Among the off-road community, one very welcome announcement has been BMW Motorrad USA's participation with a factory team in every round of the 2008 Grand National Cross Country series (GNCC) - the most competitive cross country class in the world.
Even more welcome was the appointment of five-times series champion Scott Summers to manage the BMW XPLOR race team. Summers has joined BMW for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons, after racing very successfully for American Honda for nearly two decades. The Ohio-based off-road legend has not only won as many GNCC bike titles as anyone, but he has also paved the way for today's growth in factory support, media coverage and professionalism of this series.
With preparations and testing underway with team riders Gordon Crockard and Glen Kearney - who will both ride the new G 450 X sports enduro in the XC1 class - Summers took time out from his busy schedule for an exclusive interview with Jason Weigandt.
Well Scott, you're putting together a new team. What is happening right now?
Well, I'm in charge of putting together the infrastructure, like buying trailers and trucks so we can operate as a team when the season starts.
How much of the plan behind this team is yours? I know in your Honda days you pretty much knew what worked and did that. Do you have that freedom with BMW?
Well, I think the BMW folks have respect for me and how I've done things. They've let me be in control of most of the decisions. So they're putting their focus on building the best off-road bike that they can make, and it will be my job to run the team and hire the riders. I was really impressed with these guys, and that's why I ended up breaking a 20-year-relationship with Honda. That was very hard to do, but I wanted to be a part of this project.
Yes and that speaks volumes, because I know you've had many offers in the past to leave Honda, but you never did...
Right, even in the very early years I had lots of opportunities. But things change, and this is very exciting. This bike, in my opinion, when it first hits dealerships in America, will render all other off-road bikes obsolete.
Wow!
The future is basically here. There are so many things about this bike that really intelligent people, like Ron Wood - who has been a great four-stroke engine builder for years - or my dad, who is basically an inventor, have wanted to do for 20 years, but the technology didn't exist for it to happen until now.
How hard is that to dial in? BMW had been clear that they're using racing to fine-tune the machine.
Well, I don't think it's going to take much. I rode the bike in Munich a month-and-a-half ago and I couldn't believe it. I expected it to have rough edges because so much of the technology is new. These engineers started with a clean sheet of paper. In the past, manufacturers have chosen to use a motocross platform, and once they've satisfied the motocross and supercross guys, then they try to make an off-road bike work. This is a clean sheet, so they have already focused on making the best off-road bike they can make. That puts us way ahead of where I thought we would be.
So you think the boys can get results on this bike right off the start?
I really do. If the results don't come, it's not the fault of the bike. It's an engineering marvel, this motorcycle.
Well that puts some pressure on the guys you do have on the team. Talk about why you ended up signing Glenn Kearney and Gordon Crockard?
Well, BMW wanted some proven guys. Glenn has been in the States for three years, and he has been 'knocking on the door' - he has come as close as you can come to winning a couple of GNCCs. He has a great work ethic and he's a really friendly guy, so he's a natural selection for the team. And Gordon, he has a motocross background. The GNCC courses have become more motocross-like over the years - and they have to be because of the sheer volume of riders. There are so many riders competing in the series today, that if you made them too technical, you would just have giant bottlenecks. So I knew that about GNCCs, and I knew Gordon - he is one of the few guys to have beaten Stefan Everts when he was in his prime. He has speed that I don't know if the GNCCs have ever seen, so that's exciting. And he also has a trials background, and I figured that would help him make the transition from racing motocross to dodging trees a little quicker!
Gordon came and raced for you on a Honda at the last GNCC last year. How did that go?
It's a whole different world. Our plan initially was to have him come to the race and watch, but the more I thought about it, I realized that was a flawed plan. The best way to learn GNCC is to go out there and ride the track and get an education? I'm glad we did that now.