Five-times World Champ Smets beats 10-times Austrian Champ Sigi Bauer

Legendary multiple world motocross championship winning rider Joel Smets continued his ongoing involvement with the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team by participating in and winning a recent round of the Austrian Cross Country Championship (ACC), which took place in the former mining town of Ampflwang in the east of the country.

Legendary multiple world motocross championship winning rider Joel Smets on the podium at the Austrian Cross Country Championship.

The scene was set for a memorable weekend, as it signalled a special confrontation of two off road legends – motocross hero Smets on the BMW G 450 X against veteran ten times Austrian champion and current KTM factory test rider Sigi Bauer. Smets was a late 'wildcard' entry to this penultimate ACC round and was invited as a guest starter 'just for fun'. However, the hard-charging Belgian actually won the race aboard a virtually standard BMW G 450 X, while Bauer finished second, which allowed him to clinch the 2009 ACC title.

The two-hour race, which was staged at the Off Road Park in Hinterschlagen, cemented its status as the hardest race in the ACC calendar. Due to heavy rain throughout the previous night, almost the entire six-kilometer loop had turned into a quagmire and the extremely muddy conditions challenged the riders and their bikes to the limit. However, Smets is no stranger to such conditions and soon mastered the tricky surface like only a five-times world champion can.

The Belgian ace had decided he needed some fun for the weekend and was also determined to prove that a good motocross rider can also be successful in enduro racing, whatever the conditions or competition. Starting from 23rd place on the grid, his MX background soon came to the fore and before long, Smets had found his way to the front of the pack.

Despite challenges from the ‘KTM Armada’ of Sigi Bauer, Markus Tischart, Bernhard Walzer and Mario Hirschmugl, Smets kept his cool and increased the pressure, staying at the front of the chasing pack and eventually crossing the finishing line more than one-and-a-half minutes ahead of Bauer, after two hours and sixteen arduous laps of racing.

Commenting on this victory, Smets was glad he made the trip to race – and beat – a whole field of KTM riders in the company’s ‘back yard’, although the journey to Austria might never have happened: "BMW Motorrad had asked me to race and so I organized the entry and travel, but then due to a clash with the World Enduro Championship, there were no spare bikes available," said Joel, who has also been busy in his role as manager of Team Belgium for the 2009 Motocross of Nations, that recently took place in Italy.

"However, I was determined to race, and because I had one of the very early series production G 450 X bikes at home in Belgium, I bought a couple of tires, put the motorcycle into my camper van and then drove the 900 kilometers to Austria. On the way I called the ACC series promoter and asked if they could help provide somebody for refuelling, as I had no mechanic with me. There was a bit of a surprise in the paddock when I turned up on a virtually standard machine, but when I won the race, it certainly showed the quality and reliability of the G 450 X. Everyone was quick to offer their congratulations and it was great to experience the ACC. It’s a great series and everyone is there to have fun, enjoy their riding and have a great time, no matter what country they’ve come from. That’s what cross-country racing is all about and it was good to be part of the action in Ampflwang."

Heavy rain turned the circuit into a quagmire and the extremely muddy conditions challenged the riders and their bikes to the limit.

Smets was glad to be part of the action on his G 450 X in Ampflwang.

"I'd like to thank the project leader Markus Theobald who gave me lots of assistance throughout the year, as did Wolfgang Fischer, the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team leader. I have to also thank my mechanics Manfred Binder, Lee Palmer and Christoph Pflügler, who prepared the bike when I had no time, and I'm grateful to all my friends who travelled to the races and helped wherever they could in the pit areas. I couldn't have done it without all the above people."

For 2009, Stefan plans to ride in the same championship, as he enjoys partnering up with a team-mate to race against approximately 120 other teams that enter this series. With a four-hour race duration, there is the opportunity and time to rectify any mistakes or technical problems, and the large field of riders provides challenging competition at a variety of circuits.

It's the kind of racing favoured by Bernd Eckenbach, who since the beginning of 2007 has been assisting Motorrad dealers to familiarise themselves with the off-road world in preparation for the growing number of potential customers that are interested in BMW's latest model range and motorsport activities. He is seeing increasing numbers of BMW sport enduro riders turning up at amateur off-road events throughout Germany and hopes that this is being replicated worldwide.

"Congratulations to Stefan on his great result," said the former motocross star. "It’s been a great year for the G 450 X and all the excellent sporting achievements have certainly helped us. Next year is looking very exciting, as our ambition is to get a lot of the BMW Motorrad dealerships involved in fielding teams in various championships.

"Our network realizes that the first and best contact with potential customers is at the track – they realise that they can't sit in BMW showrooms and wait for these kind of customers to come in. So, what we're doing now is investing time and effort in helping them build teams that can produce local heroes. The new bike is great, so the next step is to get even more up-and-coming riders on it to make the headlines throughout the 2009 season."

Austrian Cross Country Championship results from Ampflwang

Joel Smets, BMW Motorrad Motorsport, 16 laps
Sigi Bauer, KTM, 16 laps
Markus Tischhart, KTM, 16 laps
Bernhard Walzer, KTM, 16 laps
Mario Hirschmugl, KTM, 16 laps
Markus Auer, KTM, 15 laps
Erich Brandauer, Husaberg, 14 laps
Peter Enöckl, Sherco, 14 laps
Sven Steinberger, KTM, 14 laps
Niki Stelzmüller, Husaberg, 14 laps