Former Grand Prix racer Reinhold Roth is born in Essen, Germany.
Reinhold Roth won the French Grand Prix in 1987, finishing the season in second place behind fellow countryman, Anton Mang, and in 1989 Roth won the Dutch and Czechoslovakian GP's and finished second to Spain's Sito Pons for the 250cc World Championship.
During the 1990 250cc Yugoslavian Grand Prix, a hard rain forced the race to be stopped 2 laps before the end, but the riders continued to race full throttle due to bad coordination between the marshals, with red flags that didn't appear to the leaders. Australia's Darren Milner apparently saw the red flag, but he was one lap behind the leaders. Milner began slowing his Yamaha but, Roth, still going at full speed, smashed into him resulting in a chaotic scene involving racers, emergency personnel and spectator's.
Reinhold Roth was air-lifted to the hospital with severe head injuries. He would recover, but the injuries forced him to retire from competition.
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