Marko Happich (born 1971)Marko Happich im Interview
MSC Teutschenthal website, published: 15 May 2012, accessed: 7 November 2014 is a German former

sidecarcross Sidecarcross racing, also known as sidecar motocross, is a branch of motocross. Regular motocross riders use solo machines, but a sidecarcross outfit has a different type of motorcycle chassis operated by a team of two people, a driver and a s ...

rider. Internationally, his greatest success was a runners-up finish in the Sidecarcross World Championship, achieved in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, while domestically he has won six national German Sidecarcross Championships. After twenty years in the sidecarcross sport Happich retired at the end of the 2012 season.

Racing career

German Championship

Happich first entered the German national championship in 1994 with passenger Peer Kasseckert, also winning the German sidecarcross cup, a second-string competition, in 1994. Happich soon achieved top-ten finishes and won his first national championship in 2001, with Sebastian Böhme as his passenger.SIDECAR CROSS NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GERMANY
The John Davey Pages, accessed: 7 November 2014
www.sidecarcross.de, accessed: 7 November 2014 For the next decade Happich became one of the dominant drivers in the national championship, winning titles in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009 while finishing runners-up in 2002, 2007, 2010 and 2011. In the last two instances Happich missed out on the national title by just one point. He had his most dominant season in 2004 when he, with Thomas Weinmann as his passenger who himself had already won five German titles alongside his brother Klaus, won 14 out of 16 season races in the competition. Apart from Böhme (2001) and Weinmann (2004) Happich won his other four titles with Gertain Wijs (2003), Meinrad Schelbert (2006, 2008) and Martin Betschart (2009) as his passengers. From 2007 onwards the national German championship became an international one, allowing non-German riders to win it and increasing competition, resulting in Swiss rider Andy Bürgler finishing ahead of runners-up Happich that season. He officially retired from all competition at the end of the 2012 season. Happich made an on-off return to the German Championship in 2014, racing in

Geisleden Geisleden is a municipality in the district of Eichsfeld in Thuringia, Germany. It is located about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southeast of Heiligenstadt in the valley formed by the river Geislede. Other neighboring towns are Westhausen in the ...

in May 2014, coming fourth in the first race but suffering a flat tire in the second.

World Championship

Entering the Sidecarcross World Championship from 1996, Happich slowly improved in the competition over the years and earned his first top-ten finish in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. For the next ten seasons, from 2000 to 2009 Happich finished in the top-ten every year, culminating in a second place in

as his best-ever result. He also won two Grand Prix that season, in Croatia and Latvia, but never truly challenged for the World Championship, finishing 153 points behind eventual winners

Daniel Willemsen Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

and

Kaspars Stupelis Kaspars Stupelis (born 7 July 1982) is a Latvian sidecarcross passenger and quadruple World Champion. Stupelis won the 2015 and 2019 World Championship as passenger of Etienne Bax. His previous two world championships were gained when being the pas ...

. Happich once more finished in the top-three in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, now in third place and managed to win a third and final Grand Prix in Belgium

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. His final three seasons in the competition were less successful, coming fifteenth, eighth and eighteenth and taking out his last race win in

Rudersberg Rudersberg is a municipality in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 10 km southeast of Backnang, and 28 km northeast of Stuttgart. Sport The local motocross club ''MSC Wieslauftal'' operates a track ne ...

, Germany, in 2010. He announced his intention to retire at the end of 2012 before the start of the new season, citing his amateur status when the top riders were all professionals, his age and the difficulty to raise a six-digit budget each season through sponsors as his reasons. His final season was affected by a shoulder injury, missing a number of mid-season Grand Prix but returning in time for the last event of the season.

Private life

Happich lives in Großwilsdorf, near

Naumburg Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

, where he works as a swim instructor at a local pool. He is a member of the local motocross club MSC Teutschenthal, based in

Teutschenthal Teutschenthal is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In January 2005 it absorbed the former municipalities Holleben and Zscherben, in January 2010 Dornstedt, Langenbogen and Steuden Steuden is a village and a form ...

. In 2006 he lost a downhill race against Austrian skier

Stephan Eberharter Stephan "Steff" Eberharter (born 24 March 1969) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Biography Born in Brixlegg, Tyrol, Eberharter was the winner of the overall World Cup title in 2002 and 2003, as well as the season titles in ...

Obertauern Obertauern is a tourist destination which is located in the Radstädter Tauern in the Salzburger Land of Austria. The winter sports resort is separated in two communities: Tweng and Untertauern. Geography Obertauern lies in the southeast o ...

as part of the German television show '' Wetten, dass..?'', the race being broadcast live on television. Eberharter skied down while Happich raced down in his sidecarcross, losing by just under one second.Mit 100 Sachen über die Piste
''

Mitteldeutsche Zeitung The ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' (''Central German Newspaper'') is a regional daily newspaper for southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Published in Halle with several local versions, the paper is owned by M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne. History and p ...

'', published: 29 January 2006, accessed: 7 November 2014

Season by season

The season by season results in the World Championship for Marko Happich:Official World Championship classification 2000–present
FIM website, accessed: 17 November 2014
The John Davey Pages, accessed: 7 November 2014

Key

Honours

* Sidecarcross World Championship ** Runners-up:

* German national Sidecarcross Championship ** Winners: (7) 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009 ** Runners-up: (4) 2002, 2007, 2010, 2011

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Happich, Marko 1971 births Living people German sidecarcross riders People from Naumburg (Saale) Sportspeople from Saxony-Anhalt