 4th - 2 38 4th
total 46 0 26th 209

References

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinz Rosner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d motorcycle sport - GDR - championships (road racing). sport-komplett.de, accessed on June 19, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Rosner, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1939
PLACE OF BIRTH Hundshübel