Pasukan Malaysia menamatkan saingan BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 di kedudukan ke-18.
Trio negara, Norizuan Abdullah, Chan Kiang Wei dan Mohd Zulfakar Mohd Alghaus – yang merupakan juara kelayakan Asia Tenggara – antara 23 pasukan yang bertanding dalam pengembaraan lebih 3,000 kilometer.
GS Trophy edisi ketujuh ini yang berlangsung selama lapan hari menyaksikan pasukan negara mengembara di bahagian utara dan selatan New Zealand.
Sementara itu, Pengarah Urusan BMW Group Malaysia, Harald Hoelzl, menyifatkan penyertaan pasukan Malaysia sebagai satu kebanggaan.
“Kami bangga dapat menyaksikan pasukan Malaysia beraksi di peringkat dunia kerana mereka bukan sahaja mewakili negara malah seluruh Asia Tenggara buat julung kalinya,” jelasnya.
Pada masa sama, selaku pelumba, Norizuan beranggapan beraksi di GS Trophy 2020 sebagai satu pencapaian tertinggi buat mereka bertiga.
“Mewakili Malaysia di International GS Trophy 2020 merupakan pencapaian terbesar kami. Meskipun bergelut di peringkat awal tetapi selepas bekerja keras kami muncul sebagai penunggang yang lebih baik.
“Saya percaya ini adalah objektif utama GS Trophy, menyatukan semua penunggang BMW. Bukan mudah untuk menamatkan kesemua peringkat sehingga ke garisan penamat,” jelasnya.
Team Malaysia will represent the South East Asia region in the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Oceania 2020.
The finals will be held in New Zealand.
The riders qualified for their spots in the team yesterday.
Team Malaysia will represent the South East Asia region in the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy Oceania 2020 in New Zealand.
Mohd. Zulfakar, Chan Kiang Wei and Norizuan Abdullah had come out tops during the Malaysian qualifier round on the previous day. They beat out a field of more than forty riders which includes some of the most experienced and talented off-road riders on various BMW GS models.
The three riders became Team Malaysia. Thailand now has their own team.
The South East Asia slot has been revised for the upcoming even. Instead of having three different riders of nationalities in one team, the region will be represented by a team of riders from a single country.
Hence, Team Malaysia had to compete against the teams from Indonesia, the Philippines Taiwan, Singapore and Vietnam in today’s SEA Qualifiers.
As with the previous GS Trophy qualifications, the organizer set up many different types of challenges, trials and tasks for the riders. While some of these challenges appear pointless to the casual observer, they varied in terms of difficulty and speed to test the riders’ skills and proficiency in overcoming them. That said, the GS Trophy is never about speed, and instead focuses on rider skill, his understanding and control of the machine, being calm under pressure, ability to adjust to different situations, besides physical and mental toughness.
The most memorable tasks were pushing a gym ball with a rake while the rider controls only the clutch; transferring as much water as possible from one point to another; a slalom around wooden blocks (topped with plushie sheep) while riding up and down slopes; 180o zig-zags (the ground underneath the tyres had different characteristic); coming down a slope while transferring motorcycle tyres from one pole to another; and a deep water crossing.
To keep things fair, the organizer altered the tasks and course. Therefore, the Malaysian riders has to perform all-new tasks today together with the other teams.
Each team was required to perform team tasks as one unit, as well as being sent out as solo riders. The points were later combined.
Speaking of points, the GS Trophy’s scoring system looks at who has the least penalty points. Each mistake is awarded penalty points, thus the team which accumulated the least amount of mistakes win.
The day started out with the Indonesian, Philippines and Vietnam teams putting in some solid riding and teamwork. As the GS Trophy becomes more and more famous and popular, the riders trained hard.
But as the day wore on, the Malaysian riders started to edge ahead.
In the end, Team Malaysia came out tops by scoring 185 points, ahead of Indonesia and the Philippines who tied for second with 230 points each.
Moving forward, the team members will now train together to build a coherent unit.
We hope to bring you continuous updates when the event kicks off in New Zealand, so stay tuned.
The 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy will take place in Middle Earth i.e. New Zealand.
The event is open to BMW motorcycle owners around the world.
Watch out for the Malaysian qualifying round!
The 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy will take place in Middle Earth a.k.a. New Zealand. Sorry for the Lord of the Rings reference.
The event has grown in prestige and participation over the years since its inception. Beginning from 2008 in Tunisia, it’s held bi-annually and has since visited in South Africa, Patagonia, Canada, Thailand and Mongolia. Yes, all riding paradises.
It is open to BMW motorcycle owners around the world. Each participating country holds their own qualification round to find their representatives prior to the international event. Malaysians have participated in the last two editions as part of the Southeast Asia Team and Southeast Asia Women’s Team. Each team consists of 3 persons. Participants of previous International GS Trophy are not allowed to return to the challenge. However, they are welcomed to coach their respective country’s candidates.
Inspired by BMW Motorrad’s Vice President of Sales & Marketing, Heiner Faust’s own experiences during a riding expedition in Central Asia, the competition challenge isn’t based on speed. Instead, the participants need to be skilled and smart riders, and rely on close teamwork.
That philosophy can be seen the types of challenges faced by the participants. They include pulling the bike out of a ditch, plugging a punctured tube, riding the bike through tough terrain and situations, so forth. Additionally, they have to answer questions about geography and navigation, and knowledge of their GS.
There will a total of 19 teams in 2020, representing 30 countries. There will also be an all-female international team.
BMW Motorrad did not mention if the teams will continue to ride the R 1200 GS or progress to the new R 1250 GS. However, our guess is for the former and it’ll be great to see them put to such tough tests during the event.
Day of intense competition to select the sole Malaysian representative.
A Malaysian female rider will compete for a place in the female team in Thailand.
The preliminary selection for three Singaporean riders was also concluded.
Day Two and the final day of the BMW Motorrad GS Trophy Southeast Asia Qualifier came to a ceremonious close today (Sunday, 13th August 2017).
The ten finalists from yesterday (Saturday, 12th August 2017) competed for the sole coveted position to represent Malaysia as part of the Southeast Asia Team, in the International BMW Motorrad GS Trophy 2018 in Mongolia. (You can read more about Day One’s proceedings here.)
While the selection was held on the same grounds as the day prior, the Trophy Coordinator and Malaysia’s 2016 GS Trophy representative, Faisal Sukree have laid out different challenges and tests for the participants. Furthermore, instead of awarding a certain number of points, the scoring system was replaced by binary scoring. It was either 1 or 0 point for each test or section of the track. Yes or no. Passed or failed.
Additionally, the finalists now rode on standard GS Trophy-liveried R 1200 GS LC, instead of their own motorcycles as opposed to the first day. This was done to familiarize them to the very bikes used in the finals.
The GS Trophy’s hallmark Clutch Control Test made its appearance today. Participants had to get off the bike, hold the left side of the handlebar with one hand, click the motorcycle in gear and slip the clutch to rotate the bike around 360 degrees. Touching the bike with any other part of the competitor’s body is prohibited. This test simulates the rider’s ability to get the bike rolling in the event he broke or dislocated his right arm.
Another tough test was “The Garage.” Participants had to maneuver their R 1200 GS in a tight box filled with cones. Superior motorcycle control at crawling speeds was the main objective.
A deep soft sand section and a water crossing were also added to the track.
One more aspect of the GS Trophy showed itself today. It was the rider’s ability to perform under extreme pressure. Relaxed riding skill sets were beset by the case of nerves as many riders found themselves making uncharacteristic mistakes, hence the many crashes and get offs. No one was hurt, fortunately.
Although the results had been tabulated by lunchtime, there was a 4-way tie for second placing, so those specific competitors had to rerun the course, and it was mistakes that played the deciding factor.
In the end, riders who had finished up the order in Day One found the tables had turned on them. Mohd. Apis Bin Sagimin, who had finished in 9th place on Day One became the top finisher instead. Top Day One finalist, Wan Harith Wan Taqiyuddin Bin Wan Deraman finished in second, while the third placed finalist from Day One, Ghazi Fawwaz Bin Md. Arif completed the podium positions. In fact, Mohd. Apis himself was surprised by the results.
Consequently, Mohd. Apis is Malaysia’s representative in the Southeast Asia Team.
Day Two also saw the preliminary qualifying round for Singaporean riders. A total of six riders showed up in the early morning, having ridden from Singapore the day before. Three finalists qualified at day’s end for the final qualifying in Khao Yai, Thailand in September.
Singapore’s top qualifier was Jerome Ranatunga, followed by Lee Beng Chong in second, and Muhammad Hafidz in third.
Malaysia’s sole female entrant, Khaizatul Akmar (more popularly known as Khai), progressed to the final qualifier in Thailand.
The closing of Day Two caps a fantastic weekend for the participants and BMW Motorrad Malaysia, who also took the opportunity to launch three new models: R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black, S 1000 R naked sportbike, and the eagerly awaited G 310 R.
Stay tuned for our continuing coverage on the BMW Motorrad GS Trophy.
The BMW GS Trophy is one of the most important races you have never heard about.
Organised in various parts of the world bi-annually, the GS Trophy has been running since 2008 and has been organised in Tunisia, South Africa, South America, North America and recently in Thailand.
The GS Trophy is a specially designed challenge unique to BMW GS owners, however it is not a race. BMW continuously pounded that fact when we visited the final day of the race recently in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Challengers represented their home country (i.e., Team South Africa, Team Great Britain, etc) and will have to endure three days of various kinds of challenges, sleeping out in tents, and basically having a damn good time.
As Mr Heiner Faust (above, second from right), Vice President of Sales & Marketing for BMW Motorrad, so eloquently replied when asked what was one of his favourite parts about the GS Trophy, “… one of my favourite things is watching the teams from all over the world mingle together. They hardly understand each other but still they make an effort to talk, sometimes with gestures, with their hands and feet even. Everyone is making new friends, everyone is smiling.”
The day before it all began was particularly tough for the competitors as after having pitched their tents, unseasonable weather brought heavy rain and power outages to the GS Trophy base camp – but you would expect GS owners to be prepared, and prepared they were, with a Coleman head torch.
Before we get to why the GS Trophy is so important for everyone, let’s first see what the race challenge is actually like.
The participants had to ride through seven days of various challenges like a special stage that included a 57 kilometre ride through muddy conditions and even a ‘slow race’ where the most points are awarded to the team that could ride the bike the slowest Points were deducted from teams whose riders put their foot down, or stalled the engine. And that is only on the first day. You should watch the video below for everything that happened on day one.
BMW’s official press release after day 2 had ended couldn’t have said it better, “if day one had been a gentle introduction, this was a taste of the tough, demanding reality that will be the week ahead.” Riders covered 170km but it was a tough trail called the ‘Helicopter Trail’. Riders passed through quiet rural villages, along centuries old paths between paddy fields, before ascending into the mountains. The high point came at 1,686 meters, which is marked by the wreckage of a crashed ‘Huey’ military helicopter, which gives the trail its name.
The weather in Day 2 was also unpredictable as temperatures rose, from 20 degrees at the highest points, to 32 degrees in the valleys. Other challenges like the ‘Dead End’ trail was especially challenging, you can watch it all in the video below.
Day 3 was also brutal as participants had to ride over 250 kilometres on dirt trails and roads, with two special tests. The test involved riding on ridge-lines from one mountain range to another. The first special test demanded the participants to guess how many bamboo stalks where growing in a certain area, climbing a court metre high tree to find a hidden message, and guessing how many metres above sea level they were, without looking at their GPS units. Teams also had to cross a wide river and deal with the second special stage of the day, which you can watch in the video below.
Day 4 was one of the toughest – it was a 136 kilometre loop, and though not as long in terms of distance, it was more challenging. Participants had to ride 150 metres through the river, and a special challenge called ‘Big Timber’ demanded participants to lift the BMW GS 1200 and over a huge tree, and then park it on its side-stand. It was so hot, that the Japanese team jumped into a nearby creek in full riding gear just to cool off. You can watch all the drama in the video below.
Things took a different turn in Day 5. After days of travelling west and south on its seven day loop of Thailand’s Golden Triangle region, the GS Trophy circus headed east for the first time. It took a gruelling 270 kilometre ride from Mae Sariang to Khun Tan in extreme heat, interspersed with the usual series of special stages. Covering a mere 85 kilometres took a painful four hours. Teams were also tested on their GPS and navigational exercise, and so by the time some teams came back to base camp, it was pitch dark, forcing them to pitch their tents in the dark with head torches. All the drama is listed in the video below.
Day 6 was easily the toughest ever – riders faced challenges on the infamous Ho Chi Minh trail. Chief Marshal Tomm Wolf had earlier in the day warned that the riders should expect the day to be seriously tough. One part involved a 10 kilometre single track section that took two hours to get through, proving it to be the roughest terrain seen yet. The temperature was recorded at 37 degrees celsius with high humidity. The trails were tough for small enduro bikes, and so were a real test for the BMW GS adventure bike. The slopes were particularly unforgiving with nearly every rider requiring some form of assistance. Watch the video below to see the slopes and a 100 kilometre ride through the jungle.
By the time the final day came around, things were mostly settled. The leading team, Team South Africa, which led the standings from day 2, had only 19 points separating the top three teams. But at the final special stage, team South Africa kept their cool, rode smart and took the trophy back for the first time. However, in a historical first, both Team Germany and Team UK were tied for second place. Team Brazil were the champs of this special stage but it was hard fought, check out the video for highlights from the final day.
The only all women’s team competing in the GS Trophy 2016
So why is the GS Trophy so important?
There is no better way to market adventure bikes than to prove their worth in tough situations, and there is no better way to seal the fact that the BMW GS is one of the, if not the, ultimate adventure bike.
At the end of the day, each rider had ridden about 1700 kilometres in dense jungles and near seemingly suicidal cliffs, and there were some bikes that had been ‘accidentally’ dropped off broken bridges, some were dragged through boulder-strewn river crossing, hauled over huge logs, and ridden really damn hard. But there were no breakdowns. Some flat tyres, but not even a single bike broke down. Is there a better test for a bike than the GS Trophy? Sure you have rallies races for bikes, but how many of them allow stock standard bikes?
You should now know that all the bikes are stock, with some parts from BMW’s options list like the engine guard, but the GS 1200 itself is 100% stock.
The GS Trophy is the ultimate test bed for BMW, all of the riders feedback is delivered back to BMW to analyse for the next generation of BMW GS motorcycles.
The participants are given the option of buying over the bike after the race, but it is not immediately clear how did actually make a purchase.
There is another round coming in May in South Africa, you can read more about it here, perhaps even considering participating in the most gruesome race BMW has ever organised.
