Max Neukirchner

Max Neukirchner 2017

Max Neukirchner at Brands Hatch, 2007

Max Neukirchner (born April 20, 1983 in Stollberg / Erzgeb. ) Is a former German motorcycle racer .

In the 2012 motorcycle world championship , he started for Kiefer Racing in the Moto2 class. In the Superbike World Championship he is the best German racing driver to have competed there so far.

Career

Beginnings

Max Neukirchner's enthusiasm for racing was born in the cradle. Its discoverer and supporter was his father, Lothar Neukirchner , who was three times GDR road champion in the 250 cm³ class and in 1994 even competed in some races in the 500 cm³ World Championship.

Max Neukirchner gained his first experience on two-wheelers at the bicycle trial and motocross at the MSC Thalheim . In 1997 he started his racing career in the ADAC Junior Cup with his father's team on a 125cc Aprilia . From 2000 to 2002 he took part in the German championship in the 250 cm³ class. In the first two years he was ten and five, and in 2002 he was runner- up behind Christian Gemmel .

From 2000 to 2003 Max Neukirchner competed in the European motorcycle championship in the quarter-liter class, last year he was third behind the Japanese Taro Sekiguchi and Vesa Kallio from Finland . He also took part in this class in 2001 , 2002 and 2003 as a wildcard driver in the Grand Prix of Germany at the Sachsenring as part of the motorcycle world championship , his best result here was 15th place in 2003.

World Supersport Championship

For the 2004 season, Max Neukirchner then switched from the two- stroke to the four-stroke engine and competed in the Supersport World Championship on a Honda CBR 600 RR with the Austrian Klaus Klaffenböck . The Saxon achieved his best result of the season with fifth place at the Germany run in Oschersleben . At the end of the season he finished ninth in the overall World Cup with 63 points.

Superbike World Championship

In the 2005 season Neukirchner rose to the Superbike World Championship with the Klaffi Honda team . In the fourth race, in Phillip Island , Australia , he made it onto the podium with third place. After that he was regularly among the top ten . In the overall standings, the Saxon came twelfth with 123 points, which is only eight points less than his experienced Italian teammate Pierfrancesco Chili .

For a long time in 2006 it looked as if Neukirchner would stay with the Klaffi team, but when Brazilian MotoGP star Alex Barros was signed shortly before the start of the season , there was no room for him. They offered him the right to continue driving for a large amount of money, but knew that it would not be available in the short time. So Max Neukirchner ended up in the small private team of the Italian Lucio Pedercini, where he drove a Ducati 999 RS . After a short time it became clear that the Saxon simply couldn't cope with the inferior material of the team, after a series of defects and related falls he completely lost confidence in the motorcycle and finally left the team during the season. He then contested the last races of the season on a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6 in the Alstare Engineering Corona Extra team of Belgian Francis Batta, where he replaced the Frenchman Fabien Foret , with whose performance the team was not satisfied. In the overall ranking of the season, Neukirchner took 18th place with 28 points.

When a possible extension of this contract for the 2007 season failed, Neukirchner founded the Suzuki Germany team with the help of Suzuki Germany . There he was supported by Mario Rubatto, who acted as team boss, and engine specialist Kurt Stückle. A previous year's kit Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6 was available to him as a motorcycle . During the season, Max Neukirchner regularly made it into the top ten and only suffered two retirements - in the first run at the home race at the Lausitzring and in the second run at Magny-Cours . For the last two races in France he replaced the injured Yukio Kagayama in the Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra works team. Finally equipped with first-class equipment, he secured second place on the grid and finished fourth in the first run. With 149 points he reached 9th place in the overall classification of the season.

Excursion to the 2007 World Endurance Championship

On April 21 and 22, 2007, Max Neukirchner made a guest appearance at the FIM Endurance World Championship at the Le Mans 24-hour motorcycle race . There he drove a Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7 of the Suzuki works team SERT Suzuki 2 . Neukirchner achieved the fastest race lap in the course of the race, as a kind of reward he was allowed to take over the machine while lying in the lead after the last pit stop and finally cross the finish line as the winner. Together with his two French team-mates William Costes and Guillaume Dietrich , the Saxon lapped the Bugatti circuit 818 times, which corresponded to an average speed of 142.303 km / h.

2008 season

Due to his consistently good performance, Max Neukirchner received a place in the Suzuki works team for the 2008 season , where he drove alongside the Spaniard Fonsi Nieto and the Japanese Yukio Kagayama, although he did not drive a current factory machine, but a technically upgraded model from last year by Max Biaggi . At the third event, in Valencia , Spain , the Saxon achieved the first pole position of his Superbike World Championship career. After leading the entire first run and having already had his first victory in mind, Neukirchner was brought down through no fault of his own in the last corner by local hero Carlos Checa in a daring overtaking maneuver. In the process he broke his collarbone . On May 11th, 2008, Max Neukirchner celebrated his first World Superbike victory at the first race in Monza, Italy . He prevailed with only 58 thousandths of a second ahead of the Japanese Noriyuki Haga on a Yamaha and thus became the first German ever to win the championship that has been held since 1988 . Shortly thereafter, the Saxon extended his contract with the Alstare-Suzuki works team by two years until 2010. In June 2008, the San Marino run in Misano saw the second win of the season. After that, however, the Stollberger did not get any further podium places, which meant that he was passed from second place to fifth in the overall ranking. In the final standings, Neukirchner was 149 points short of world champion Troy Bayliss , but he was only 31 points behind second-placed Troy Corser .

2009 season

In the 2009 season , Max Neukirchner and Yukio Kagayama formed the Suzuki works team in the Superbike World Championship. Already at the first race of the season in Phillip Island , Australia , the Saxon fought for victory with Noriyuki Haga until the last lap and had to admit defeat to the Ducati factory rider by just 0.032 seconds.

On May 10, 2009, at the fifth run of the season, Neukirchner was involved in a serious accident on the high-speed track in Monza, Italy. Shortly after the start, while in the lead, the Saxon was struck innocently by the motorcycle of the fallen Australian Brendan Roberts and suffered a femoral neck fracture on his right leg and two fractures on his lower leg . Neukirchner was operated on the same day in Monza for six hours and later treated in Chemnitz .

Two months later, on July 16, 2009, Max Neukirchner had another serious crash during test drives in Imola, Italy . He had a highsider at the exit of the Tamburello curve and was thrown in a high arc by his Suzuki. After he himself stated shortly after the accident that he had not suffered any serious injuries, a fracture of the twelfth thoracic vertebra (Th12) was later diagnosed in a hospital in Bologna . Neukirchner had to wear a corset for 30 days . In order to avoid taking any further risks, he stopped racing in 2009.

2010 season

In the 2010 season , Max Neukirchner competed for the Dutch Honda factory team Ten Kate . The Saxon received a three-year contract, his teammate was the Northern Irishman Jonathan Rea . Due to lack of success, the contract was terminated at the end of the season.

2013 season

In 2013, Max Neukirchner worked for the MR-Racing team on a Ducati Panigale 1199R in the Superbike World Championship. He finished the season 14th with 91 points.

Motorcycle world championship

2011 season

In the 2011 season , Max Neukirchner competed as a works rider for MZ in the Moto2 class of the motorcycle world championship .

2012 season

In the 2012 motorcycle world championship , Max Neukirchner started for the Kiefer Racing team in the Moto2 class. He replaced Stefan Bradl, who was promoted to the MotoGP class as world champion of the 2011 season . In the second free practice session for the Czech run in Brno he fell from a highsider and broke his right hand. Before the run in Misano , Italy , Max Neukirchner and the Kiefer team separated by mutual agreement after the Saxony's injuries turned out to be more serious.

IDM

2010 season

In the 2010 season, Max Neukirchner drove as a guest starter at the race weekend in Assen. He won the first race and was third in the second race.

2013 season

In 2013 Max Neukirchner started at the Sachsenring in the newly created Superstock category (together with the Superbike class in one field) on a Ducati Panigale 1199R of the MR Racing Team. He was able to win the second run and record the fastest lap.

2014 season

In 2014 Max Neukirchner was runner-up in the IDM Superbike, 37 points behind (to his team-mate Javier Fores) on 3C-Ducati.

2015 season

In the 2015 season Max Neukirchner competed in the International German Motorcycle Championship for the Yamaha MGM team, on a Yamaha YZF-R1M . In addition to the Superbike IDM, Max Neukirchner also competed in the Endurance World Championship ( endurance world championship) for the YART Yamaha works team ; he drove a Yamaha YZF-R1 together with the Spaniard Ivan Silva and the Australian Broc Parkes.
Due to an accident during the first run on the Nürburgring , Max Neukirchner suffered a fractured femur . As a result, he had to pause several races and only returned to the season finale at the Hockenheimring .

statistics

In the motorcycle world championship

season	class	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2001	250 cc	ADAC Saxony	Honda	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	250 cc	Neukirchner Racing Team	Honda	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2003	250 cc	Neukirchner Racing Team ADAC Saxony	Honda	1	-	-	-	-	-	1	31.
2011	Moto2	MZ engine	MZ-RE Honda	16	-	-	-	-	-	42	20th
2012	Moto2	Pine Racing	Kalex	10	-	-	-	-	-	9	26th
total				29	-	-	-	-	-	52

In the Supersport World Cup

season	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2004	Klaffi Honda	Honda CBR 600 RR	10	-	-	-	-	-	63	9.
total			10	-	-	-	-	-	63

In the Superbike World Championship

season	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2005	Klaffi Honda	Honda CBR 1000 RR	21st	-	-	1	-	-	123	12.
2006	Pedercini Ducati	Ducati 999 RS	10	-	-	-	-	-	9	18th
	Alstare Engineering Corona Extra	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6	8th	-	-	-	-	-	19th
	Overall result 2006		18th	-	-	-	-	-	28
2007	Suzuki Germany	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K6	23	-	-	-	-	-	136	9.
	Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7	2	-	-	-	-	1	13
	Overall result 2007		25th	-	-	-	-	-	149
2008	Team Alstare Suzuki	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K8	27	2	2	3	2	1	311	5.
2009	Suzuki Alstare BRUX	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K9	8th	-	1	1	-	-	75	16.
2010	HANNspree Ten Kate Honda	Honda CBR 1000 RR	26th	-	-	-	-	-	54	18th
2013	MR racing	Ducati Panigale 1199R	21st	-	-	-	-	-	91	14th
2014	3C Racing Team	Ducati Panigale 1199R	2	-	-	-	-	-	17th	23.
total			148	2	3	5	2	2	848

In the IDM

season	class	team	motorcycle	run	Victories	Second	Third	Poles	Nice Race laps	Points	position
2007	Superbike	Suzuki International Europe	Suzuki GSX-R 1000 K7	6th	3	-	1	1	3	101	9.
2010	Superbike	Ten Kate Racing	Honda CBR 1000 RR	2	1	-	1	-	1	-	-
2013	Superstock	MR racing	Ducati Panigale 1199R	2	1	-	-	-	1	-	-
2014	Superbike	3C Racing Team	Ducati Panigale 1199R	15th	4th	6th	3	1	2	281	2.
2015	Superbike	Team Yamaha MGM	Yamaha YZF-R1M	9	1	3	3	1	2	133	6th
2016	Superbike	Team Yamaha MGM	Yamaha YZF-R1M	6th	1	2	-	-	-	102	7th
total				38	11	11	8th	3	9	617

References

Web links

Commons : Max Neukirchner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Max Neukirchner's official website
• official website of the MGM Yamaha team
• Max Neukirchner on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).
• Max Neukirchner on the official website of the Superbike and Supersport World Championship (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Neukirchner replaces Bradl at Kiefer-Racing. In: motorsporttotal.com. November 25, 2011, accessed December 24, 2017 . 
2. ^ Ivo Schützbach: Superbike World Championship - Official: Max Neukirchner declares his resignation. In: Speedweek . August 20, 2017. Retrieved December 24, 2017 . 
3. ↑ Vincent Glon: Championnat D'Europe de Vitesse Moto 2003 - 250cc. racingmemo.free.fr, accessed on May 13, 2009 (French). 
4. ^ Johannes Orasche: Neukirchner victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans! www.motorsport-total.com, April 22, 2007, accessed on July 18, 2009 . 
5. ^ Neukirchner: Injury instead of victory. www.motorsport-total.com, April 6, 2008, accessed April 6, 2008 . 
6. ↑ Neukirchner celebrates historic victory. www.motorsport-total.com, May 11, 2008, accessed June 5, 2008 . 
7. ↑ Britta Weddige: Neukirchner: Two more years with Alstare-Suzuki. www.motorsport-total.com, May 14, 2008, accessed June 5, 2008 . 
8. ↑ Second win of the season for Neukirchner. www.motorsport-total.com, June 29, 2008, accessed March 5, 2009 . 
9. ↑ David Pergler: Haga - Success all along the line. www.motorsport-total.com, March 1, 2009, accessed March 4, 2009 . 
10. ↑ Max after surgery on the mend. (No longer available online.) Max76.com, May 10, 2009, archived from the original on May 15, 2009 ; Retrieved May 11, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ Stefan Ziegler: Neukirchner in Monza successfully operated. www.motorsport-total.com, May 11, 2009, accessed on May 11, 2009 . 
12. ↑ Marco Helgert: Neukirchner: Suspected vertebral fracture. www.motorsport-total.com, July 16, 2009, accessed on July 18, 2009 . 
13. ^ Britta Weddige: Neukirchner: Examination with an Italian specialist. www.motorsport-total.com, July 17, 2009, accessed on July 18, 2009 . 
14. ^ Ivo Schützbach and Esther Babel: Neukirchner's vertebral fracture confirmed. (No longer available online.) Www.speedweekmagazin.com, July 18, 2009, formerly in the original ; Retrieved July 18, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
15. ^ Ivo Schützbach: Neukirchner: Three-year contract with Ten Kate. (No longer available online.) Www.speedweekmagazin.com, October 13, 2009, archived from the original on December 25, 2017 ; Retrieved October 14, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ Max Neukirchner :: DE :: Kiefer Racing. In: motograndprix.de. Retrieved December 24, 2017 . 
17. ^ Roman Wittemeier: Neukirchner: 2011 Moto2 with MZ. www.motorsport-total.com, October 29, 2010, accessed on November 1, 2010 . 
18. ↑ Markus Lüttgens: Kiefer and Neukirchner go their separate ways. www.motorsport-total.com, September 16, 2012, accessed April 28, 2013 . 
19. ↑ Ivo Schützbach: Max Neukirchner drives the entire Endurance World Championship. www.speedweek.com, February 11, 2015, accessed February 14, 2015 . 
20. ↑ Esther Babel: Max Neukirchner: Broken femur neck. www.speedweek.com, June 14, 2015, accessed January 5, 2016 .