Germany's Stefan Bradl was crowned the 2011 Moto2 World Champion in Valencia, Spain today following the withdrawal due to injury of his biggest challenger, Marc Marquez. The twenty-one year old Bradl is the first German to take a motorcycle world championship since Dirk Raudies in the 125cc class in 1993.The son of World Championship runner-up and 250cc ace, Helmut Bradl, Stefan attributes much of his success to his father. According to Bradl this championship is special as 2o years after his father was 2nd in the world championship, Bradl is now a champion himself. Bradl says of his father, "He's the biggest part in my life, supporting me from every second of racing."
Winning the World Championship is still sinking in for Bradl, as the title did not come easily. Rookie Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez put up a strong fight, and took over the championship points lead in Motegi. It was then that Bradl decided to take an all or nothing approach to score some good results, remain consistent and take the championship title. Bradl says of his battles with Marquez, "I think everybody has enjoyed this Moto2 season. It was a very good battle in the end between Marc and me and I think there hasn't been a single race which has not been exciting. Sometimes as a rider you think 'Oh F***! Another race like that!', and you just want to go away and do your own race, but in this class everything is just so close."
For Sunday's final Moto2 race of the season, Bradl's goal is to win and enjoy the moment; "My goal for tomorrow is to win the race, because now everything is so free; I'm just enjoying racing."
Stefan Bradl is expected to remain with the Veismann Keifer Racing squad in the Moto2 class in 2012.
