BMW Husqvarna Motorsport – German Cross Country Championship, Rd. 4, Mernes
Round four of the German Cross Country Championship (GCC) clearly belonged to Simo Kirssi. The BMW Husqvarna Motorsport factory rider never left the shadow of a doubt who would be winning Sunday´s race held at Mernes (Hesse).
Kirssi rode a lonely race in front of 2,500 spectators to capture his third straight victory in what´s considered to be Europe´s biggest motorcycling offroad series. The Finn led the two-hour moto almost from wire to wire, as he increased his championship lead to 18 points.
The humid and very warm weather may have hurt Kirssi´s competitors, but not the 30-year-old Scandinavian. Kirssi steered his BMW 450 X masterfully around the demanding and varying Mernes track and made short work of his fellow countryman Samuli Aro in the opening lap. Neither Aro, nor Dutchman Hans Vogels or five-time Motocross World Champ Joel Smets were able to keep Kirssi in sight, who pitted for fuel with a commanding lead. Kirssi´s crew even posted a new record when they sent their rider back into the action after only 14 seconds.
Kirssi carried on like clockwork to claim one of his most dominant series victories ever, taking the win over two minutes ahead of Vogels and and three minutes in front of Aro.
Simo Kirssi: “Usually I don´t like this track a lot. I had problems here in most of my recent visits. But today it went very well. Everything was perfectly prepared. The team did a great job, so did the bike. I felt excellent and being out there came easy. I knew by the end of lap one that the competition would find it hard to catch me today. Now we´re in a great position for the rest of the season.”
German Cross Country Championship, Rd. 4, Mernes
1. Simo Kirssi (FIN), BMW Husqvarna Motorsport, 18 laps
2. Hans Vogels (NED), Husaberg, 18
3. Samuli Aro (FIN), KTM, 18
4. Marco Straubel (GER), KTM, 18
5. Steffen Albrecht (GER), Yamaha, 18
6. Mickael Musquin (FRA), BMW, 18
7. Christian Weiß (GER), TM, 18
8. Joel Smets (BEL), Husqvarna, 17
9. Jan Zulauf (GER), KTM, 17
10. Andreas Schulz (GER), KTM, 16
German Cross Country Championship, Point standings (after 4 races)
1. Simo Kirssi, 110
2. Stefan Svitko, 92
3. Samuli Aro, 82
4. Marco Straubel, 77
5. Steffen Albrecht, 75
