BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 Oceania. Day 5. Rocky Mountain High.

Punakaiki Beach, New Zealand. The 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS
Trophy changed in the biggest way today as the South Island served up
a sizable new challenge: mountains! The North Island was never
anything less than hilly, but today in the South Island the GS riders
found themselves tackling two mountains, riding on proper mountain
tracks, not gravel roads. As promised, the riding intensity had been
raised to a new level.

The morning started with a steep
and winding climb up Mount Richmond, 20km of rocky ascent through
native forest that took the riders above the cloud base before
reaching the 754m Maungatapu Saddle where they found the first test of
the day: the Emirates Challenge. In this test all the riders from each
team had to ride a tricky trials section among the rock and bush while
remembering three key flight details to be relayed to the marshal at
the finish: flight number, boarding time and seat
number!

The ride down the mountain was no less tricky and
for sure the riders were grateful for the coffee stop in Nelson (the
capital of the Tasman Bay region), known for its spectacular sea
fishing as much as the local fruit and wine cultures. However, the
coffee break was soon forgotten when the riders found themselves
fighting their way up and over yet another mountain. This one was even
more technical than the first, as they headed west to Murchison the
town at the head of the Buller Gorge – the only access route to the
west coast through the top of the island’s mountain
ranges.

After such a tough morning, the afternoon took on
a more reflective attitude as the riders got to enjoy the spectacular
ride on highway through the Gorge, to come out upon the west coast and
the Tasman Sea. Here the riders found a stunning ocean road bordered
bylimestone cliffs and rainforest dotted with New Zealand’s unique and
beautiful Nikau palm trees.

The riders´ final destination
was Punakaiki Beach, made famous by its tall limestone cliffs often
called the pancake rocks for their distinctive strata – and a sight of
wonder on high tide when a blow hole spouts sea water many metres into
the air. And here came the second test of the day: the Rab Challenge.
This one brought many a laugh as the teams had to run across the
beach, remove their boots, unpack and climb into their Rab sleeping
bag, then reverse out, pack the bag, slip on their boots and run back
to their next teammate.

In all it had been a full-on day
that challenged the extreme riding capabilities of so many of the
riders – and while more than a few had fallen, they all got up and got
on, to finish the day with a great sense of achievement. A perfect day.

Rider Quotes:

Lisa Taylor, Int. Female Team II:

“Today was totally beautiful, the mountains were full of
green trees and vegetation, and coming from the desert of Arizona I
don’t often get to see this much green! When we climbed the mountain
to the first special stage the clouds had settled below us and it was
absolutely beautiful. Then as the day progressed we found ourselves
riding along this amazing shoreline, with waves crashing onto the
beach, it was again absolutely beautiful. And through all this beauty
we were riding our bikes, having the greatest time.”

Manuel Febres, Team Mexico:

“The Int. GS Trophy has been a great event, I enjoy every
day – great riding, great people – and it’s impressive how BMW
Motorrad can get all these people from all around the world to join in
this event – it’s been the best experience of my life (note: Manuel is
just 19 years old!). But this day has been the day I’ve enjoyed the
most, it’s been so technical and the mountains are testing to ride –
but I really enjoy this kind of riding. A great day!”

Shakeel Basha, Team India:

“Today was great, I loved it, the best off-road riding
I’ve done in my life. And I say this after I made a mistake going down
one of the descents and crashed! It’s been very tiring, so I don’t
always like the highway riding, I get dozy and I’ll be thinking of
food or home, but on the trail I’m always occupied, thinking ‘don’t
crash!‘ Team India are very proud to be back this year, we have a goal
to improve on last time, when we were last. But we will improve. You
see, we don’t ride adventure like they do in other countries, so we
are learning every time. So we’ll keep coming back and improving,
until we can challenge South Africa!”

BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 Oceania.

Day Five overall standings:

1 South Africa 277

2 France 266

3 Italy 247

4 South Korea 233

5 Russia 212

6 Netherlands 208

7 Brazil 205

8 Australia 192

9 USA 190

10 Argentina 186

11 Middle East 186

12 Latin America 185

13 Nordic 168

14 Mexico 165

15 UK 164

16 Japan 151

17 India 141

18 Malaysia 141

19 Thailand 136

20 Int. Female Team I 108

21 North Africa 106

22 Int. Female Team II 58

The event’s excitement will also be relayed with much more
information via BMW Motorrad’s social media sources:

BMW Motorrad Facebook www.facebook.com/bmwmotorrad
Twitter
www.twitter.com/bmwmotorrad
(#gstrophy)
YouTube www.youtube.com/bmwmotorrad

Instagram www.instagram.com/bmwmotorrad
“RIDE
AND TALK – The BMW Motorrad Podcast”
Watch out for more
information on the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy 2020 – brought
to you directly from New Zealand!
In case of queries, please
contact:

Tim Diehl-Thiele, Head of Communications BMW
Motorrad Tel.: +49 151 601 57505, Tim.Diehl-Thiele@bmw.de

Ingo Wirth, Head of Communications MINI and BMW Motorrad
Tel.: +49 89 382 25814, Ingo.Wirth@bmw.de

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