S 1000 RR – the Unstoppable success story gathers speed

2010 is the year that the BMW S 1000 RR really made its mark on Superbike championships all over the world. With the racing season just about finished, we bring you right up to date on the phenomenal success the RR has achieved on tracks worldwide, no doubt helping it fly out of BMW Motorrad dealerships almost as quickly…

WSBK

In Magny-Cours, France, Team BMW Motorrad Motorsport finished what was overall a successful second season in the 2010 Superbike World Championship. Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser posted a total of eight top-five-finishes, and Troy clinched the team’s first pole position and podium finishes. In the championship standings Troy finished 11th (165 points) and Ruben finished 15th (106 points). In the manufacturers’ standings BMW ended the season sixth with 201 points.

Significant progress has been made throughout this year and things are looking even more exciting for 2011 as British star Leon Haslam will be racing the works S 1000 RR in the Superbike World championship alongside experienced racer Troy Corser, who has signed up for the 2011 season. With current WSBK runner-up Haslam joining the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team at the next important phase of its development, everyone will be focussed on achieving the S 1000 RR’s first win at the highest possible level.

Superstock 1000 FIM Cup

BMW Motorrad Italia’s Ayrton Badovini took the BMW S 1000 RR’s first international title and set a new motorsports record when he won nine out of ten races to take the FIM Superstock 1000 Cup, the high-profile series which runs at World Superbike rounds. The S 1000 RR rider took an astounding seven victories from the first seven rounds and secured the title with three rounds yet to race. He went on to win the next two races and take second place in the series final, setting a stunning legacy.

FRANCE
The RR has com pletely dominated the French Superbike Championship, but it took until the final race of the 14-r ace series for Erwan Nigon to be crowned champion, as he was challenged all the way by his own RR-rid ing team-mate, Sébastien Gimbert.

With seven victories, five second places and one third place in 2010 – as well as six pole positions achieved out of a possible seven – Erwan Nigon is a worthy champion. However, his team-mate Sébastien Gimbert was only 12 points adrift in the runner-up position, and his constant hard-fought title challenge allowed BMW Motorrad France to post a ‘one-two’ in the 2010 series – the best possible results in its first year of SBK racing.

Winning this championship and also the Manufacturers’ Championship is a remarkable achievement, given the fact that the S 1000 RR has only been on sale in France since 5 December last year. As a team, to score 12 victories (including 10 double podiums) out of 14 races is seriously impressive, and will be hard to improve upon in 2011, but no doubt they will be trying.

SPAIN

Team Motorrad rider Javier Forés is the new champion in the Stock Extreme category of the Spanish Superbike Championship, after his fifth consecutive victory for the Motorrad Competición team delivered him th e 2010 title at Albacete on September 12, with two rounds of the 2010 campaign still to go. Forés’ record in 2010 has been flawless: fiv e pole positions, five fastest laps and five victories, with several class lap records and an unbeatabletotalof 125 points.  His team-mate Enrique Rocamora is currently fourth in the rider points, just 11 behind second-placed Santiago Barragan, so with two races remaining in this series, a BMW ‘one-two’ is still possible. Furthermore, Rocamora’s efforts have helped BMW to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship, with 191 points – 89 in front of their nearest challenger Ducati, with Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki and Suzuki even further back. The final race in the CEV Spanish Championship will be held on November 14 in Valencia.

UK

The RR has dominated two of the UK’s most competitive race series and won both hotly-contested championship titles. Jentin Racing-BMW Motorrad rider Steve Brogan clinched the inaugural Mirror.co.uk British Superbike-EVO Championship by winning 12 of the year’s 26 races – a stunning achievement especially when entering a brand-new class.

The S 1000 RR had an even greater hold of the Metzeler National Superstock 1000

Championship, in which it took eight wins from 13 races. T

he popularity and performance of the customer-spec S 1000 RR is such that in Superstock (the class where race bikes are closest to road-bike specification) ever-more teams adopted the bike as the year went on. On the starting grid for the final race, one quarter of the bikes were RRs. In addition, the S 1000 RR set five new Superstock lap records in the 2010 season.

The S 1000 RR secured the Metzeler National Superstock 1000 Championship in the

hands of Jon Kirkham and the Samsung Mobile Racing team. Kirkham won the Championship with two races to go. In total he took six wins, six pole positions and two new Superstock lap records. Richard Cooper and Tristan Palmer – fellow S 1000 RR riders from the Jentin Racing-BMW Motorrad team – each took a pole position, race win and class lap record.

GERMANY

The Hockenheimring was the final stop for the International German Superbike Championship (IDM) over the weekend of 18-19 September. The eighth event of the series saw Belgian rider Werner Daemen finish on the podium in the Superbike class and claim second place in the championship overall. His Dutch team-mate Barry Veneman finished his impressive debut IDM season in fifth place.

These results were good cause for end-of-season celebrations within the team, which has clearly improved since its debut year with the RR in 2009. Last year, they ranked third in the championship and manufacturer standings, but in both categories, Team Alpha Technik – Van Zon – BMW climbed one place higher, with Daemen just 19 points behind title winner and former World Supersport Champion Karl Muggeridge. As for winning the 2010 IDM Manufacturers Championship, the team missed out by just one point – which will no doubt make them even hungrier for success in 2011.

FINLAND

A BMW dealer-supported team won the 2010 Finnish Superbike Championship in its debut season using the S 1000 RR. The Motomarket dealership from Turku, in the southwest of the country, entered a two-rider team in the championship, although there were five BMW riders in total contesting this year’s series. Sami Penna joined forces with 16-times Finnish Ice Racing Champion and three-times Finnish Road Racing Champion Kari Vehniäinen to contest the six-round, nine-race series.

Along the way, the team riders achieved 10 podium places on their S 1000 RR machines – including six wins – and in the end it was Sami Penna who lifted the title. He beat his nearest challenger, Topi Haarala, by 32 points. Rounding off the top three was the second Motomarket Team rider Kari Vehniäinen, just one point behind Haarala.

CANADA

While a BMW rider couldn’t win the 2010 Canadian Superbike Championship, having three S 1000 RRs finish in the top five is surely the next best thing? All year, seven-time champion Jordan Szoke was the man to beat, but nobody actually managed this – his perfect season of s even race wins from seven starts had never before been accomplished in the 30-year history of this championship.

However, Orio n Motorsports / BMW Motorrad Canada’s Andrew Nelson did the next best thing on his RR. His second consecutive runner-up finish was enough to move him up to second in t he final championship standings, his best ever year-end ranking.

Two-time national ch ampion Francis Martin took sixth on his radX HD / BMW Motorrad Canada RR, despite riding with a sprained left ankle sustained in a crash in the penultimate Superbike race of the year. This relegated him to third in the final standings, just 10 points behind Nelson.

With Jodi Christie finishing fourth overall in the 2010 series, it was Francis Martin’s RR team-mate Michael Ferreira who ended the season fifth in the Superbike standings, thanks to an excellent podium finish in the final race at Atlantic Motorsport Park on 8 August. All told, three out of five isn’t bad!

USA

In the USA, the vast area covered means that many riders are restricted to regional, rather than national championships, but as you can imagine, there is an incredible amount of activity and success going on Stateside. Here’s a brief summary:

BMW dealerships across the States have been very active in fielding racing teams. For San Diego BMW Motorcycles, Jeremy Toye has raced an RR in the California State Championship in the Formula 1 class, enjoying two wins, one second place and going faster on his RR than any bike he has raced before – breaking two lap records along the way to lifting this title.

For the same dealership, Gary Orr has won the California State Championship Formula 40 class, as well as enjoying four wins in the Formula 40 WSMC championship, 3 wins in the Solo GTO Series and a win in the Open Superbike class – earning him the ‘Top Rookie’ accolade for his efforts.

On the USA’s east coast, Eric Helmback has ridden an RR for BMW Motorcycles of Manhattan and has had considerable success with five wins posted in the GTO class of the CCS/ASRA championships. With support from Morton’s BMW Motorcycles of Virginia, BMW Motorcycles of Manhattan and BMW Motorcycles of Atlanta, Nate Kern has finished on the podium in every GTO, Unlimited Superbike and Unlimited Grand Prix class he has entered on the S 1000 RR, recording an amazing 14 wins out of 23 starts and lifting the title in all three classes.

For Iron Horse BMW Motorcycles of Arizona, Chris Peris has been extremely active on the RR, entering races in AMA Superbike, WERA Open Superbike and Formula 1, CCS Unlimited GP and Unlimited Superbike, and ASMA Formula 1. He has enjoyed 13 race wins in total, and has set four lap records. Although he has only raced a few times in this year’s AMA Superbike Championship, Chris is planning on doing the full season in 2011, so watch this space.

On the drag strip, the team at Brock’s Performance in Ohio has been working tirelessly on the design, development and testing of an RR drag bike, since taking delivery of their first S 1000 RR in March 2010. By May, test rider Ryan Schnitz had run an 8.49 second elapsed time at the AMA Drag Bike event in Michigan on a lowered and stretched RR, using only bolt-on components to an otherwise stock machine. This was universally recognised as the new performance standard for all to follow and completely unheard of from a one-litre power plant, in a drag race world dominated by large displacement Hayabusas and ZX-14s.

And on the salt, San Jose BMW Motorcycles’ Willie Hodgson took part in the first-ever S 1000 RR land speed record attempt at the BUB Speed Trials at Bonneville Salt Flats. His aim was to beat the existing record of 192mph, but due to poor traction on salt at the time of the race, Willie managed a very brave 189mph. Naturally, the SJ BMW team is planning to go back next year to challenge the record.

Andy Sills was at Bonneville too, where he set a world land speed record of 196.117mph in the 1000cc production class. Andy was borrowing an RR loan bike from San Diego BMW Motorcycles in California and set this remarkable speed on their completely stock demonstration machine. The record has since been broken, but no doubt Andy will be trying to win it back next year…

Elsewhere…

Let’s not forget Scottish rider Keith Amor’s stunning victory in the North West 200 Superstock race on a BMW S 1000 RR back in June. In Australia Craig Coxhell still has the opportunity next month to win the Superstock title, and over in New Zealand Sloan Frost was the winner of the winter Superbike series.

It’s fair to say that BMW Motorrad’s first ever supersport machine has been a phenomenon in the racing world. From its showroom launch in early 2010 to ruling the racetracks of this world, the incredible rise of the S 1000 RR shows no signs of slowing down. With a class-leading technical package which delivers unrivalled performance – right out of the crate – more and more racers are choosing the RR for their own championship hopes.

Journalists love the RR, showroom sales are booming and the awards have been flowing in 2010. All that’s missing now is that elusive first Superbike World Championship victory, but when that happens, there will be no stopping the success story of the S 1000 RR. For BMW Motorrad, its sports bike fans, and racers the world over, 2011 can’t come soon enough…

Success in Spain for BMW Motorrad Motorsport

With the opening round of the 2009 World Enduro Championship now just a few days away BMW Motorrad Motorsport team riders David Knight, Juha Salminen, Marko Tarkkala and Simo Kirssi headed to Spain to participate in the first round of the 2009 Spanish Enduro Championship, as part of their final preparations for the forthcoming WEC series.
 

 

 

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