Team Motorrad
10/13/06

Team Motorrad ran their R1200S in the Bridgeston/WERA Grand National Final 4-hour endurance race at Road Atlanta in preparation for the 8-hour Moto-ST endurance race in Daytona. Their lightly-modified R1200S finished the event with no mechanical problems at all, finishing 5th out of 11 bikes in the Middleweight Superbike class. Previously they finished 6th of 13 at Barber.

"Fast Frank" Shockley on the starting grid

The riders are Frank Shockley, Ivan Messina and Brad Phillips; all well-known in BMW Vintage racing circles. At Road Atlanta, Brad raced his BMW in Vintage 4 and Vintage 5, while Frank raced a Ducati in Formula 2 Expert and Lightweight Twins Superbike Expert, and an Aprilia in Senior Superbike Expert.

Ivan Messina leads the ARNCHU Suzuki onto the front straight

Their primary focus at Road Atlanta was pit stop practice rather than standings. Fuelling and wheel changes are sped by small equipment tweaks common to endurance racers, such as 'safety pins' on the caliper bolts rather than time-consuming safety wire, and quick-fill fuel fittings in place of the standard gas cap.

L to R: Gary Walker (crew chief), Peter Friedland (crew), Ivan Messina (owner/rider), Mark Boucher (crew), Brad Phillips (rider), Rick Tannenbaum (suspension tech), Frank Shockley (rider), Jim Blakely (crew).

In the MOTO-ST race they will face BMW teams from Daytona BMW and San Jose BMW in addition to teams racing Japanese and European bikes.

Team Motorrad plans to compete in the 2007 MOTO-ST series.