All set for BMW GS Trophy local qualifiers

BMW Motorrad recently held a series of local coaching sessions with the intention of which to prepare our Filipino Riders to get to the GS Trophy International. GS Trophy International is a BMW Motorrad event which has been happening for the last 10 years and now they have widened the participants including South East Asia so we are now lucky to become one of the participants to represent South East Asia.

“The top 3 riders will be sent to Bangkok, Thailand to represent Philippines and to compete with other South East Asian countries like Taiwan, Indonesia, and Singapore. So that the top rider for those countries will be representing their countries to group or form a team together with Thailand and Malaysia. Now those three riders, because for every team in the GS Trophy International that you will have 3 members, so for this team for South East Asia we will have one from Thailand, one from Malaysia, and the other one will be coming from South East Asia or whoever wins the top position between the four countries.”, shared BMW Motorrad Director Mr. Gil Balderas. “Well for those of you who’s still looking for trainings, we have tomorrow and on Sunday. We still have slots available and you can join us here atthe MX Messiah Fairgrounds or you can check out our website or our Facebook page. To register, we have contacts there so you can freely text them or call them up.”

BMW Motorrad has flown in two certified international instructors from. One is Tommy Lee. Tommy Lee was a participant in the 2016 GS Trophy International that was held in Bangkok, Thailand. The other instructor is Mr. Johnny Chen who has been doing alot of enduro trainings with us here in the Philippines, who’s also a qualifier in the previous GS Trophy International. So they are both experienced off-road international instructors for BMW Motorrad and also has the experienced to share with our team and our riders for the GS Trophy International exercises.

During his interview with InsideRACING Magazine and Maximum Torque, BMW certified instructor Tommy Lee said, “We had a training today. The local qualifying will happen in about a month’s time. Today is just a training and also a teaser to show them what to expect when the qualifyer comes. This is the second time that South East Asia is participating in the GS Trophy. We want our team especially Team Philippines and also from the other Asian countries to be a lot more prepared and ready. The last time we did it in 2016 it was actually completely new to us. We have never participated, we don’t know much about it. But now, we do a little bit of training and get all the guys up to speed so that they’ll know exactly what to expect. We started the day off with some basic training on how to handle the bikes, how to maneuver the bikes. And then the activities that we did was to actually, it’s not about speed, it’s more about control. So there’s no point going fast and not knowing how to control the bike. So we did a lot of pushing the bike, pushing it backwards, turning it left and right, having your right body position. So with the fundamentals exercises that we did they can actually apply it to the other exercises that may happen in the GS Trophy. We don’t know exactly what will happen but with the fundamental skills they have, they will be ready for that. I definitely see two to three potential qualifiers.”

The Local Qualifying will be held on July 28-29, 2017 at the MX Messiah Fairgrounds, Taytay, Rizal.

Full report in InsideRACING Magazine and Maximum Torque soon!