Pfeiffer wild in South Africa
BMW stunt legend Chris Pfieffer recently performed in South Africa’s Trial to be Wild.
Last week, temperatures sank to record lows in parts of Germany, as Arctic weather gripped much of the country. However, none of this was bothering Deutschland’s very own Chris Pfeiffer, who was 10,000 kilometres away, basking in the South African summer sunshine at the Red Bull Trial to be Wild road show, where he performed in front of thousands of fans at various venues along the country’s famous Garden Route.
The Trial to be Wild road show took place from 4-11 January and consisted of a series of impromptu and scheduled shows performed by Pfeiffer and local Supermoto and trials extraordinaire Brian Capper. The shows kicked off in Port Elizabeth and stopped all along the Garden Route in places such as Jeffrey’s Bay, Knysna Quays and George, before ending in Cape Town a week later. For Chris, it was a fantastic experience to ride in such an impressive country and he welcomed the opportunity to share the stage with Brian Capper.
Brian is South Africa’s very own National Supermoto Champion, who started riding motocross at the age of nine, before graduating to trials riding at 11-years-old. He won his first National title at age 18 and has more recently spent a year in America competing in the USA National Supermoto Championships. As he is the world’s first rider to do a back flip on a trial bike, he had the respect of Chris, especially as he is also hoping to become a stunt rider just like Pfeiffer.
"Brian and I had a fantastic time performing shows at some amazing places along the coast," said Chris. "The Red Bull team filmed the whole trip and had promoted it very well with posters, flyers, promo girls etc., so we rode at a variety of venues in front of all sorts of people from all kinds of different backgrounds. For many, it was they first time they had seen me ride, so I had some great reactions – especially when we performed at a ‘Wheelz of Fury’ event in Cape Town, where the crowd went absolutely crazy!"
As news of the Trial to be Wild tour spread among the motorcycling community, locals and tourists, both Chris and Brian found themselves performing to bigger and bigger crowds, but for Pfeiffer the real challenge was adapting to the variety of different surfaces he encountered.
"There was no real chance to practise on this tour, as we just turned up at a town, set-up the rig, arranged the various obstacles and started the shows," he said. "Some of the venues were quite tight for space, so the routines had to be exactly right, and many of the surfaces we rode on were ‘block paving’ which is very slippery and presented quite a challenge in terms of the grip available! It was very interesting to perform to all sorts of people. The first show saw us entertain crowds in quite a deprived area, whereas our final show took place at a posh country club in front of some fairly ‘high society’ people. They couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing at first, but their polite applause soon became a lot more vocal and they ended up cheering us, just like everyone at all the other venues!"
Chris also took time out from his busy schedule to make some excellent pictures with the scenic Cape Town cityscape as a backdrop. Once he returns to Germany he will concentrate his efforts on preparing for the forthcoming Indoor Freestyle World Championship event, which takes place in Zurich, Switzerland from 19 to 22 February. There, he will be hoping to "do the triple" and win the competition for the third consecutive year.
