BMW Rider Joel Smets Ends Big During Enduro Finale
Joel Smets, rider for BMW’s Motorrad Motorsports, finished in sixth place in the E2 class at the Zschopau Enduro at Europe’s hardest enduro races (GEC) this weekend. The GEC brought in some top riders, including Smets, from around the world. Yet, despite the demanding nature of the event, Joel Smets rode BMW Motorrad’s 450cc Sports Enduro prototype and claimed a strong sixth place finish in the competitive Enduro 2 class, completing the event without problems.
With valuable experience gained from his participation in three World Enduro Championship events this season, former five-times World Motocross Champion Smets started the Zschopau Enduro well aware that this would be a demanding race. With the event living up to its reputation Joel and BMW’s 450cc Sports Enduro bike battled their way through the day-long competition without encountering any major problems.
After close to one hour of special test action, with numerous challenging rock-covered climbs providing spectacular viewing for the thousands of spectators that turned out to watch the event, Joel placed sixth, two-and-a-half minutes behind eventual E2 class winner Juha Salminen.
“I enjoyed Zschopau very much, but it was tough,” said the Belgian rider. “The bike worked perfectly and was much easier to handle than at the WEC race in France some weeks ago. Unfortunately, in the special test I made some mistakes, which cost me quite a lot of time. I hoped to finish a little higher in the results but with my mistakes it simply wasn’t possible. Anyway, it was a great event and another positive result.”
This was a view shared by the BMW 450cc Sports Enduro project manager, Markus Theobald: “We are again very happy with the way the bike performed and with our result in Zschopau. Joel did a great job once again and just like the bike, came through a very demanding event with flying colours. Sascha Eckert also contributed to the development of the bike as he tested several new parts in the event, which worked well during the first half of the race.”