BMW 450 Flies With ‘Flu At H?chst?dt
On 3 June the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team entered their new prototype 450cc sports enduro bike in the third round of the German Cross Country Series, held in Höchstädt, Bavaria, where BMW factory rider Simo Kirssi came close to claiming a podium finish.
On 3 June the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team entered their new prototype 450cc sports enduro bike in the third round of the German Cross Country Series, held in Höchstädt, Bavaria, where BMW factory rider Simo Kirssi came close to claiming a podium finish.
Having spent much of the race in second place – and not far behind eventual winner Samuli Aro aboard his factory KTM – Kirssi was unluckily not to finish due to a problem with his bike's rear hub during the closing stages of the race.
Simo made a strong start and was up to fourth position before signalling his intent to move further through the pack. With each of the top riders giving their all Simo had to work extremely hard over the next few laps but nonetheless managed to move up into the runner-up spot behind reigning Enduro 2 world champion Aro, who had opened up a commanding lead by this time.
Simo's energy levels were fairly low though as he had spent several days in bed prior to the race suffering with 'Flu, and he was still feeling far from 100 percent. Originally unsure whether he would even be able to race due to his sickness, he was well aware that the two-hour cross-country event would be even tougher than normal, but decided to start it anyway. In the middle of the race the Finn detected some noise from the rear wheel, which – one lap later – proved to be a problem with his rear hub and he was sidelined from the event soon after.
The day prior the BMW team and Simo had tested new suspension settings for the 450 as they continued their search for the perfect set-up. Wanting to test the new settings in race conditions at Höchstädt, Simo was extremely pleased with the way the bike performed, although obviously disappointed not to have finished the competition.
"I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't get to the finish but the bike proved competitive, which I'm pleased with," said the 'Flying Finn'. "My start was very good and I was soon in second behind Samuli. Today I was not able to fight with him as I was ill and couldn't train the week before the race. To fight with one of the fastest enduro riders in the world you have to be 100 per cent fit and I wasn't. The new suspension we tried worked well – possibly a little bit too hard for Höchstädt – but still very good. We will all continue to work hard on the bike to make it better and better."
This was a view that was shared by Berti Hauser, BMW Sport Director: "It was bad luck that put Simo out of the race, but we showed how fast our new 450 is, which is important. We have to analyse the reason the hub broke but it looks simply like a material fault. These things can happen when testing a prototype."
