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BMW Motorrad Motorsport officially unveiled their new 450cc sports enduro bike at the second round of the ´07 World Enduro Championship staged in Puerto Lumbreras, Spain, where the team continued the development of the new bike with official riders Sascha Eckert and former five-time world motocross champion Joel Smets competing in the event.
Sascha EckertWith much anticipation surrounding BMW´s first outing in the World Enduro Championship, and with a large number of specialist off-road motorcycling press gathering to see the new bike, the event proved to be extremely successful as both team riders scored world championship points on day one. 
With the continued development of the bike key to the team´s participation in the Puerto Lumbreras day two saw Sascha Eckert again score points in the Enduro 2 class. Disappointingly Joel Smets retired from the event on day two due to electrical problems. Day one proved to be an extremely challenging one for both Joel and Sascha as the slippery conditions required absolute focus. With both riders well aware of the fact that their participation would be a baptism of fire for the new bike, as well as for themselves, and that racing success was far from the minds of any the BMW Motorrad Motorsport team staff the two riders did exactly what they hoped to do and finished the day without problems.
Joel SmetsHaving plunged themselves, metaphorically speaking, into the deep end of the competitive international enduro scene both Joel and Sascha were extremely pleased with the performance of their bikes and the fact that the first stage of the bike´s international sporting development ended successfully. Joel Smets With the opening day´s competition having produced extremely pleasing results with Joel placing 13th and Sascha 15th in the competitive Enduro 2 class both riders started day two looking forward to clocking up yet more development hours. No longer faced with mud and slippery special test conditions day two was to be extremely dry and dusty. Again focusing on simply learning as much as possible about the bike within a competitive environment Joel and Sascha completed the opening lap of the event without problems. Disappointingly, having reached the service point at the end of the first lap an electrical problem resulted in Joel taking no further part in the event. Meanwhile Sascha completed the second day in much the same way he did day one placing in 17th position in the Enduro 2 class. 
Sascha EckertCompeting in the second round of the ´07 World Enduro Championship in order to further develop the new 450cc sports enduro bike the entire BMW Motorrad Motorsport team were encouraged and pleased with the way the two bikes performed in Spain. The team will return to the World Enduro Championship at round four in Italy. 2007 WEC Rnd 2 Day 1 E1 1. Johnny Aubert2. Mika Ahola3. Stefan Merriman4. Fabien Planet5. Samuli Aro13. Joel Smets (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)15. Sascha Eckert (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)2007 WEC Rnd 2 Day 2 E1 1. Johnny Aubert2. Samuli Aro3. Mika Ahola4. Stefan Merriman5. Fabien Planet17. Sascha Eckert (BMW Motorrad Motorsport)
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