GCC Final Schweinfurt '07

Although missing out on a top result due to a typical case of „that´s racing", Simo Kirssi still managed to end his season on a high note.

It was a defining moment of the 2007 German Cross Country championship. And a milestone for BMW´s much-talked-about 450 prototype. At the series´ final round at Schweinfurt, factory rider Simo Kirssi had just made a pass stick on multi-time World champ Samuli Aro.

While the maneuver didn´t really matter in terms of championship points or race outcome, it mattered a lot to BMW Motorrad´s head of motorsport, Berti Hauser, who acknowledged the moment by throwing his fist in the air. Kirssi´s move on fellow countryman Aro clearly showed how good the bike has become - and how much the whole concept was on the right path.

Frankly, there´s not a lot to report about the first part of the race. Simo suffered from a terrible start and had to find his way through the field. After a couple of laps he was suddenly forced into the pits with a loose gas cap. Unfortunately, the leaking race gas had even found his way onto Simo´s pants, forcing him to put on another pair before resuming.

Despite the race win now out of sight, there was no way Simo would give up. Saddle time is too precious when you are in the process of developing a new bike. Instead, he was now really turned on - and it showed in his riding. Simo clocked one fast lap after another and the numerous fans knew something was going to happen soon. Finally Simo reached race leader Samuli Aro, who was a couple of laps ahead. But for Simo it was a matter of honour to step it up and to show his own and his bike´s full potential.

Eventually a fierce battle unfolded between the Finns, as they powered their four-strokes wheel to wheel around the demanding Schweinfurt course. And in the end it was the BMW coming out on top.

When the gruelling two-hour race was over, Simo didn´t hesitate to express his satisfaction. „That was okay," he commented. Now for a Finn, that´s a highly emotional statement.Markus Theobald (Development): „The incident with the gas cap is a bummer. We´ll have to find out what happened there. But much more importantly, the bike was working well across the full race distance, just like the week before at the World Enduro round. So we´ve reached our technical goal."

Conclusion: The goals of this first development season under race conditions have been reached. And under sporting aspects, there´s a lot of reason to look with optimism towards the 2008 season.