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What a spectacle! HP2 Enduro rider Simo Kirssi enthralled the Austrian offroad world last Sunday. At the fourth race of the BABOONS Austrian Cross Country Championship in Türnitz/Lower Austria, the Finn simply set new standards.

Offroad only: the track consisted of 5% cross and 95% country. What a scenario. The approx. 5 km long Enduro world cup level course is probably the most demanding track to ride in the cross country series in Germany, Austria and Italy. Steep and narrow forest uphills, bristling with damp and moss-covered stones which simply beg riders for a fall. Similar style downhills loaded with winding tree roots are a nightmare for every front wheel.


Kirssi said after having walked the course: "This is almost unrideable on the HP2. We´ve got two wide cylinders and about 60 kg more weight onboard than the single cylinder competition. In some places grooves will be dug out which almost reach up to the seat bench."


Nevertheless "Coolman" Kirssi launched his attack on the leading group starting from 10. place as if the race would only last one round. Kirssi wove his way through tightly winding forest paths as if doing a slalom race. And it was truly thrilling what the crowd witnessed on this day. In 3. gear Kirssi milled a 100 m long strip into a steep forest incline which would have done any lumberjack proud. The spectators were absolutely stunned. Kirssi: "It´s amazing when you´re able to call up enough power in practically all riding situations at any time and that this power is transferred to the rear wheel in just the right amount. The new Conti damping is simply unbeatable in this respect."


The crowd caught its breath in the 12. round when Kirssi´s rear wheel drifted out of control when crossing a loamy hill and Kirssi and his bike slid down 10 m into a brook-bed. Once at the bottom though the Finn picked his bike up again and rode along the bed of the brook for about 100 m until he got back on the track.

his artistic contribution was also one of the reasons why Kirssi was awarded a special prize by the organiser for the most spectacular stunt. After 2 hours and a total of 15 rounds Simo Kirssi and the HP2 ended up in a fantastic ninth place. What a show by man and machine! Nobody would have thought it possible that they would even have managed one round.

More information and result lists at: www.austrian-cross-country-championship.com.

European Hillclimbing Championship, Obersaxen (CH)

Hillclimbing - the steeper the better! The aim is ride up an extremely steep, almost invincible hill on a motorbike. Whoever "climbs" highest wins.

To everyone´s surprise Christian Pfeiffer rode to a place on the podium on the BMW HP2 Enduro in Obersaxen (CH) at the European Hillclimbing Championship. It was probably the first BMW which ever took part in a hillclimbing event where normally light and powerful single cylinder bikes with about 500 cc are ridden in the cross enduro class.


After Pfeiffer had successfully completed more "normal" Enduro races over the past weeks, the extremist rider thought up the extraordinary plan of taking part in the European Hillclimbing Championship. His reasoning: "The bike´s tremendous traction had always impressed me. Output is of course also very important and there´s proabably been nothing more powerful than the HP2 with 105 bhp in the offroad sector!" So he said to himself: just do it. And the HP2 really showed what an outstanding hillclimber it is.

The sceptical frowns on some of the spectators´ and participants´ faces turned to great interest as Pfeiffer climbed up to 203.4 meters in the qualification and then to 208.6 meters in the ensuing semi-final. The record from the previous years at the so-called "Sax Mountain" was 206.2 which was beaten by Pfeiffer! Only the hillclimbing specialist Lars Nonn (D) on his 450 cc all-wheel-drive Yamaha rode up higher. With his second place in the semi-final and third place in the final, where once again Lars Nonn got further, Chris Pfeiffer and his HP2 Enduro once again exceeded all expectations and demonstrated what outstanding performances this bike can deliver.

More information and results at: www.hillclimbing.ch.

The tremendous Erzberg victory a week before encouraged the BMW Motorrad Enduro Team Feil and its rider Simo Kirssi.

This high-speed success has now been followed in Italy by a top ranking which is at least as important from a racing point of view.


Kirssi in fact "only" finished second in the Italian Cross Country Championship race in Cervarese near Padua. However, it was actually a real victory for the HP2 Enduro and its talented rider.


The track in Cervarese was everything but ideal for the HP2. The young local club had made every effort to set out a perfect and demanding trail through its new motocross facility: it was extremely tight, angular and including the entire motocross track with murderous table and double jumps.


And then the "flying Finn" conjured up a real fireworks of a performance which left spectators speechless. First of all he won the start, though he was overtaken by three riders of the Italian motocross elite who pitted all their skills against him.


The BMW man maintained fourth position for a while, sizing up his opponents. After about an hour`s racing time, Kirssi then launched his attack and put two of his rivals in the bag.


The last one - Matteo Rubin, Enduro World Champion in 2000 - had already moved too far ahead by this time. In the last few laps, Kirssi?s amazing stamina took him up close to Rubin and he finished just 35 seconds behind him.

At the start for the Baja 500: Jimmy Lewis, Jonah Street, Tim Morton.

Race report and results at: www.score-international.com.

For Simo Kirssi, the winner of the Siemens/Telering Iron Road Prologue of last weekend, it´s all go at the moment. The 25-year-old Finn was already back in the saddle again only a few hours after his glorious success at the Erzberg race in Austria. Overnight Simo knocked off the 800 kilometres to Mernes near Frankfurt to arrive at 10.00 am and be on the starting grid at 2.00 pm for the 3. race of the German Cross Country series.

Here he pulled out all the stops again right from the start on his HP2 Enduro and rode among the first six in the first five rounds. A defective fork, however, brought the Finn´s spectacular race to a halt after only 25 minutes and he had to quit the race at an early stage. The BMW Motorrad Enduro Team Feil hit the road right away to return home quickly and get the racing bike back into shape again after the successful but deadly races at the Erzberg.


Simo and his HP2 will already be racing again next weekend at the 3. race of the BABOONS Italian Cross Country Championship. Near Padua the team will be on location again in full force to beat the 4. place achieved in the last ICC race and to thrill the Tifosi fans once again.


Further information and result lists at: www.german-cross-country.de.