Josef Klein (racing driver)

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Josef Klein (born February 4, 1904 in Merzig , † December 17, 1973 in Mainz ) was a German motorcycle racer .

Career

Josef Klein won the Frankfurt Tri-City Tour in 1926. From 1927 he started for the Zschopau manufacturer DKW , for which he took second place in the 750 cc race behind BMW driver Ernst Jakob Henne at the Kolberg bathing race . In September of the same year he achieved his first victory in the Frankfurt three-city tour in the category up to 1000 cm³. In 1928 he won the AVUS race in the large class. In the same year, Klein , who lived at DKW in Waldkirchen, took second place in the Italian Grand Prix.

In 1929 Josef Klein won the 500 run of the Hanoverian Eilenriederennenn and only had to admit defeat to the Godorf BMW driver Hans Soenius one point behind in the half -liter class of the German championship . Before the last championship run of the season on the Schleizer Dreieck , Klein was tied at the top of the overall standings with BMW works drivers Soenius and Karl Otto Stegmann . Stegmann led the race with his supercharged machine, but had to retire due to damage to the rear tire. Soenius was finally able to prevail against Klein and secured his third German championship title in a row in the half-liter category. Furthermore, Josef Klein won the Lückendorfer hill climb in 1929 and the 1000 cc run of Rund um Schotten on Horex . Klein was also successful internationally. He finished third at the Targa Florio Motociclistica , which was held in Sicily in April . In May he won the Hungarian TT in the 500cc class in Budapest , and he was also victorious in the 350cc race for the Polish Grand Prix.

At the end of October 1929 at the World's Fair in Spanish Barcelona in L'Ametlla del Vallès discharged Motorcycle Championship won Josef Klein the greatest success of his career. In the 175 cm³ class he fought a tough duel with the Italian Benelli driver Riccardo Brusi . It was mainly thanks to his excellent cornering technique that Klein won the race and became the 175th European Champion on the ARe 175 .

In 1930 Josef Klein won again in the 1000cc race on the Eilenriede and in Königsbrück . The following year he won the German Railroad Championship in the 175 cm³ class in Frankfurt am Main on DKW. He was able to repeat this success in 1933. In 1934 he won the 350 cc race on the Eilenriede and the Eifel race on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring on Norton . He won the Eifel race over twelve laps or 273.720 km in 2: 46: 07.4 hours with a 25-second lead over second-placed Ernst Loof on Imperia .

On July 1, 1934, Josef Klein had a serious accident in the 350 cm³ run for the German Grand Prix on what was then the Badberg square around Hohenstein-Ernstthal . He got off the track with his DKW, hit a tree and suffered such severe head injuries that he had to end his active career. In general, the German Grand Prix for motorcycles in 1934 went down as one of the blackest hours in motorcycle history. After a death in the training runs, three top drivers had a fatal accident in the half-liter run - the 500 European champion from 1933 , Gunnar Kalén from Sweden and the two Belgian FN factory drivers Noir and Pol Demeuter .

Josef Klein died on December 17, 1973 in Mainz , where he found his final resting place in the main cemetery .

statistics

title

Race wins

year class machine run route
1924 150 cc All right Feldberg race Hohe Mark – sand slabs
350 cc All right Feldberg race Hohe Mark – sand slabs
1929 500 cc DKW Eilenriederennen Eilenriede
500 cc DKW Hungarian TT Budapest
1000 cc Horex All about bulkheads Schottenring
175 cc DKW VI. FICM Grand Prix L'Ametlla del Vallès
1930 350 cc DKW Eilenriederennen Eilenriede
1000 cc Horex All about bulkheads Schottenring
1931 500 cc Horex Pool race Miedzyzdroje ( Ostseering )
1934 350 cc Norton Eilenriederennen Eilenriede
350 cc Norton Marienberg triangle race Marienberg triangle

References

literature

  • Steffen Ottinger: DKW motorcycle sport 1920–1939 . From the first victories of the Zschopau two-stroke model at track races to the European championship successes. 1st edition. HB-Werbung und Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Chemnitz 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-028611-7 , p. 28, 33-59, 68-70, 117-119 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Vincent Glon: Eilenriede race - Hanovre (Allemagne). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on January 2, 2010 (French).
  2. ↑ Fred Jacobs: On the move (part 2) - The 1929 season. Www.motorradonline.de, 2008, accessed on September 27, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Vincent Glon: Around Scots - Scots (Allemagne). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on January 2, 2010 (French).
  4. ↑ Vincent Glon: Eifel Tour & Eifel Race - Nürburgring (Allemagne). racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on January 2, 2010 (French).
  5. ↑ Michael Behrndt, Jörg-Thomas Födisch, Matthias Behrndt: ADAC Eifelrennen . Heel Verlag, Königswinter 2009, ISBN 978-3-86852-070-5 , p. 246.
  6. ↑ Erik Haps. www.motorsportmemorial.org, accessed on July 17, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Little, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German motorcycle racer
DATE OF BIRTH February 4, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Merzig
DATE OF DEATH 17th December 1973
Place of death Mainz