The announcement that Dennis Ullrich will race Supercross Dortmund made many fans happy. Although he didn’t make it to the finals either evening, his performance was worth it – including to himself.
Last year, Dennis Ullrich returned to the German motocross tracks and, although he was still struggling a bit, his appearance in the ADAC MX Masters certainly added value – both to the series and to the fans.
The five-time Masters champion had great success in Supercross and was consistently the best German during his prime. However, his announcement a few weeks before the 40th ADAC Supercross Dortmund that he would now return to his SX at the Westfalenhalle was quite surprising.
“Everything that comes after my return is the basis for me. I just want to have a bit of fun. When I saw the plan for the Dortmund route and the route with six lanes – with more curves than usual and short rhythm sections – I thought that I would be able to make the most of my energy there. “That was the important thing and also that it was KTM Sarholz’s home game,” “Ulle” explained to SPEEDWEEK.com.
As in his best days, he started electric many times, but in the distance of the race he always lacked the speed until the end, so he did not end up participating in the final among the best SX1 pilots. In fact, because on Saturday evening Ullrich was heading to the final in the return race, where only the two best drivers go first. In the end, like the previous evening, he had to settle for third place. But on “Fan Night”, as Saturday in Dortmund is also called, they had a voice in the composition of the driver field for the final and voted “Ulle” as the 13th driver through the wild card.
In the end he finished in eleventh place, so the fans really enjoyed his performance. Ullrich himself also put it this way: “I had the happiness I wanted. There are always two sides to the story. On the one hand, it saddens me when I know how I could drive and then it’s not quite enough in the race distance. Ambitions as an athlete are still there, but compared to where I was years ago the last two, when nothing worked for me physically, that was fine.
“Of course you should stay realistic. Most of the guys who ride here don’t do anything but Supercross. “I rode the Supercross for eight hours in preparation,” admitted Ullrich. “After my history with mental and physical problems, I’m still not 100 percent fit again. I can drive incredibly fast and I showed that again in Dortmund. If I did well after the start, I could have been in front for the first three or four laps .But then my body didn’t cooperate as well as I would have liked.
“Ulle” still does not know what he will do outside this year. The total of eleven in the ADAC MX Masters 2024 explains this as follows: “There are more sand races in the Masters that do not play into my hands. The sand races are much, much more difficult than the hard surface races, where I can compensate a lot with my technique good. So I have to see if I can get fit again. Actually, getting around is not my goal.”
