October 16, 1955, 8 am – Start of the first motorcycle offroad race "Rund um Zschopau" in the center of the Ore Mountains town.

The BSG Motor and the board of management of the VEB Motorradwerk (motorcycle factory) were organizing the event together. The main responsibility was with Johannes Sprung, who had since 1923 been one of the best German motorcycle racers, riding DKW.

In front of 25,000 spectators the pilots were competing for victory in five different capacity categories. Riding small RTs, many 350 BKs, and AWOs from Suhl, but also some Czech JAWAs and three NSU Max.

One year later the Zschopau event served as the finals of GDR Championships. Again also guests from the Federal Republic of Germany took part. Most famous was Werner Hass, a three-times road racing World champion. As in the first year, he became a cheered overall winner of the race.

The third event went over three days. Again a West German NSU pilot gained the victory. It was Erwin Schmider, who had just turned 19, and would soon become one of the best offroad riders of the World, and that for decades. But also Hans Fischer, a young man from Gelenau, won his category again and turned champion of the GDR for the second time.

During the next years – the engineer Herbert Friedrich turned race director in 1958 – the successful GDR Six Days riders dominated the competition on their MZs. These were Günter Baumann, Klaus Halser, Horst Liebe, Horst Lohr, Werner Salevsky, Werner Stiegler, Klaus Teuchert, Peter Uhlig, Bernd Uhlmann, Karlheinz Wagner, Hans Weber, and Fred Willamowski.

In the smaller categories riders on the Simsons from Suhl clinched the victories, namely Gottfried Pohlan, Siegfried Rauhut, Dieter Salevsky – who was Werner’s younger brother – Ewald Schneidewind and Lothar Schünemann.

In 1967 the Zschopau motorcycle factory celebrated its 60th anniversary. This also had a significance for the name of the offroad event. From then on it was called "Rund um die MZ-Stadt Zschopau" (Around the MZ City of Zschopau).

In the beginning of May 1968 the 14th International Offroad Race was organized – and awarded the first run of the first European Enduro Championships. This was a special appreciation for the GDR offroad sport, the high standard of motorcycle production, and last but not least for the years of excellent organisation, which the MC Zschopau had showed in cooperation with the motorcycle factory.

Until 1972 the very best riders met in Zschopau (there were no World Championships yet). Besides the already mentioned GDR heroes also the Zündapp riders from the Federal Republic of Germany were, among others, successful. The list of winners includes Andreas Brandl, Heinz Brinkmann, Siegfried Gienger, Volker Kramer, Erwin Schmider, Rolf Witthöft, and Josef Wolfgruber, the Austrian Johann Sommerauer on Puch, and the Czech JAWA factory riders Zdenek Cespiva, Josef Fojtik, Kvetoslav Masita, and Frantisek Mrazek.

After five years of European Championships atmosphere it turned a little quieter in the Ore Mountains. In October 1973, at the finals of the GDR Championships, Hermann Hofmann, Chairman of the MC Motorradwerk Zschopau, became race director for the first time. The great era of Manfred Jäger, Frank Schubert, Harald Sturm – all of them MZ factory riders – and of the Simson pilots Rolf Hübler, Bernd Lämmel, and Steffen Mauersberger had begun.

1979 beendeten mit Kvetoslav Masita und Frantisek Mrazek, beide aus der CSSR, ausgerechnet im Erzgebirge zwei Geländesport-Legenden ihre überaus erfolgreiche Karriere. Zu jener Zeit - bis zum Ende der 80er Jahre - wurden in Zschopau mehrere Läufe um den Pokal der Freundschaft der sozialistischen Länder ausgetragen.

In 1979 Kvetoslav Masita and Frantisek Mrazek, two offroad legends from the CSSR, finished their extremely successful careers in the Ore Mountains. At that time, i. e. until the end of the eighties, Zschopau hosted several runs for the Friendship Cup of the socialist countries. Foreign top pilots drew the public’s attention: Jozef Chovancik, Jiri Cisar, Stanislav Zloch (CSSR), and Stanislaw Olszewski (People’s Republic of Poland). But also Andreas Cyffka, Jens Grüner, Reinhard Klädtke, Jens Scheffler, Jens Thalmann, and Uwe Weber.

At the FIM’s spring session in 1989 the decision was made to upgrade the individual Enduro Euopean Championships (the name was introduced some years earlier). Starting 1990 it turned into the World Championships.

The ADMV of the GDR received the honor and trust of organizing a WC race. Start and finish were scheduled for the beginning of June in the city of Karl-Marx-Stadt.
It was clear that after the start the race would lead into the Ore Mountains. "Rund um die MZ-Stadt Zschopau" would become a race of the World Championships. At the final test in April 1989 pilots from nine nations took off in bad weather conditions, fighting mud and water. Superstar Stefano Passeri of Italy set high standards but the MZ pilots were the fastest in the overall, with Jens Scheffler being first, followed by Uwe Weber, Harald Sturm, and Mike Heydenreich.

Fourteen months later, after 18 years of unintentional absence, the entire world elite of Enduro came back to the Ore Mountains. An estimated crowd of 100,000 spectators made the two days competition an overwhelming “Volksfest”, together with 236 top Enduro riders from 16 countries.
Thomas Bieberbach (Suhl) came in first on both race days with his Simson. He became the first and only Individual Enduro Worldchampion of the GDR.
Also former MZ riders Andreas Cyffka and Jens Scheffler prevailed in their categories.
Renown international crack riders like Paul Edmondson from Great Britain, Kari Tiainen from Finland, and Sweden’s Sven-Erik Jönsson dominated their classes. It was the last motorcycle offroad race “Rund um die MZ-Stadt Zschopau” before the reunification and it was again organized in an excellent manner by Hermann Hofmann and his team.

Further and deepening information are offered in the book "Rund um Zschopau", which you can find in our shop.
This book describes extensively the history of Enduro racing, especially in Saxony.