A spectacular Friday evening in the legendary Westfalenhalle marked the start of the 41st ADAC Supercross Dortmund. The fans experienced a rollercoaster of emotions: While in the premier class SX1 a crash drama in the penultimate lap caused a late decision, international riders made history and local heroes let the atmosphere in the hall boil over. From the young talents to the elite, it was already clear on the first evening that the fight for the titles this year is closer than ever before.

Desprey wins, Aranda with damage limitation

The finale of the SX1 class at the 41st ADAC Supercross Dortmund 2026 on Friday evening was hard to beat in terms of drama. Luke Clout (Kawasaki Motul Pfeil) won the start with a perfect holeshot, closely followed by Maxime Desprey (Sturm Racing Team), with Gregory Aranda (Sturm Racing Team) in third and Cedric Soubeyras (Luke's Racing) in fourth. For Aranda, the way to the final was already a feat of strength: After he crashed in the first qualifying race, he had to take the detour via the repechage to be able to qualify at all. In the main race, however, he immediately went on the attack, took the lead on lap eight and confidently extended it to almost seven seconds. But then came the next setback: On the penultimate lap, Aranda crashed again in the demanding washboard. Desprey inherited the lead and secured victory after 18 laps. On the very last lap, Jordi Tixier (KMP-Honda-Racing powered by DVAG) also managed to catch the initial leader Luke Clout and secure third place behind Aranda.

After the race, the drivers were marked by the demanding track. Winner Maxime Desprey: "That was a very good first evening for me. My start was solid, but Greg was clearly the faster man on the track today. In Dortmund, the main thing is to stay as flawless as possible, and I managed to do that today." Second-placed Gregory Aranda looked forward despite the crash: "Unfortunately, I crashed twice too often today. The course is really extremely demanding. I was clearly in the lead and have no idea why this mishap happened to me in the whoops. But the weekend in Dortmund lasts three days – I still have two more chances to win." Third-placed Jordi Tixier also found clear words: "That was a hard piece of work today after a missed start. The track was treacherous today and demanded everything from us."

In the overall standings of the ADAC SX Cup, the situation came to a head after Friday evening. Cedric Soubeyras, who had travelled to Dortmund as the leader of the standings, finished fifth in the final and had to relinquish the top position. Luke Clout now leads the championship with 62 points, closely followed by Soubeyras with 61 points. The best German driver in the standings remains Maximilian Spies (Becker Racing), who is now in fourth place overall with 42 points after his seventh place in the final. Paul Haberland (Team Motorrad Waldmann) is currently the second-best German in tenth place in the championship standings.

Frenchman

Calvin Fonvieille (KTM Sarholz Racing Team) celebrated an outstanding lights-to-flag victory on Friday evening. After securing the holeshot, he controlled the 15-lap race confidently at the front and thus took his second victory of the day in Dortmund. "In 2019, I stood on the podium here for the first time. Last year I won Saturday night and then the championship – that's the goal again this year. I'm happy to be able to give something back to my team with this victory," said a happy Fonvieille after the race.

Behind Fonvieille, Hardy Muñoz (Luke's Racing) made history: He was the first rider from Chile to make it onto the podium in the more than 40-year history of ADAC Supercross Dortmund. Still in seventh place after the first lap, he worked his way up to second place with a strong catch-up race. "A huge thank you to the team at Luke's for making this success possible," Muñoz said enthusiastically. "It's the first time I've raced in Germany and the event is just great. The atmosphere is fantastic. I'm enjoying every second and looking forward to the next two days."

The podium was completed by Frenchman Mickael Lamarque (VisuAlz Production), who also showed an impressive catch-up race after a difficult start. "It was just crazy – I started last and now I'm here on the podium," Lamarque commented on his first podium in Germany.

While Lamarque was cheering, last year's "Prince of Dortmund", Jules Pietre, experienced a bitter evening: He crashed on the first lap and only finished eleventh in the end. The best German driver was Paul Bloy on Triumph. He was in third place at the start of the race and crossed the finish line in seventh place after 15 laps.

Local hero Romberg wins at the premiere of SX NEXT

In the newly created junior class SX NEXT, local hero Oskar Romberg (Meyer Yamaha Racing powered by DirtScrub) from Werl celebrated an impressive maiden victory. Despite a bad start, Romberg fought his way through the field with determination. The spectators in the sold-out Westfalenhalle cheered him on loudly and whipped him forward. "Tomorrow I have to try something different. I didn't think about anything in the crowd and just wanted to move forward. After that, I had a lot of fun overtaking," the winner summed up his race. Romberg underlined his enormous pace and set the fastest race lap of the entire field with 29.932 seconds. After eight laps, he crossed the finish line first with a total time of 4:10.812 minutes. Second place went to Pius Bergmann (Team Motorrad Waldmann), who remained dangerously close to the winner until the end. With a gap of only 2.710 seconds, he scored 22 points for the event ranking. Bergmann showed himself to be a fair sportsman after the race: "I gave everything at the start because I knew he was coming. Oskar is a strong driver. I gave it my all, but then unfortunately I collapsed a bit." Behind the leading duo, Kimi Schmidt on KTM completed the podium in third place – 6.457 seconds behind the local hero.

Haustein wins in the SX4 class

The winner of the first SX4 race of the weekend is Eddi Haustein. The champion of last year's SX Series took a commanding lights-to-flag victory on his Husqvarna on Friday evening. At the halfway point of the race, Haustein took the lead and pulled away from the rest of the field with fast lap times. In the end, he secured the top podium place and the full 25 points with a total time of 4:04.665 minutes. The podium was completed by Matteo Bauten on KTM, who finished second, 7.754 seconds behind, and Maximilian Tse An Auer (also KTM) in third place. Haustein, who visibly enjoyed the technical course in the Westfalenhalle, was overjoyed: "Supercross is just great. The jumps and challenging combinations suit me and are a lot of fun."

The German champion triumphs in the eKids

At the eKids race, the young talents delivered a thrilling finale. In the end, Oskar Gajewski, reigning champion of the German Motocross Championship in the 50 cc class, rejoiced. For almost the entire last lap, he fought side by side with Melvin Gohlke, who had been leading until then. At the finish, Gajewski's lead was just 0.569 seconds. He also set the fastest race lap with 46.152 seconds. After the race, Gajewski paid great respect to his competitor: "It was difficult to overtake Melvin. He drove well and can be proud of himself. The training hasn't been so good yet – I'd like to improve that tomorrow." The finish line also showed how close it was at the front: The first four riders – Gajewski, Gohlke, Leonhard Storz and Hugo Coscarelli – crossed the finish line within a good two seconds.

After the thrilling kick-off on Friday, the spectacle in the Westfalenhalle continues directly: On Saturday evening, the arena will once again be transformed into a witch's cauldron, with the event already completely sold out. However, fans who couldn't get their hands on a ticket don't have to miss out and can watch all the action live in the stream on supercross-dortmund.de. If, on the other hand, you still want to experience the SX feeling up close on site, you will have the last opportunity to do so on Sunday at the big MAOAM Family Day. Tickets are currently still available online for this final day.

Dortmund SX story and image