A tragedy has struck the Motocross community as 2021 nears its end. MXGP Red Bull KTM’s Rene Hofer has passed away while skiing in his native Austria. The Red Bull KTM rider was caught in an avalanche along with two of his friends who also did not survive this tragic event. Hofer, who just picked up his first MX2 Grand Prix win a little over a month ago, was just 19-years-old.
Gone Too Soon
Hard to put this one into words other than heartbreaking. Hofer, coming off an injury-shortened 2020 had a very solid year in the 2021 MX2 season. He finished sixth in points, while also picking up two total Grand Prix podiums along the way. Additionally, he placed at the top of the MX2 class in the Motocross Des Nations representing Austria. One way or another Hofer was going to be a player in the GP scene.
More so than his riding ability, Hofer was a great kid. You can clearly see in the MX World piece on him that he always had a smile on his face, and had an infectious personality. MXGP Red Bull KTM team manager Joël Smets in that video spoke glowingly about Hofer, smiling most of the time as well. Safe to say the former five-time World Champion shares that sentiment. As could any number of his friends in the MXGP paddock and abroad. Many of whom went to his last Instagram post to say goodbye, including Jo Shimoda, Mattia Guadagnini, and Brian Morreau.
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Just an all-around horrible situation, no other way to put it. Not just Hoffer, but two of his friends also perished in the avalanche as well, with one additional person missing as of Saturday evening. It’s also hard to put into words what being an Austrian riding for Factory KTM in MXGP likely meant to Hofer. The closest thing you could compare that to is an American breaking into Formula 1 with either Chevrolet or Ford. Furthermore is that Hofer was close to his birthday as well, he would have turned 20 on the third of January. He was a great Motocross rider but by all accounts an even better person.
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