Several months before the eagerly awaited 800cc sports middleweight twin goes on sale, BMW Motorrad’s new factory rider showed just what this bike is capable of by scoring maximum points to win this prestigious freestyle stunt competition.

Off-road enthusiasts will remember Chris’s amazing BMW debut on the HP2 Enduro last year when he competed alongside Finnish rider Simo Kirssi and American Jimmy Lewis in a wide range of international races, including the German Cross Country Championship, the world-famous Erzberg Rodeo in Austria and the Baja 500 and 1000 mile races in California.

However, being an excellent off-road rider is just one of Chris’s many talents. He is also well known in the ‘freeriding’ community for his breathtaking array of motorcycle tricks and records that have included 115-degree overhanging wheelies, fast wheelie circles and jumping his bike over 33 people – without a ramp! So, perhaps it’s no surprise that Chris has seen the potential of BMW’s new F 800 S and will be using it as his official stunt bike during 2006.

Stuntwars is by far the biggest street bike freestyle competition in the USA, with never before seen motorcycle stunts and tricks on display. The annual two-day extravaganza took place at Lakeland Dragstrip in Florida and attracted the cream of the world’s stunt riders, all competing for over $15,000 in cash and a further $10,000 in prizes.

The former stunt riding world champion hadn’t had too much chance to practice for the competition (as he had been in Italy doing a photo shoot for the new HP2 Streetmoto) but this didn’t stop him from scoring maximum points on the F 800 S.

“I’m so pleased with this result, “ said Chris. “I went into the qualification period and didn’t risk too much but felt confident and in the end I scored maximum points (100 out of 100). This way I knew that I had the right style for the contest. The organisers wanted to see ‘rock n roll’ and not ‘break-dance’ motorcycling – and so I gave them rock n roll!”

The event started out with more than 100 of the world’s top stunt riders. This was then reduced to a final 15, who battled for the top prize. Ever the innovator, Chris brought some new tricks to the contest.

“This was the first chance for me to show no-hands wheelie circles and a ‘stoppie’ (endo) that finished with a 230-degree turn. Usually, stunt riders can only do 170 or 180-degree turns. Also when I saw the venue, I decided to use the concrete wall barriers that separated the crowd from the contestants, as part of my act. The judges always want to see innovation and a lot of people out there were just going through their routines. I’d noticed that it was possible to jump up onto the walls and get very close to the crowd.”

Interestingly, Chris made hardly any modifications to the F 800 S, which will undoubtedly attract the attention of stunt riders everywhere: “My stunt bike is actually very close to the standard model. We made the gearing a lot shorter and worked on the mapping and set-up to get the engine braking smoother for extra control. We also removed the fairing from the handlebars and added a wheelie bar – and that was about it.”

As the only competitor on a twin-cylinder machine, there was a lot of interest in the F 800 S’s performance from the American crowd and organisers: “Many of the people there assumed that I would be riding a K 1200 R but when I arrived on the F 800 they were very interested to see how I would do. And of course, after the qualification period, I was inundated with questions as to its horsepower, number of cylinders and so on. Apart from one rider on a ‘triple’ the rest of the competitors were all on four-cylinder machines, so I enjoyed the challenge of beating these guys.”