From a press release issued by BMW:

BMW Motorrad BoxerCup – Round 5
Circuit de Catalunya Grand Prix
Final Summary – That’s Racing!

Baseball legend Yogi Bera once said “It ain’t over till it’s over”, that adage perfectly summarizes Round 5 of the BMW Motorrad BoxerCup held at the picturesque Circuit de Catalunya, located on the Medetereanan coast of Spain, just north of the city of Barcelona. With track temperatures soaring to 116 degrees Fahrenheit, the 15 lap sprint would be a test of skill and stamina for the international field of 36 riders. The usual suspects filled the grid for Saturday’s race, with Austrian Thomas Hinterreiter posting a session best qualifying time of 1:58.587 seconds to take the pole. Hinterreitter was joined on the front row by series points leader Roberto Panichi (I), Markus Barth (D) and Sebastian Legrelle (B). The second row was lead by VIP entrant and former World 250 GP rider “Fast” Jurgen Fuchs (D). Also on row two were Richard Cooper (GB), Fernando Cristobal (E) and Andy Hoffman (S). The top 12 qualifiers were rounded out by Norbert Rebholz (D), Brian Parriott (USA) Peter Ottl (D) and Laurry Fremy (F).

It’s Panichi again…or is it?

Italian Roberto Panichi, appearing to have been shot out of a cannon, got the holeshot as the riders left the grid for lap one. Panichi continued to build on his lead as the laps clicked away, surging to as much as a :5.786 second lead. A pack of 6 riders, Hinterreiter, Legrelle, Cristobal, Hoffman, Barth and Cooper, swapped positions in the early going, but could not seem to gain ground on the Italian. This group was separated by as little as 0.35-second, making for some of the most exiting racing since the nail-biting BoxerCup race in Daytona in March of this year. Panichi had just about checked out for good from the field when he suddenly lost the front end on turn 7 and crashed out of the race. Feeling dejected and disappointed, Panichi commented “It was just a stupid mistake on my part. I got a little too far over on the turn and touched my cylinder head to the ground and the next thing I know, I am in the gravel area.”

The group of 6 riders left at the front of the race was quickly reduced to 5, as Spanish rider Fernando Cristobal crashed from the fourth position, one lap after Panichi’s mishap. With Panichi and Cristobal out of the race, new race leader Thomas Hinterreiter was left to pick up where the Italian left off. And pick up he did, stretching out a nearly 7-second lead going into the final two laps of the race. Belgian Sebastian Legrelle would make a hard charge on Hinterreiter in the final 3 laps, but could never close the gap to less than 3 seconds as Hinterreiter took the checkered flag. Legrelle would finish 2nd, 3.567 seconds behind Legrelle. Andy Hoffman got a fantastic drive out of turn 13 to edge Markus Barth by a scant 0.033-second at the line to steal 3rd place. Richard Cooper would round out the top 5, finishing 0.511-second behind Barth.

Team USA Turns It On

BMW Motorrad Team USA would show the most improvement among the field of 36, as riders Brian Parriott and Jason Perez would improve by 9 and 7 places, respectively, from their order of finish in last weekend’s round 4 at Mugello, Italy. Parriott crossed the line 7th with Jason Perez finishing 10th. “I got a really good start for the first time since Daytona, that really made the difference for me today,” stated Perez. Perez further commented, “Coming into the race I was really disappointed with my qualifying (19th). I made a couple of mistakes today that cost me a couple of places, but I’m really happy with my finish.” Equally pleased with his performance, Parriott felt he could have caught the lead pack had it not been for one thing: Turn 5. Reflecting on his difficulty in handling Catalunya’s downhill left hander, “Every time I’d begin to separate from the group, I’d get to 5 and just not hit the right brake point,” stated Parriott. In fact, French rider Guillame Dietrich made a daring inside pass on Parriott in turn 5 on the final lap of the race to steal 6th place from the young Californian. “It feels really, really good to score some decent points again. The real difference for me this weekend was that I learned the track pretty quickly and that we raced on consecutive weekends. With a practice coming up this week at Sachsenring and then consecutive race weekends at Assen and Spa, I think I can move up in the points a few places,” stated Parriott.

Also happy with Team USA’s performance was BMW Motorrad Team USA crew chief Richard Dampf. “We’ve all been working really hard since Daytona and it was good to have it payoff for us today,” stated Dampf. “It has been a tough road for us since Daytona. Coming to Europe and competing with the level of talent in the pits and on the grid is a real challenge. I’m happy for the team to have placed so well this week,” stated Dampf. No stranger to racing himself, Dampf was the mastermind driving force behind the popular “Battle of the Legends” race series organized by BMW in the late 90’s. In fact, the genesis of today’s BMW Motorrad BoxerCup has its roots in the “Battle of the Legends” series.

Speed Channels White Joins The Action

Participating in round 5 of the BMW Motorrad BoxerCup was Speed Channels Greg White. The trackside reporter for Speed Channel broadcasts of AMA Road Racing events and host of the very popular Speed Channel Two-Wheel Tuesday”Greg’s Garage”, White was impressed with the quality of the competition. “You’ve got some really good talent competing in this series”, stated White commenting on the BoxerCup field of pilots. “Guys like Panichi, Barth, Hoffman and our own Brian Parriott from the USA have competed at some of the highest levels of road racing competition in the world. You even have an ex-250 GP racer in Jurgen Fuchs who’s running as a VIP rider that sweetens the field even more. I can’t believe how fast these guys can ride such a heavy bike.” White was also on the grid for the inaugural race of the 2003 season in Daytona and plans on racing in Spa as well as the season ending race in Brno, Czech Republic. “Any time you can join a race weekend like MotoGP, I’m there. It’s a lot of fun coming here and racing with these guys and getting to hook up with some old friends like Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins and Colin Edwards of the MotoGP circuit. I just wish I had a little more time on the bike to improve my results. It’s pretty tough to do 2, ½-hour qualifying sessions and then go out and race. But it was still fun and I could feel myself getting better each time around the track. BMW has been really great to us this weekend and I look forward to coming back for the race in Spa.”

On to Assen

The BMW Motorrad BoxerCup moves to Assen for round 6, as part of the world famous Dutch TT weekend of race action. BMW racing history is rich at Assen, with Klaus Enders and Ralf Engelhardt winning a world championship for BMW with a sidecar outfit here in 1973. The Dutch TT weekend is equally renowned for the “Night of Assen”, as 200,000+ race fans flock to this small city 160 Km from Amsterdam to celebrate through the night prior to the race. Assen marks the 4th time this season that the BMW Motorrad BoxerCup joins the MotoGP race series on it’s schedule. Race day is Saturday, June 28th, and will be run on the same day as 125cc, 250cc and MotoGP World Championship races. Watch for updates and results on www.BMWMotorrad.com.