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 BMW
Power Cup: Mertens Full Throttle To Victory
Bonjour la France! At the 4th meet of the season, the Motorcycle
Grand Prix has another iron in the fire - and it´s a hot
one: the BMW K 1200 R, the most powerful serial production naked
bike in the world, celebrates its race track debut loud and clear
at the most highly prized motorcycle brand cup in the world,
held at the legendary Circuit Bugatti in Le Mans. With events
at seven European MotoGP racing weekends, the BMW Motorrad Power
Cup 2005 will let the naked facts speak for themselves; the reward
for the winner after the grand finale in Valencia, Spain, is
a BMW 630i Coupé. The Boxer Cup was yesterday, now the
175 bhp of the 4-cylinder K 1200 R provide abundant explosive
potential for red-hot duels at full throttle. 23 regular riders
from 12 European nations will captivate fans with their expertise.
Randy Mamola, GP legend and official ambassador of the BMW Motorrad
Power Cup has no doubts about it: "I feel sure, the success
story of BMW Motorrad in motor racing will be perpetuated in
the Power Cup. Perfect organisation and fair implementation of
the series are the ultimate guarantee. The teams will fight for
every centimetre of the asphalt with professionalism and fairness
- qualities which have already assured them a fixed place in
the back-up program to the most important motorcycle racing series
in the world. It gives me great pleasure to be on board as the
ambassador of the BMW Motorrad Power Cup!"
 And in the first race of the Power
Cup, those with their hands on the power throttle certainly fulfilled
what Randy Mamola promised. The 25 riders provided 17 laps of
top-class cup racing. With a sensational start, Markus Barth
(6) catapulted himself forward from 8th in the starting line-up
to take the lead. In the laps that followed he did credit to
his team name barthlines.com with his precise choice of the ideal
line - in fact he even put up to 1.2 seconds between himself
and his pursuers. Behind him, a powerful chaser trio formed consisting
of Sergio Fuertes (16), T. Hinterreiter (7) and R. Panichi (99),
who - as expected - had his permanent pursuer S. Mertens (3)
breathing down his neck. Adrenalin production went into overdrive.
On the sixth lap, the chaser trio sent their interceptor Hinterreiter
up ahead. Putting in the fastest lap, the Austrian caught up
with the leader Barth on the straight, with the K 1200 R reaching
top speeds of up to 252.3 km/h. As they braked hard into the
Dunlop chicane, Hinterreiter saw his opportunity, took the lead
and put to flight. Markus Barth (D) took his revenge two laps
later in the very same spot.
There then followed a round of high-speed chess: Hinterreiter
moved first to pass Barth- six laps before the finish, again
at the end of the straight. On the direct counteroffensive, Hinterreiter
had to let Barth pass, however, which Mertens made the most of
in terms of his own leadership ambitions. There was scarcely
a hair´s breadth between the leading quartet of Barth (D),
Mertens, Hinterreiter and the Italian Panichi, when suddenly
the German had to drop out on the straight with a technical defect,
just two laps before the finish. The fact that he came second
here last year in the Boxer Cup shows just how much he feels
at home on the Le Mans circuit.
Now the road was clear for ex-Endurance world champion Stéphane
Mertens (B) of the Team BMW Motorrad Benelux - Herpigny Motors.
Luck was going his way and he was not slow to react, taking the
narrow lead with him over the finishing line. Pulling no punches,
Thomas Hinterreiter and Roberto "Panick" Panichi were
thus left to make do with second and third position respectively.
A suivre... on June 4th in Mugello, Italy, the naked facts will
speak for themselves once more when the highly motivated and
highly motorised pursuers take their chance to challenge Mertens
to another showdown and get their own names in the winner´s
list of the Power Cup. The choice of sporting weapon has already
been made: the K 1200 R waits hungrily for its next race track
appearance.
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