Reinhold Roth (racing driver)

Reinhold Roth in 1990 on a Honda at the Japanese Grand Prix

Reinhold Roth (born March 4, 1953 in Amtzell , Baden-Württemberg ) is a former German motorcycle racer .

Career

Reinhold Roth completed an apprenticeship as a retail salesman and as a motor vehicle mechanic . He then started in 1975 in the OMK Cup on a 125 cm³ Maico . In July 1976 he switched to a 250cc Yamaha and won the last OMK run of the season. The Institute for Sport and Sport Science at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg later developed a nutrition plan for Roth, measured the physical and psychological stress and also developed a training plan for stamina and concentration. The coordination of training and nutrition was also scientifically monitored.

In 1977 he won twelve times, finished second four times and won the OMK Cup in the classes up to 250 and 500 cm³, each on a Yamaha. In 1978 Reinhold Roth, again with a Yamaha, won the German championship in the 250cc class straight away, ahead of Toni Mang .

In 1979 Roth made his debut at the Grand Prix of Nations in Misano, Italy in the motorcycle world championship . He finished eighth in the 250cc class. A scaphoid fracture then led to the premature end of the season.

From 1980 he started as a professional racing driver in Helmut Fath's team . After two top ten finishes, he fell at the French Grand Prix in Paul Ricard because of a piston jam at the end of the Mistral straight in the Signes curve and suffered a six-fold fracture of the tibia and fibula . He broke his leg again at the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring .

In 1981 Roth became German runner-up. In the 1982 season , after victories in Donington Park (Great Britain), Assen (Netherlands) and Jarama (Spain), he became European champion in the 250 cc class. He missed the European title in the half-liter class because of physical problems (cramps in the forearms) and a machine that was no longer quite competitive. However, it was enough for the DM title in the class up to 500 cm³ this year.

From 1983 Roth started for the team Römer-Helme Neu-Ulm , he became German champion in the 250 cm³ class. In 1984 on the 500 cc three-cylinder Honda, he took several top ten placings at the world championship and became the superior German champion. In 1985 he started again in the 250 cc class and finished second at the Grand Prix of Great Britain in Silverstone and was ninth at the World Championship. In 1986 Hartmut Bischoff looked after Reinhold Roth's 250 cc Honda, with which he was again German champion.

In 1987 Roth joined Dieter Stappert's HB team and was able to compete there for the first time with a factory Honda. The machine was looked after by the motorcycle Grand Prix mechanic Sepp Schlögl and his employees. Roth fought for the world title and won his first world championship round at the French Grand Prix in Le Mans . He was in the lead in the World Cup for a long time and finally ended the season as runner-up behind Toni Mang .

In 1988 Roth fell in an invitation race that was not part of the World Cup and broke his leg - so his ambitions were to win the longed-for world championship title for the first time. After an acceptable season he was fifth in the World Cup. In the 1989 season he won two more races and finished the year again as vice world champion, only beaten by Sito Pons .

On June 17, 1990 the Grand Prix of Yugoslavia was on the program in the Grobnik Automotodrom near Rijeka . Reinhold Roth had a serious accident while trying to overtake Australian Darren Milner. The leading trio, which, in addition to Roth, consisted of Helmut Bradl and Martin Wimmer , ran into Milner in the battle for first place, who was very slowly on the ideal line because of the wet track . While Bradl and Wimmer were still able to evade, Roth hit Milner unchecked and fell. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was then in a coma for six weeks . Reinhold Roth has been in constant need of care since he woke up . He is looked after in his house in Amtzell by his wife Elfriede and a care team. In October 2014, Elfriede Roth was a guest on the talk show Markus Lanz .

successes

1976	First win in the OMK Cup on Yamaha in Augsburg
1977	250 cc OMK cup winner on a Yamaha
	500 cc OMK cup winner on a Yamaha
1978	German 250cc champion on a Yamaha
1982	German 500 cc champion on Suzuki
	250 cc European champion on a Yamaha
1983	German 250cc champion on a Yamaha
1984	German 500 cc champion on a Honda
1986	German 250 cc champion on a Honda
1987	250 cc vice world champion on a Honda
1988	Fifth in the World Championship in the 250 cc class on a Honda
1989	250 cc vice world champion on a Honda

Awards

• ADAC Motorsportman of the Year 1989

Web links

• Ten years after his serious accident - Reinhold Roth is in need of care . rp-online.de, June 14, 2000,accessed on January 19, 2010. 
• Tragedy: The Race of Her Life Augsburger Allgemeine, December 25, 2011, accessed on September 16, 2014
• Reinhold Roth on the official website of the Motorcycle World Championship (English).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Reinhold Roth turned 50. (No longer available online.) Motorrad , March 13, 2003, formerly in the original ; Retrieved November 8, 2008 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
2. ↑ Moving appearance at Lanz-Talkshow tz, October 14, 2014, accessed on June 24, 2015.