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BMW F 800 Flat Tracker Breaks New Ground

At the West Liberty fairgrounds in Iowa, an F 800 made its first appearance on the oval dirt track and acquitted itself very well, finishing in sixth place in the ten-lap race. The bike is the project of dirt track legend Ron Wood who has taken a stock F 800 motor, complete with starter motor, and placed it in a frame and running gear that he designed and built. It is far from a "back-yard" special, but has been produced to be competitive in this form of racing as well having a unique style that shows off the parallel twin motor.

Ron Wood is a legendary figure in the American Flat Track community. He has produced some of the great bikes of the genre including the Yamahas ridden by Kenny Roberts in the 1970s. Ron Wood Racing is also the American Rotax agent and as such has performance kits for BMW F 650 GS and Funduros, with a final stage conversion that will increase the standard 50 hp into a rather impressive 70 hp.

The race day started out with a slight problem as Johnny Murphy broke his foot at the AMA Grand National Race in Greenville Ohio that previous Saturday. Ron had no problem finding another Grand National Number rider that was willing to fill his spot, however, as he is a legend in the sport of Dirt Track Racing. National Number "28" Shaun Russell ended up racing the F 800 on its inaugural race. The BMW caught the attention of the event coordinator Marty Mehlert, who talked up the Ron Woods 1st ever BMW F 800 Flat Tracker. Twenty-five hundred people showed up for the race which was a fair size crowd for an AMA / Pro AM Race.

Shaun ended up finishing in 6th place in a 14 rider field. He raced with Harley National number "1" Kenny Coolbeth, Robby Pearson, J.R. Schnabel "33." The F 800 was the loudest bike on the track and Donnie Barger (AMA National Race Announcer) told the crowd that the BMW sounded like a bear coming out of his den for the first time. Ron was extremely happy with how the F 800 ran. He had been expecting teething pains as it was its first race and was thrilled that the bike ran great all day. The bike is an unbelievable masterpiece of typical Ron Woods engineering. Look for the legendary BMW roundel to make an appearance at the most iconic of flat-track venues, the equally legendary Springfield Mile and Springfield Short Track races this Labor Day weekend, 2007.

The pit crew included Kevin Atherton National Number "23", Ron Woods, Jim Grant of www.jgphotowerx.com who is the official AMA Track Photographer and Julius "Master Certified BMW Technician" Dusterhoft.

Technical specs: the F 800 Flat Track bike weighs just 317 lbs and nothing has been tweaked as far as nuts, bolts, wheels, etc. Its also has the electric start and still carries the starter and battery onboard. Ron Woods built everything on the motorcycle except the engine, which is bone stock except for a slight upgrade.

Stuntwars

BMW's new F 800 S is a winner - even before it goes on sale.

BMW's new F 800 S made its first competitive appearance in the capable hands of Christian Pfeiffer, who beat all challengers earlier this month to win the world famous Stuntwars competition in Florida, USA.

Several months before the eagerly awaited 800cc sports middleweight twin goes on sale, BMW Motorrad's new factory rider showed just what this bike is capable of by scoring maximum points to win this prestigious freestyle stunt competition.

Off-road enthusiasts will remember Chris's amazing BMW debut on the HP2 Enduro last year when he competed alongside Finnish rider Simo Kirssi and American Jimmy Lewis in a wide range of international races, including the German Cross Country Championship, the world-famous Erzberg Rodeo in Austria and the Baja 500 and 1000 mile races in California.

However, being an excellent off-road rider is just one of Chris's many talents. He is also well known in the "freeriding" community for his breathtaking array of motorcycle tricks and records that have included 115-degree overhanging wheelies, fast wheelie circles and jumping his bike over 33 people - without a ramp! So, perhaps it's no surprise that Chris has seen the potential of BMW's new F 800 S and will be using it as his official stunt bike during 2006.

Stuntwars is by far the biggest street bike freestyle competition in the USA, with never before seen motorcycle stunts and tricks on display. The annual two-day extravaganza took place at Lakeland Dragstrip in Florida and attracted the cream of the world's stunt riders, all competing for over $15,000 in cash and a further $10,000 in prizes.

The former stunt riding world champion hadn't had too much chance to practice for the competition (as he had been in Italy doing a photo shoot for the new HP2 Streetmoto) but this didn't stop him from scoring maximum points on the F 800 S.

"I'm so pleased with this result," said Chris. "I went into the qualification period and didn't risk too much but felt confident and in the end I scored maximum points (100 out of 100). This way I knew that I had the right style for the contest. The organizers wanted to see 'rock n roll' and not 'break-dance' motorcycling - and so I gave them rock n roll!"

The event started out with more than 100 of the world's top stunt riders. This was then reduced to 15, who battled for the top prize. Ever the innovator, Chris brought some new tricks to the contest.

"This was the first chance for me to show no-hands wheelie circles and a 'stoppie' that finished with a 230-degree turn. Usually, stunt riders can only do 170 or 180-degree turns. Also when I saw the venue, I decided to use the concrete wall barriers that separated the crowd from the contestants, as part of my act. The judges always want to see innovation and a lot of people out there were just going through their routines. I'd noticed that it was possible to jump up onto the walls and get very close to the crowd."

Interestingly, Chris made hardly any modifications to the F 800 S, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of stunt riders everywhere: "My stunt bike is actually very close to the standard model. We made the gearing a lot shorter and worked on the mapping and set-up to get the engine braking smoother for extra control. We also removed the fairing from the handlebars and added a wheelie bar - and that was about it"

As the only competitor on a twin-cylinder machine, there was a lot of interest in the F 800 S's performance from the American crowd and organizers.

"Many of the people there assumed that I would be riding a K 1200 R but when I arrived on the F 800 they were very interested to see how I would do. And of course, after the qualification period, I was inundated with questions as to its horsepower, number of cylinders and so on. Apart from one rider on a 'triple' the rest of the competitors were all on four-cylinder machines, so I enjoyed the challenge of beating these guys."

Chris is no stranger to challenges. The 35-year-old also plans to race an HP2 Enduro up a snow covered mountain at the Gotschen Ski Centre in Bavaria next month (www.snow-speedhill.com) as well as contest the world famous Erzberg Rodeo in Austria (www.erzberg.at) where the HP2 Enduro won on its debut last year. The Erzberg is also known as the 'Iron Road', and is one of the most prestigious and highly contended enduro-sports events in the racing calendar.