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02-20-2008, 10:23 AM
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The countdown has already started for BMW Motorrad Motorsport's road racing team, which makes its first appearance of 2008 early next month at the famous Daytona 200 race that is held annually at Daytona Beach, Florida.
The 200 is unique among races on the AMA roadrace schedule for its endurance-like format with pit stops, refuelling and the like. But this should play into BMW Motorrad's favor having had a very successful debut year competing in the World Endurance Championship.
The team had a year to perfect its pit-stop routine while competing in last year's World Endurance Championship, as well as selected non-championship rounds. By last year's race in Doha in November, the technicians had got the routine – that involves refuelling and changing tires – down to about 16 seconds, which is a great starting point for Daytona.
"Fast pit stops are crucial and there are many different strategies," according to Nate Kern who will pilot one of the four Sports entered. "The rider has to be off the machine during pit stops and the bike shut off. Thomas Hinterreiter and myself will have one pit box with technicians maintaining our pit stops and Rico and Brian will be in another separate pit stop box."
More: BMW Confident Going Into Daytona 200 (http://www.motorcycle.com/news/bmw-confident-going-into-daytona-200-75781.html) on Motorcycle.com