Paul Friedrichs competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1961 to 1972, most prominently as a member of the ČZ factory motocross team where he won three consecutive titles from 1966 to 1968.

Friedrichs won 61 individual heat races and 29 Grand Prix victories during his world championship racing career. He won three 500cc motocross world titles (1966, 1967, 1968), two 500cc East German motocross national championships (1965, 1972) and four 250cc East German motocross national championships (1962, 1963, 1967, 1972).

He was also a member of three East German Trophée des Nations teams (1965, 1967, 1971), and three East German Motocross des Nations teams (1966, 1967, 1968). Friedrichs was the top individual points scorer at the 1968 Motocross des Nations event.

Friedrichs was born in Buchholz and grew up in Mecklenburg where he joined the motor sports clubs MC tractor Franzburg, MC Dynamo Rostock / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo. With the training offered by the clubs, he developed into one of the best motocross and enduro racers of his era.

In 1965, he finished in second place in the 500cc world championship, behind Jeff Smith, before claiming his first world title in 1966 as a member of the ČZ factory motocross team. His was the first 500cc championship won on a two-cycle powered motocross bike and the first by a rider from the eastern 'bloc' of a divided Europe.

Friedrichs successfully defended his crown in 1967 and 1968 to become the first three-time 500cc Motocross World Champion since the series' inception in 1957. He was the top individual points scorer at the 1968 Motocross des Nations event helping the East German team finish second to the Russian team. He dropped to third place in the 1969 championship, then finished second to Roger De Coster in the 1972 500cc world championship.

Friedrichs also competed in the 1972 International Six Day Trial as a member of the East Germany national team that finished second to the powerful Czechoslovakia national team. At the age of 32, he retired from competition at the end of the 1972 season.

Unfortunately, Friedrichs died in Erfurt, Germany on 30 August 2012 at the age of just 72. Another motocross legend gone, but without question, never forgotten. Long live this East German great.

Willy Bauer

Willy Bauer is a German former professional motocross racer. He was one of the top racers in the Motocross World Championships of the early 1970s.

In 1973, as a member of the Maico factory racing team, he battled the reigning world champion, Suzuki's Roger De Coster for the 500cc world championship. The title chase went down to the final race in the Netherlands, when Bauer had a mechanical breakdown, losing the championship by two points.

After falling to sixth place in the 1974 500cc world championship, he signed a contract in 1975 to race for the Suzuki factory racing team in the 250cc class. Bauer ended the season in third place behind Harry Everts and Hakan Andersson.

Bauer moved back to the 500cc class with the KTM factory racing team in 1976 and placed tenth in the world championship. After a 12th-place finish in 1977, he signed a contract to race for the Sachs factory in the 1978 250cc world championship. At the 1978 British motocross Grand Prix held at Kilmartin, Scotland, Bauer crashed and had spinal cord injuries that left him paralysed.