BMW 450 performs well at German Enduro Championship final

BMW Motorrad Motorsport team rider Joel Smets came through one of Europe’s hardest enduro events with flying colours recently when he finished sixth in the Enduro 2 class at the Zschopau Enduro - the final round of the ’07 German Enduro Championship.

Widely regarded as one of Europe’s toughest enduro races the GEC final attracted several of the world best enduro riders including seven-time world champion Juha Salminen from Finland, Alessandro Belometti from Italy and Marko Tarkkala from Finland. Despite the demanding nature of the event BMW’s prototype 450 sports enduro bike, piloted by Smets, claimed a strong sixth place result in the competitive Enduro 2 class, having completed the event without problems.

With experience gained from participation in three World Enduro Championship events this season former five-time World Motocross Champion Smets started the Zschopau Enduro prepared for a demanding race. With the event living up to its reputation Joel and BMW’s new 450cc sports enduro bike battled their way through the day-long competition with both bike and rider performing without problems. With numerous challenging rock-covered climbs providing
spectacular viewing for the many thousands of spectators that turned out to watch the event, after close to one-hour of special test action Joel placed sixth, two-and-a-half minutes behind eventual E2 class winner Juha Salminen.

Joel Smets: “I enjoyed Zschopau very much, but it was tough. The bike worked perfectly and was much easier to handle than at the WEC race in France some weeks ago. Unfortunately, in the special test I made some mistakes, which cost me quite a lot of time. I hoped to finish a little higher in the results but with my mistakes it simply wasn’t possible. Anyway, it was a great event and another positive result.”

Markus Theobald, project manager: “We are again very happy with the way the bike performed and with our result in Zschopau. Joel did a great job once again and just like the bike came through a very demanding event with flying colours. Sascha (Eckert) also contributed to the development of the bike as he tested several new parts in the event, which worked well during the first half of the race.”

Results – German Enduro Championship, Zschopau – Enduro 2 class
1. Juha Salminen, FIN (KTM), 54:28.97
2. Marcus Kehr, GER (KTM), 54:48.56
3. Alessandro Belometti, ITA (KTM), 54:50.30
4. Ralf Scheidhauer, GER (KTM), 56:20.58
5. Jörg Haustein , GER (KTM), 56:24.10
6. Joel Smets, BEL (BMW), 57:08.71
7. Taddy Blazusiak, POL (KTM), 57:27.34
8. Rüdiger Bachmann, GER (Beta), 57:43.76
9. Stefan Geyer, GER (Suzuki), 57:45.76
10. Lars Petri, GER (KTM), 58:43.08