With the ADAC MX Masters season kicking off this weekend, German legend Max Nagl is gearing up for yet another campaign in what’s widely regarded as one of Europe’s best domestic motocross series. A five-time champion, Nagl enters 2025 with renewed motivation as he leads Triumph’s all-new 450cc project with the Dörr Motorsport Triumph Racing powered by Krettek outfit. We caught up with the experienced German to chat about the new challenge, the work behind the scenes, his thoughts on MXGP, and much more.
GateDrop: Max, the ADAC MX Masters gets underway this weekend – you’ve won the title 5 times I believe. What’s the motivation like heading into the opening round this weekend?
Nagl: My motivation for this weekend is actually because of the new project with Triumph. That was also one of the reasons, there were more reasons, but one why I changed from Honda to Triumph because I needed a new motivation, a new project. Even if it’s a lot of work and a lot of stress sometimes, when you start something completely new like this, where there’s no experience, it’s still a big challenge.
I like it and that’s what’s giving me the motivation. Second of all, I’m, let’s say, more or less I’m one of the only riders on this bike. It’s quite similar to back when I was on the TM in 2018. My motivation to be the only one on this bike and try to compete with all the other brands who already have so much experience. We don’t have the experience yet, we just start and that’s giving me the motivation to also win races with this bike.
GateDrop: There’s a big change for you this year as you’ve swapped Honda for Triumph machinery. I am very interested in the Triumph 450cc project. How did you feel when you first got on the bike? Did it feel like any bike you’ve ridden before or did it have a unique feeling?
Nagl: When I got the bike for the first time, it was February because there was a bit of a delay. We went to Spain and the first impression of the bike was actually good. There were some small issues that we had to work on at the start but that is totally normal for a brand new bike. This is also what we expected as everything was new.
Nobody had been riding it before me, there was no testing done and nobody had any hours on the bike. I was one of the first who got the 450cc and I put some hours in to figure out what I could improve and what was already good. I have kept working on it, changing things to have a good race bike. But the first impression was actually good, there’s a good base on the bike. The details, of course, you always change. But if the base is good, then there’s a big chance to make it a really good race bike.
GateDrop: You are with the Dörr Motorsport Triumph Racing powered by Krettek team, how has everything been going with them ahead of the new season?
Nagl: Together with the bike, it is a brand new team. So also there is no experience there. They are coming from the car racing so they have motorsport experience but not in motocross. They also don’t have all the people yet who are working on this project so also that’s a big challenge. It will be a bit difficult in the beginning to have a nice setup, to have everything ready. You know, everything is going to be the last moment because there is just no experience also from the team. They need to figure out how to work on it. The good thing is I have my own mechanic at home, my practice mechanic, and we’re working really well together at the moment.
We find out a lot of things what we are working on it and that also helps the team because the team is also busy with a lot of other things. There’s just a lot of work at the moment but I knew it was going to be like that so it’s not a bad thing. Let’s just call it a challenge.
GateDrop: Have you changed much on the bike from your first got on it until now? If so, what kind of changes have you made?
Nagl: Of course, there’s been a lot of changes I’ve made on the bike. First of all, you start with the basics. You put your handlebar, you want maybe a different seat cover. If some rider wants more grippy, some not, then you maybe go with wider foot pegs so you have a better stand on the bike. Then the most important, of course, the suspension. There I go again with KYB. That helps a lot because there was the experience from the last years already so it was not so difficult to make the suspension. But also there we had to start from zero because you cannot take the KYB suspension from the Honda and just put it in the Triumph. It doesn’t work.
So, we had to also do a lot of testing there but now we are good. And then you go into the engine, the clutch of course. We are working with Suter. They found a really good solution so that the clutch is working great because there were some issues on the stock bike, let’s say. But for the rest, there’s not much I changed actually.
We have a really good base and from here now we continue working race by race and try to find some little steps on how to make the bike better for me, for riding. It’s not actually that far off from a stock bike for the moment.
GateDrop: The ADAC MX Masters series will head to France this year as Bitche will host a round of the series. What’s your thoughts on that?
Nagl: Yes, we have one race in France this year in Bitche. I’m really looking forward because first of all I’ve been racing there last year and it was a nice race. It’s a sandy track, not as deep as Lommel but it’s a sand track. The layout is actually more like a hard pack track because it’s going up and down and a lot of tight corners but it’s sand so that makes it really challenging. But yeah, I’m really looking forward to it.
GateDrop: The ADAC MX Masters is one of the best, if not the best domestic series in Europe but at the moment there’s no top riders at the front of the EMX125 or EMX250 championship. What do you think is missing?
Nagl: Actually, I cannot give you really an answer because at the moment I’m not following EMX125 and EMX250. I have just no time. I’m so busy with this project so I barely can follow the MX2 and MXGP at the moment so that’s why I cannot really give you an answer on that.
GateDrop: We’ve seen Alessandro Lupino and Antonio Cairoli already race a round of MXGP this year and we know Cairoli will do more and maybe even some AMA Nationals. Glenn Coldenhoff and Romain Febvre are also showing age is just a number, are you happy to see the more experienced riders at the top of the sport?
Nagl: That’s nice to see and I always knew that the age is not an issue but unfortunately when I was racing in MXGP, let’s say 2017, 2018, 2019 but it started already in like 2015, 2016. A lot of the teams, because I was always in contact with a lot of brands and that time all the team managers were only hunting for young riders because they thought they are much better, they are much more fresh and aggressive and that if you are like 27 or 28 years old, that your career is done.
It’s nice to see that people like Tony, Romain, Glenn and myself who can prove them all being wrong. I think a lot of the teams, the big teams also understand now and see that maybe sometimes experience is better than a young, crazy, or really aggressive rider because you don’t need just one result per season that is great… You need a consistent rider who’s always bringing good results to be somewhere close to the podium or on the podium at the end of the season.
That’s what the experienced rider can bring and also to develop the bike. Experienced riders can work much better with the team, you can tell them much more in detail what the bike is doing bad or what the bike is doing good. I think this changed a little bit in the head of some of the teams that they now understand age is just a number or an older rider could be actually a benefit and not a negative thing and that’s really nice to see.
GateDrop: You are 37 now and I know the full focus is on the ADAC MX Masters, but it would be really cool to see Triumph do a round of MXGP this year – any chance of this happening? I am sure German fans would love to see you race there…
Nagl: I’m now 37 now, I’m already going to be 38 in August but I’m not considering to ride any GP’s because I’m a bit in a different mental state of this. I’m not doing motocross just for fun, for me it’s my job, it’s my work and every race I go I have to work really hard. I have to risk my health and everything and I don’t see it to go to races and either even pay for it or don’t get any money for it.
That’s what we have at the moment in MXGP. If you don’t have a big team behind who are willing to pay you to do GP races then yeah the question is why I should do it, you know? No normal people would pay money to go to work and that’s what is happening at the moment already quite a long time in this sport.
If I do races like the ADAC or Czech Championship and I do some international races in Switzerland, France or Italy etc, I get paid to do these races so and there are still enough races for me I can do almost 20 races a year and so I don’t need to race in GP’s. The risk is just so much higher to race there and you don’t get anything for it, so that’s why I will not do it. I just do all these international races, I search for them which ones I like and that’s what I’m going to do.
GateDrop: Who do you see as being your best competition for the ADAC MX Masters title? Roan van de Moosdijk is looking like he’s getting back to a good level after a difficult 2024…
Nagl: Ron van de Moosdijk is for sure good, then normally Jordi Tixi is one of the best but he unfortunately got injured so I actually have no idea when he will come back if he’s missing this weekend or he misses more races. I don’t know but that’s a pity but because he was actually always the hardest one in the last two years to beat.
There’s Marcel Stauffer he’s doing some GP’s this year so he’s for sure on a good level and I’m sure in some races that guys like Jeffrey Herlings will show up – not for the whole championship but for some races so there’s always coming a lot of good riders to the ADAC. I would say these are the main rivals for this year.
GateDrop: We recently did an interview with German MXoN team manager, Marcel Dornhöfer and he said you’d be open to race the event this year in Ironman if selected. Can you confirm if you are in good form and selected that you’d be open to do the event once again?
Nagl: I said already the year before last year that it was my last but I still raced. I was looking forward to it. I had a good season, I had a good bike but then unfortunately in the UK when we had Matterley Basin last year, it didn’t go as planned. I was really really disappointed about that event, I would really like to race more but I don’t know what they’re currently doing with the tracks. It’s a bit of disaster I would call it and so dangerous. I mean if I see always MXGP how many injuries are happening but they are happening not because of the bikes of the riders, it’s just the track preparation is so bad at the GP’s. I don’t want to talk always bad about the GP’s but everybody says it. I saw it myself when I was a Matterley Basin last year, it was not just a challenge, it was just too much you know, it was so dangerous.
Also this event is the last one of the year and why should you risk your health and everything just for that one race even if it’s the biggest race of the year. This year it’s going to be in US and normally there the track conditions are always better if it’s not raining a lot of course. I don’t know, normally I don’t want to race anymore the Nations also not this year but I assume that a lot of my sponsors, partners and especially Triumph maybe will try to push me to go there. I guess for Triumph it would be a big thing if they have a good rider there, it’s still open, I would say.
It’s also depending on what Kenny will do and if he’s still racing, I assume so because it’s in the US this year so it’s not a big effort for him. It’s also always a budget thing of course because Germany doesn’t have that big of a budget. Two years ago in RedBud, I couldn’t take my own bike so I had to rent a stock KTM in the US to race. That was also a big big mistake because I really liked the track, back in 2018 with my team I was so fast there. I made good results but then on this big track I had to ride the Nations on a stock KTM and then it was muddy. That was just a disaster and I don’t want all these problems anymore.
If I want to do a big event like that, I want to do it with my race bike so I know what I have under my butt and I know that it will be working good and that there’s power. If I need to get a stock bike from Triumph in the US and just bring again my handlebars and my suspension to race the Nations then no. That I will for sure not do again, there needs to be a proper bike that I’m able to make good starts and a good race – otherwise I will stay home and just watch the race from the couch. I would have more fun, I think.
So, it’s a bit about organization, let’s see what is going to happen this year and how the races are going first of all and how I’m feeling. I will then take a decision together with the team if I go or not or maybe they don’t even need me, you know. If they have Kenny and Simon Langenfelder in the mix too so they already have two of the best riders, let’s say. Then they just need one more rider and at the moment Tom Koch for example. He’s struggling at the moment but he’s with the Beta factory team so maybe for them it’s much easier to organize the trip and to get the material there. Then it maybe makes more sense that he is riding instead of me but these things, we don’t know yet. We need to speak with the team later in the season but it’s still open.
