Max Neukirchner

Max Neukirchner
Max Neukirchner
	Max Neukirchner
Nationality	German
Born	20 April 1983 (age 41); Stollberg, Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany
Current team	YART Yamaha Official EWC Team
Bike number	7
Website	max-neukirchner.de
Motorcycle racing career statistics
Moto2 World Championship
Active years	2011–2012
Manufacturers	MZ-RE-Honda, Kalex-Honda
Championships	0
2012 championship position	26th (9 pts)
250cc World Championship
Active years	2001–2003,
Manufacturers	Honda
Championships	0
2003 championship position	31st (1 pt)
Superbike World Championship
Active years	2005–2010, 2013–2014
Manufacturers	Honda, Ducati, Suzuki
Championships	0
2014 championship position	23rd (17 pts)

Max Neukirchner (born 20 April 1983 in Stollberg, East Germany) is a professional motorcycle racer currently competing in the Endurance FIM World Championship aboard a Yamaha YZF-R1.

Career

Supersport & Superbike World Championship

In 2004 he competed in the Supersport World Championship riding for Klaffi Honda, finishing the season ranked 9th with 63 points.

For 2005, Neukirchner, along with the Klaffi Honda team, moved to the Superbike World Championship. He got a 3rd place podium finish at Phillip Island (but broke his hand at the next round in Valencia [1]) and finished the season 12th with 123 points.

He looked set to remain with Klaffi Honda in 2006 but the ride eventually went to Alex Barros. Klaffi wasn't able to find the money to run a second bike for Neukirchner and he was left without a ride.^[1] He joined Pedercini Ducati but after a poor first half of the season Neukirchner and Pedercini announced their split.^[2] Neukirchner went on to replace Fabien Foret at Alstare Eng. Corona Extra. He finished the season 18th with 28 points.^[3]

For 2007 Neukirchner rode for Suzuki Germany and finished the season ranked ninth overall. The team used the 2006-spec works Suzuki GSX-R1000 K6.

For 2008 he rode a 2007-spec Suzuki GSX-R1000 motorcycle for Team Alstare Suzuki. At Valencia he took his first career pole [2], and lead until the final corner, where he was hit by Carlos Checa, Neukirchner breaking his collarbone. On 27 April 2008 at Assen he achieved his second World Superbike podium finish, finishing behind Troy Bayliss and Checa in the first race [3].

Neukirchner took his maiden victory (and the first for a German rider) in the first race at Monza, his 70th race in SBK. He won by just 0.058 seconds from Noriyuki Haga [4]^{[permanent dead link]}. In race 2, he achieved another podium, finishing 2nd to Haga, missing out on victory by 0.009 seconds in a three-way blanket finish. At Miller Motorsport Park he was helped to learn the fastest line through the early part of the track by video of Suzuki's AMA Superbike champion Ben Spies [5]. He did not score another podium that season, but consistent points finishes including four further fourth places allowed him to finish as the top Suzuki in 5th overall.

At Monza he suffered a broken femur in a first-corner crash for which he was blameless.^[4]

Although Suzuki Alstare announced in May that he would remain with the team for 2009 and 2010 [6], doubts later surfaced over his future with the team. On 12 October 2009 Suzuki Alstare announced that they would not be offering Neukirchner a contract extension for the 2010 championship after he failed to provide medical evidence that he was fit to race.^[5]

On 14 October 2009 it was confirmed that Neukirchner would race for the HANNspree Ten Kate Honda team for the 2010 season.^[6]

Moto2 World Championship

For the 2011 season, Neukirchner rode for the MZ Racing Team with a 2010 FTR chassis at the Moto2 World Championship under the technical direction of the Italian company Pro Ride Motorsports (www.proridegp.com).

For the 2012 season, he was riding for the Kiefer Racing Team with a Kalex chassis at the Moto2 World Championship, but left the series after sustained injury in Brno. Neukirchner achieved his best result and his only point scoring finish of the year at Le Mans with 7th place.

Career highlights

Career statistics

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

By season

Season	Class	Motorcycle	Team	Number	Race	Pts	Plcd
2011	Moto2	MZ-RE-Honda	MZ Racing Team	76	16	42	20th
2012	Moto2	Kalex-Honda	Kiefer Racing	76	10	9	26th
Total					26	51

By class

Class	Seasons	1st GP	1st Pod	1st Win	Race	Win	Podiums	Pole	FLap	Pts	WChmp
Moto2	2011–2012	2011 Qatar			26	0	0	0	0	51	0

Grand Prix motorcycle racing

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Class	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Pos.	Pts
2001	250cc	Honda	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER 18	CZE	POR	VAL	PAC	AUS	MAL	BRA		NC	0
2002	250cc	Honda	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER 19	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL		NC	0
2003	250cc	Honda	JPN	RSA	SPA	FRA	ITA	CAT	NED	GBR	GER 15	CZE	POR	BRA	PAC	MAL	AUS	VAL		31st	1
2011	Moto2	MZ-RE-Honda	QAT 15	SPA 10	POR DNS	FRA 15	CAT 10	GBR 12	NED 10	ITA 8	GER Ret	CZE Ret	INP 24	RSM Ret	ARA 13	JPN 18	AUS Ret	MAL Ret	VAL 9	20th	42
2012	Moto2	Kalex	QAT 30	SPA Ret	POR 20	FRA 7	CAT 17	GBR 17	NED Ret	GER 18	ITA Ret	INP 21	CZE DNS	RSM	ARA	JPN	MAL	AUS	VAL	26th	9

Supersport World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Pos	Pts
2004	Honda	SPA 14	AUS 8	SMR Ret	ITA 6	GER 5	GBR 11	EUR 11	NED 7	ITA 11	FRA 8	9th	63

Superbike World Championship

Races by year

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Bike	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		10		11		12		13		14		Pos	Pts
Year	Bike	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	R1	R2	Pos	Pts
2005	Honda	QAT Ret	QAT 8	AUS 4	AUS 3	SPA Ret	SPA 12	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 7	EUR 18	SMR Ret	SMR Ret	CZE 14	CZE Ret	GBR 10	GBR 11	NED 8	NED 7	GER 7	GER 7	ITA 7	ITA C	FRA 8	FRA 8					12th	123
2006	Ducati	QAT 10	QAT Ret	AUS 18	AUS 13	ESP Ret	ESP 18	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	EUR 16	EUR Ret	SMR	SMR	CZE	CZE	GBR	GBR													18th	28
2006	Suzuki																	NED 6	NED Ret	GER 13	GER Ret	ITA Ret	ITA Ret	FRA 12	FRA 14					18th	28
2007	Suzuki	QAT 6	QAT 10	AUS 8	AUS 8	EUR 8	EUR 10	SPA 12	SPA 10	NED 10	NED 7	ITA 10	ITA 12	GBR 10	GBR C	SMR 9	SMR 10	CZE 9	CZE 12	GBR 10	GBR 10	GER Ret	GER 10	ITA Ret	ITA 10	FRA 4	FRA Ret			9th	149
2008	Suzuki	QAT 5	QAT 8	AUS 7	AUS 5	SPA Ret	SPA DNS	NED 3	NED 5	ITA 1	ITA 2	USA 4	USA 2	GER 3	GER 3	SMR 1	SMR 7	CZE 7	CZE 5	GBR 7	GBR 4	EUR Ret	EUR 14	ITA 4	ITA 4	FRA 5	FRA 9	POR Ret	POR 4	5th	311
2009	Suzuki	AUS 2	AUS 6	QAT Ret	QAT 6	SPA 3	SPA 7	NED 13	NED 9	ITA DNS	ITA DNS	RSA	RSA	USA	USA	SMR	SMR	GBR	GBR	CZE	CZE	GER	GER	ITA	ITA	FRA	FRA	POR	POR	16th	75
2010	Honda	AUS 12	AUS 16	POR Ret	POR 15	SPA 13	SPA 17	NED 20	NED 9	ITA 12	ITA 12	RSA 19	RSA 17	USA 12	USA 12	SMR 14	SMR 14	CZE Ret	CZE Ret	GBR 11	GBR Ret	GER Ret	GER 15	ITA 14	ITA 12	FRA 13	FRA 12			18th	54
2013	Ducati	AUS 10	AUS 11	SPA 11	SPA 12	NED 11	NED 12	ITA 12	ITA 10	GBR 14	GBR 12	POR 13	POR 11	ITA 12	ITA 13	RUS 7	RUS C	GBR 12	GBR 12	GER Ret	GER 9	TUR DNS	TUR DNS	USA	USA	FRA	FRA	SPA 14	SPA 11	14th	91
2014	Ducati	AUS	AUS	SPA	SPA	NED	NED	ITA	ITA	GBR	GBR	MAL	MAL	SMR	SMR	POR	POR	USA	USA	SPA	SPA	FRA 9	FRA 6	QAT	QAT					23rd	17

References

^ Neukirchner out, Barros poised to join. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ Kurtis Roberts replaces Neukirchner at Pedercini. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ Neukirchner replaces Foret at Alstare. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
^ Neukirchner suffers broken femur
^ "Suzuki cut ties with Neukirchner – Guintoli moves to WSB". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
^ "Neukirchner confirmed at Ten Kate". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 14 October 2009.

External links

Max Neukirchner at MotoGP.com
Max Neukirchner at WorldSBK.com
max-neukirchner.de Official Website (in German)

[1] Neukirchner out, Barros poised to join. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine

[2] Kurtis Roberts replaces Neukirchner at Pedercini. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine

[3] Neukirchner replaces Foret at Alstare. Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine

[4] Neukirchner suffers broken femur

[Insidebikes:_Suzuki_cut_ties_with_Neukirchner_-_Guintoli_moves_to_WSB-5] "Suzuki cut ties with Neukirchner – Guintoli moves to WSB". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 14 October 2009.

[Insidebikes:_Neukirchner_confirmed_at_Ten_Kate-6] "Neukirchner confirmed at Ten Kate". Insidebikes. Archived from the original on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 14 October 2009.

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