August 1, 2007
Whitby, ON - The first ever BMW Motorrad Summerfest festival recently took place at Mosport International Raceway in Whitby, Ontario, to coincide with rounds four and five of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship. This Canadian version of the BMW Motorrad Days festival was deemed a huge success and sweetened even further by the excellent results achieved by the BMW Motorrad Canada racing team, which recorded three podium positions in the Thunder Series races at the Mosport circuit.
With heavy rain on the Saturday turning the already challenging Mosport track into a slippery playground, Mike Taylor dominated the first Canadian Thunder race from the start; riding his factory BMW R 1200 S to victory with a margin of some 30 seconds over the second placed Buell XB9R of Darren James. Taylor's teammate, Michael Ferreira also rode a spectacular race, charging from eighth place - and narrowly missing a downed Ducati that fell in front of him - to finish in third place, hot on the heels of James.
Sunday was briefly blessed with a dry track - at least long enough for the round five Thunder race, which proved to be as entertaining as the previous day's dance in the rain. Virtually every lap of the hard-fought race saw a change in the leader board, with Taylor and Ferriera on the BMW R 1200 S and Michael Leon and Darren James on their Buell XB9Rs continually swapping positions. The exhilarating nose-to-tail contest concluded with Leon and James securing first and second places, and Ferreira and Taylor finishing third and fourth respectively.
These results in the Canadian Thunder series leave BMW rider Mike Taylor a very close second to Buell's Michael Leon in the championship points standings, with Michael Ferreira holding down seventh place.
First ever BMW Motorrad Summerfest
As an unprecedented backdrop for the Parts Canada Superbike Championship series at Mosport, the inaugural BMW Motorrad Summerfest also took place, providing the weekend's enthusiastic spectators with an impressive array of BMW activities, products and entertainment. With some 500,000 square feet of tarmac laid out to showcase the full range of BMW motorcycles and Rider Equipment, each day's visitors were given the opportunity to see and even road test every new model of BMW motorcycle - both on and off-road. In fact, more than 500 riders took advantage of the BMW demonstration rides.
One of the highlights of BMW Motorrad Summerfest was the entertainment provided by 2006 Stunt riding World Champion, BMW's own Christian Pfeiffer. Having flown in from Germany to attend Summerfest, Chris demonstrated why he is currently the best freestyle rider in the world, bringing wide grins to the faces of all spectators, as he performed an awe-inspiring and show-stopping display of stunts in the wet on his BMW F 800.
BMW Motorrad Summerfest further complemented the excitement and entertainment of the Parts Canada Superbike Championship race weekend with a Saturday evening concert headlined by EDWIN, formerly of the group 'I Mother Earth', and local bands, Duty Calls and Afternoon Zero. BMW Motorrad Summerfest was inspired by the popular BMW Motorrad Biker Meeting, renamed BMW Motorrad Days this year and held for the last six years in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. The popular annual event, held just the previous week, attracted in excess of 34,000 enthusiasts from around the world.
Giving a wide range of motorcycle racing enthusiasts a glimpse at the increasingly wide world of BMW Motorrad, the success of this first BMW Motorrad Summerfest bodes well for a return in 2008.
