Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport worked hard for WEC points in Portugal.

Munich. The BMW Motorrad Motorsport team's second stop on the '08 World
Enduro Championship tour saw team riders Anders Eriksson, Simo Kirssi,
Jeff Goblet and Bert Meyer compete in the GP of Portugal - an event
that proved to be anything but easy due to an extremely challenging
course, three demanding special tests and heavy rain on day two. With
Eriksson having narrowly missed a podium result at the opening round of
the series in Sweden, the Portuguese event marked the first
international enduro competition in which Eriksson would compete,
outside of Sweden, aboard his BMW. Hopeful of challenging for a podium
finish in the Enduro 3 class things didn't go as planned for Anders on
day one as he failed to finish due to a clutch problem. Re-starting day
two the experienced Swede was unable to perform at his best in the
extremely wet and difficult conditions and placed ninth in the highly
competitive E3 class. Despite being forced to retire on day one, Anders
finished the harder second day's competition without problems. In the
Enduro 2 class BMW Motorrad Motorsport rider Simo Kirssi overcame his
lack of World Enduro Championship experience to claim a solid top 10
result on day two having enjoyed the slippery and difficult conditions.
Competing in only his second ever WEC event Simo was disappointingly
unable to finish day one as on the penultimate special test he badly
damaged his front wheel, which resulted in his retirement. On day two
Kirssi finished comfortably inside the top 10 having ridden
consistently all day. Finishing as high as fourth in class, and only
twice placing outside the top 10 of the E2 class during the day's nine
special tests, Kirssi finished just 11 seconds behind the E2 class's
sixth placed rider. For Kirssi's E2 class team-mate Jeff Goblet the GP
of Portugal proved to be a difficult one with the Belgian finishing in
12th on day one and 13th on day two. Performing at his best on the
technical extreme test on day one, on day two Goblet suffered bad luck
as his chain twice came off in the extreme test while he struggled to
perform at his best in the muddy motocross test. In the Enduro Junior
class Bert Meyer finished on day one as tenth but placed ninth on day
two. Simo Kirssi - Enduro 2: "The first day ended
disappointingly for me. Things had been going ok but in the final
motocross test I landed from one of the many drop-off jumps and I heard
a strange metallic sound. I was able to continue but I had damaged many
of the spokes in my front wheel, which meant that I had to retire from
the day. Day two was much better - I really enjoyed the conditions
although on the motocross test it was really, really muddy. I learned a
lot from the race. It was my first world championship race in normal
conditions, and it was every bit as difficult as I expected it to
be." Jeff Goblet - Enduro 2: "I had some really good times
in the extreme and enduro tests on day one but I really struggled in
the muddy conditions on day two. With this season being my first on a
four-stroke I knew it would take me some time to adjust to competing in
muddy conditions. In the enduro test, which was dry, I was able to put
in some good test times. But in the motocross and extreme test I
struggled. Also, my chain came off twice in the extreme test. I need
more time on the bike in these types of conditions, and then I am sure
my results will improve." Anders Eriksson - Enduro 3:
"Not being able to finish the first day was a big disappointment,
but I came into this season knowing that these things can happen. We
learn more and more every day we spend time on the bike. I had a
problem with the clutch, which was very strange. I didn't ride that
well, but I'm happy that I was able to finish the second day. Day two
was extremely tough and my bike ran perfectly all day, which was good.
It was the first time that I'd ridden the bike in such muddy conditions
and although I wasn't overly happy with my riding the bike performed
really well." Wolfgang Fischer - BMW Motorrad Motorsport Team
Manager: "It was good to see all riders finish on day two,
especially Simo as this was his first real world championship enduro
race. Finishing seventh in the Enduro 2 class is very encouraging. Day
one was a little disappointing as Anders Eriksson had a problem with
his clutch. We're not 100 per cent sure why he had the problem that he
did but he finished day two without any troubles at all. The conditions
were about as difficult as they get in world championship competition.
It's the first real mud race that the team has faced this year and
despite the few problems on day one the fact that all riders completed
the hardest day - day two, without problems was great. Results Grand
Prix of Portugal - Day 1 Enduro 2 1. Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 49:13.71;
2. Juha Salminen (KTM) 49:14.30; 3. Joakim Ljunggren (Husaberg)
51:18.58; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 51:20.26; 5. Fabio Mossini
(Honda) 51:51.68; 6. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia) 52:0.71; 7. Fabrizio
Dini (Yamaha) 52:08.31; 8. Rodrig Thain (TM) 52:12.27; 9. Jari Mattila
(Honda) 52:13.81; 10. Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas) 52:36.47; 11.
Alessandro Zanni (Honda) 52:48.87; 12. Jean Francois Goblet (BMW
Motorrad Motorsport) 53:14.12; 13. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg)
53:16.09; 14. Andrea Belotti (KTM) 53:42.12; 15. Helder Rodrigues
(Honda) 53:50.42; 16. Rudy Cotton (Honda) 55:34.78; 17. Felipe Zanol
(Yamaha) 57:25.53; 18. Mario Patrao (Suzuki) 58:00.25 Enduro 3 1.
Samuli Aro (KTM) 50:55.42; 2. Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 51:06.96; 3.Marcus
Kehr (KTM) 51:19.94; 4. Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 51:25.46; 5.
Fabien Planet (KTM) 51:28.46; 6. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna)
51:40.74; 7. Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 51:52.62; 8. Stefan Merriman
(Aprilia) 52:06.37; 9. Xavier Galindo (KTM) 52:13.72; 10. Antoine
Letellier (Aprilia) 52:16.88; 11. Alessandro Botturi (Honda) 52:23.42;
12. Alessio Paoli (Beta) 53:46.90; 13. Juan Pedrero (Yamaha) 53:58.21;
14. Jordi Figueras (KTM) 54:15.07; 15. Stefan Svitko (KTM) 54:41.01;
16. Vita Kuklik (KTM) 55:17.79; 17. Euan McConnell (TM) 55:38.28; 18.
Gordon Clarke (TM) 58:52.89 Enduro Junior 1. Marc Bourgeois
(Husqvarna) 51:28.17; 2. Oriol Mena 52:33.30; 3. Oscar Balletti (Honda)
53:12.63; 4. Carlos Andreu (KTM) 53:29.69; 5. Simon Wakely (Husqvarna)
53:44.57; 6. Gregory Evans (KTM) 54:24.52; 7. Thomas Oldrati (KTM)
51:25.65; 8. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 53:27.34; 9. Lucas Puerta (Yamaha)
54:24.09; 10. Bert Mayer (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 55:52.34; 11.Guillem
Pares (Yamaha) 56:52.32; 12. Ashley Wood (Honda) 58:27.00; 13. Roman
Dumontier (Husqvarna) 1.03:07.95; 14. Roger Sanllehi (Honda)
1.05:40.14; 15. Marc Sola (KTM) 1.06:48.98; 16. Mark Risse (Gas Gas)
1.07:52.66; 17. Concelo Bandeira (Suzuki) 1.14:53.80 Results Grand
Prix of Portugal - Day 2 Enduro 2 1. Juha Salminen (KTM) 54:12.03; 2.
Johnny Aubert (Yamaha) 54:43.01; 3. Valtteri Salonen (Husaberg)
56:09.00; 4. Alessandro Belometti (KTM) 56:09.27; 5. Nicolas Paganon
(Aprilia) 56:27.15; 6. Fabrizio Dini (Yamaha) 57:09.97; 7. Simo Kirssi
(BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 57:20.95; 8. Jari Mattila (Honda) 58:05.47;
9. Fabio Mossini (Honda) 58:32.42; 10. Rodrig Thain (TM) 58:56.35; 11.
Aaron Bernadez (Husqvarna) 59:14.03; 12. Freddy Blanc (Suzuki) 59:45.06;
13. Jean Francois Goblet (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 1.00:38.36; 14.
Andrea Belotti (Honda) 1.01:08.61; 15. Nicolas Deparrois (Gas Gas)
1.01:12.35; 16. Filipe Zanol (Yamaha) 1.02:00.05 Enduro 3 1.
Christophe Nambotin (Gas Gas) 55:17.58; 2. Samuli Aro (KTM) 55:40.23; 3.
Marcus Kehr (KTM) 55:43.86; 4. Stefan Merriman (Aprilia) 55:49.05; 5.
Marko Tarkkala (KTM) 56:11.82; 6. Fabien Planet (KTM) 56:31.41; 7.
Bjorne Carlsson (Husaberg) 56:43.32; 8. Sebastien Guillaume (Husqvarna)
57:20.92; 9. Anders Eriksson (BMW Motorrad Motorsport) 57:25.05; 10.
Xavier Galindo (KTM) 58:21.19; 11. Antoine Letellier (Aprilia)
58:38.62; 12. Euan McConnell (TM) 1.00:06.88; 13. Vita Kuklik (KTM)
1.00:16.13; 14. Stefan Svitko (KTM) 1.00:03.07; 15. Juan Pedrero
(Yamaha) 1.01:42.55; 16; Jordi Figueras (KTM) 1.03:08.23 Enduro Junior
1. Tomas Oldrati (KTM) 55:.29; 2. Marc Bourgeois (Husqvarna) 56:28.39;
3. Anti Hellsten (Husqvarna) 59:32.84; 4. Victor Guerrero (KTM)
59:54.91; 5. Lucas Puerta (Yamaha) 1.00:40.82; 6. Simon Wakely
(Husqvarna) 1.00:43.01; 7. Lorenzo Santolino (KTM) 1.00:59.55; 8.
Martin Kuklik (KTM) 1.03:37.35; 9. Bert Mayer (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
1.03:32.43; 10. Adrian Metge (Husqvarna) 1.05:08.68; 11. Ollie Moyce
(Yamaha) 1.07:13.23; Guillem Pares (Yamaha) 1.07:33.24 Sundin
(Husaberg) 56:27.86; 20.Carl Sjoo (KTM) 56:30.38 Photos of the race are
available at www.speedbrain.de/press for downloading (User: speedbrain,
Passwort: press). For further information about the BMW G 450 X see
BMW Group PressClub at www.press.bmwgroup.de