Favourite’s victory for Maxime Desprey (Yamaha) at the SX Cup opener

The 42nd ADAC Supercross Stuttgart marked the start of the 2026/2027 ADAC SX Cup’s short season on the first Friday in November. Following the two-day opening event at the venerable Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle, this mid-season will see only the final in Dortmund in mid-January.

Frenchman Maxime Desprey, tipped as the top favourite in the top class, SX1, made his mark on the first day of racing right from the start. Already in the afternoon’s qualifying session, the 33-year-old veteran from the Sturm Racing Team set the fastest lap, cruised comfortably into the final with what proved to be a clear victory in his semi-final qualifying race, and was in a league of his own in the final. Over the course of the long 18-lap race, he finished over 14 seconds – or, to put it another way, half a lap – ahead of the runner-up, the American Ryan Breece.

Erster Start in die neue Saison

Foto: Thorsten Horn

In the battle for second place, the American Ryan Breece prevailed over his compatriot Mitchell Harrison.

Towards the end, Harrison came under pressure from another Frenchman, Calvin Fonvieille, who, as a two-time ADAC SX Cup winner in the SX2 class, has moved up to the big boys this year.

Without wishing to detract from Desprey’s performance – the absence of his compatriots Greg Aranda, Cedric Soubeyras and, ultimately, Jordi Tixier was certainly a disadvantage. Soubeyras was not in the line-up from the outset due to his trip to Australia. Aranda had to pull out two weeks before Stuttgart due to a mysterious swelling in his knee. And Tixier crashed in Stuttgart during the very first free practice session after hitting a bale of straw lying on the track, breaking his right shoulder blade in the process and was therefore also out of the race.

Having successfully completed the first part of his mission to secure the championship title, Desprey told SPEEDWEEK.com: “It was a really good day for me. I got on well with the track layout and was able to play around with my bike. I got off to a good start in the Main Event and put in a few really good laps at the beginning. Still, I think there’s still a bit of room for improvement. It’s good to get the weekend off to a start like this. But we’ve still got another day of racing ahead of us and need to stay focused.”

Having already been crowned ‘Prince of Stuttgart’ as the overall SX2 winner in Stuttgart in 2023, he now has an excellent chance of securing his first German championship title at the same venue. Commenting on this, he said: “Yes, the opportunity is there, but we won’t know for sure until Saturday evening.”

Of the three Germans who competed in the SX1 – Nico Koch, Stefan Ekerold and Mark Scheu – Nico Koch was the only one to reach the final. Having clocked the fastest time in his Time Trial Group B, he was the first to choose his gate position in his qualifying race and impressed once again with his semi-final victory. In the showdown race, he crashed early on but managed to get back on his feet. Tenth place was at least some consolation.

In the SX2, six Germans were in the line-up and, following strong performances in the heats, three made it through to the final. Paul Bloy led for a while, but then dropped back to fourth place. On the final lap, the Frenchman Jules Pietre snatched victory from his compatriot Mickael Lamarque in the very last metres. Noah Ludwig, just as he did on his Supercross debut in 2025, secured a German podium finish for the day by coming third. SX2 debutant Oskar Luis Romberg managed to reach the final straight away, but was forced to retire three laps from the end.

SX1 Stuttgart, Friday’s results

1. Maxime Desprey (F), Yamaha

2. Ryan Breece (USA), Honda

3. Mitchell Harrison (USA), Kawasaki

4. Calvin Fonvieille (F), KTM

5. Adrien Escoffier (F), Yamaha

6. Lucas Imbert (F), Honda

7. Henry Miller (USA), Honda

8. Marshal Weltin (USA), Kawasaki

9. Jeremy Hand (USA), KTM

10. Nico Koch (Germany), KTM

11. Brice Maylin (F), Yamaha

12. Ludovic Macler (F), Honda