BMW Motorrad Motorsport - WEC GP of Italy.

Difficult task at the most demanding race of the championship.
Munich.The penultimate round of the '08 World Enduro Championship - the
GP of Italy staged in Piediluco, central Italy, proved to be a
challenging one for the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team as Anders
Eriksson, Simo Kirssi, Jeff Goblet and Bert Meyer all found the hard,
dry Italian terrain difficult to master. One of the most physically
demanding events of the championship thanks to its long motocross and
enduro tests, and demanding time controls, the event also saw the team
suffer two disappointing mechanical failures. In the Enduro 2 class team
rider Jeff Goblet returned to WEC competition for the first time since
the GP of Spain having missed three world championship events through
injury. With the Italian extreme test not offering Jeff the chance to
put his exceptional trials riding skills to full use he ended the first
day 10th having produced his best performances on the event's long
enduro test. Disappointingly, on day two Jeff was forced to retire
following a mechanical problem after the fourth special test. Knowing
full well that the final round of the German Cross Country championship
takes place the weekend after the GP of Italy, an event at which he can
win the coveted GCC title, Finn Simo Kirssi failed to produce the form
that saw him claim his and BMW's first WEC podium at the GP of Poland.
Although enjoying the event and performing well on the motocross test
on day one, Simo was unable to find his rhythm and no matter what he
tried the enduro rookie was unable to improve his speed. Frustratingly
for Simo day one ended early as he was forced to retire after six
special tests. On day two Simo placed 11th. Like many riders competing
at the GP of Italy seven-time world enduro champion Anders Eriksson was
unable to understand why he wasn't faster than he was, despite feeling
at home on the dry Italian terrain. Feeling good on all of the event's
special tests Anders saw several mistakes on the extreme test prevent
him from finishing inside the top 10 of the Enduro 3 class. On day two
Anders matched his day one result of 11th in class. In the Enduro
Junior class Bert Meyer placed 16th on day one before improving to 11th
in class on day two. The eighth and final round of the '08 World Enduro
Championship, the GP of Europe, takes place in Mende,France on October
11-12. Simo Kirssi - Enduro 2 class: "It's not been my best
performance of the year and I'm pretty disappointed with the way I've
ridden. My bike has working really well for the terrain, the team has
been great, but I've just not ridden well. It was disappointing not to
have finished the first day. I had a mechanical problem near to the end
of the day, which put me out. Of all the tests I think I had one good
one, but on the rest things didn't go well. I hope I can be more
competitive in France." Anders Eriksson - Enduro 3 class:
"It's been a really strange event because many riders have
struggled to perform at their best. I was one of them. I felt good on
the special tests, and enjoyed the event, but my speed wasn't good
enough. My bike was working perfectly, but I just wasn't as fast as I
needed to be. I made a few mistakes, including two silly mistakes on
the extreme test on day one, but things just didn't go well for me.
It's been a disappointing weekend." 2008 World Enduro
Championship Grand Prix of Italy - Day 1 Enduro 2 class 1. Jonny
Aubert (Yamaha) 1:09:00.88; 2. Juha Salminen (KTM) 1:09:18.87; 3.
Rodrig Thain (TM) 1:10:25.86; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 1:10:32.56;
5. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 1:11:00.72; 6. Fabio Mossini (Honda)
1:11:09.04; 7. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia) 1:11:47.23; 8. Nicolas
Deparrois (Gas Gas) 1:12:16:81; 9. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg)
1:12:18.22; 10. Jean-Francois Goblet (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
1:13:51.04; 11. Aaron Bernardez (Husqvarna) 1:13:58.48; 12. Antoine Meo
(Husqvarna) 1:13:08:07; 13. Rudy Cotton (Beta) 1:14:14.72; 14. Dario
Cardinali (Husqvarna) 1:39:40.66 Enduro 3 Class 1. Stefan Merriman
(Aprilia) 1:09:04:51; 2. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna) 1:09:31.19; 3.
Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 1:09:37.36; 4. Samuli Aro (KTM)
1:10:18.82; 5. Antoine Letellier (Aprilia) 1:10:34.07; 6. Alessandro
Botturi (Honda) 1:10:44.97; 7. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 1:10:52.36; 8.
Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 1:11:05.23; 9. Bjorne Carlsson (KTM) 1:11.26.03;
10. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1:11:33.61; 11. Anders Eriksson (BMW Motorrad
Motorsport) 1:12:09.04; 12. Alessio Paoli (Beta) 1:12:45.71; 13. Euan
McConnell (TM) 1:13:08.21; 14. Joan Jou (Honda) 1:13:58.50; 15; Stefan
Svitko (KTM) 1:14:43.84; 16. Erwin Plekkenpol (Honda) 1:15:14.98; 17.
Glauco Ciarpaglini (KTM) 1:16:04.51; 18. Juan Pedrero (Yamaha)
1:17:08.87 Enduro Junior class 1. Robert Kvarnstrom (TM)
1:11:05.12; 2. Oriol Mena (KTM) 1:11:09.08; 3. Sebastien Bozzo
(Husqvarna) 1:11:56.50; 4. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 1:11:57.67; 5. Jeremy
Joly (Sherco) 1:12:00.79; 6. Mirko Gritti (Beta) 1:12:18.54; 7. Marc
Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 1:12:24.14; 8. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1:12:28.61;
9. Maurizio Gerini (Husqvarna) 1:12:29.05; 10. Vanni Cominotto (KTM)
1:11:39.29; 11. Michael Pogna (KTM) 1:12:54.91; 12. Armand Monleon
(Yamaha) 1:12:58.17; 13. Edoardo D'Ambrosio (TM) 1:13:01.18; 14. Benoit
Fortunato (Husqvarna) 1:13:05.76; 15. Lucas Puerta (Yamaha) 1:13:18.01;
16. Bert Meyer (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1:13:44.97; 17. Marc Sola
(Yamaha) 1:15:31.51; 18. Guillem Pares (Yamaha) 1:15:36.53; 19. Vitorio
Conforti (Husqvarna) 1:16:28.75; 20. Simon Wakely (Husqvarna)
1:17:23.93 Grand Prix of Italy - Day 2 Enduro 2 class 1. Juha
Salminen (KTM) 1:24:08.99; 2. Jonny Aubert (Yamaha) 1:25:30.87; 3.
Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 1:25:50.52; 4. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna)
1:25:50.87; Rodrig Thain (TM) 1:26:03.75; 6. Fabio Mossini (Honda)
1:26:28.70; 7. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia) 1:27:25.47; 8. Fabrizio Dini
1:27:46.89; 9. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg) 1:27:48.92; 10. Nicolas
Deparrois (Gas Gas) 1:27:56.58; 11. Simo Kirssi (BMW Motorrad
Motorsport) 1:29:43.32 Enduro 3 Class 1. Stefan Merriman (Aprilia)
1:24:26.47; 2. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 1:25:10.78; 3. Sebastien
Guillaume (Husqvarna) 1:25:27.63; 4. Alessandro Botturi (Honda)
1:25:41.22; 5. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 1:25:44.28; 6. Samuli Aro (KTM)
1:26:07.29; 7. Antoine Letellier (Aprilia) 1:26:15.80; 8. Xavier Galindo
(KTM) 1:26:33.47; 9. Marcus Kehr (KTM) 1:26:34.07; 10. Bjorne Carlsson
(Husaberg) 1:27:02.58; 11. Anders Eriksson (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
1.28:09.60; 12. Alessio Paoli (Beta) 1:29:34.40; 13. Euan McConnell (TM)
1:31:43.94; 14. Glauco Ciarpaglini (KTM) 1:35:34.65 Enduro Junior class
1. Thomas Oldrati (KTM) 1:27:03.34; 2. Oriol Mena (KTM) 1:27:30.93; 3.
Vanni Cominotto (KTM) 1:27:53.18; 4. Jeremy Joly (Sherco) 1:28:13.95;
5. Sebastien Bozzo (Husqvarna) 1:28:34.49; 6. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM)
1:28:46.96; 7. Maurizio Gerini (Husqvarna) 1:29:38.33; 8. Marc
Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 1:29:42.74; 9. Armand Monleon (Yamaha)
1:30:13.69; 10. Michael Pogna (KTM) 1:30:23.55; 11. Bert Meyer (BMW
Motorrad Motorsport) 1:30:59:54; 12. Lucas Puerta (Yamaha) 1:31:15.81;
13. Simon Wakely (Husqvarna) 1:31:44.73; 14. Guillem Pares (Yamaha)
1:33:08.29; 15. Carl Sjo (KTM) 1:34:45.16; 16. Marc Sola (Yamaha)
1:35:11.87; 17. Vitorio Conforti (Husqvarna) 1:35:40.55; 18. Roger
Sanllehi (Honda) 1:35:46.62; 19. David Gannac (Suzuki) 1:36: 57.36; 20.
Nicolo Mori (KTM) 1:39:14.78 Photos of the race are available at
www.speedbrain.de/press (User: speedbrain, Passwort: press). For
further information about the BMW G 450 X see BMW Group PressClub at www.press.bmwgroup.de