“Last weekend the European Hillclimbing Championship was held in Obersaxen (CH) in front of a crowd of 7,000 spectators and, like last year, I competed on the BMW HP2 Enduro. I managed to finish in a surprisingly good third place in the cross/enduro category – just as I had done last year – but if that sounds like a repeat performance, I beg to differ!

“The Swiss organisers under Guiseppe Zollet once again put on a magnificent event. The Karitscha Hill was the object of the competition – set in a beautiful skiing area at over 1,400 metres. Once again, none of the participants actually managed to complete the task as the last 30 metres are just incredibly steep and stony. But we’ll try again next year!

“In superb weather, I was easily able to qualify for the semi-final, though with a distance of 200 metres I didn’t reach the levels I had hoped. However, the spectators were happy to see just how high BMW’s 1200cc flat twin could reach and of course they loved the powerful sound of the open Akrapovic exhaust, compared to all those single-cylinder bikes with half as much capacity. The cable car which takes the motorcycles downhill afterwards wasn’t required on any of my four runs since, like many of the good riders, I just rode down the slope again after finishing the climb.

“Here are a few figures to consider: the start is at 1435 metres; the ‘finish’ is at 1550 metres. This makes for an elevation gain of 115 metres in a distance of just 235 metres. The minimum gradient is 15 per cent, rising sharply to a maximum gradient of 141 per cent!

“On Sunday morning it was time for the semi-final for which the best 30 had qualified. I went at it pretty quickly and a bump at 180 metres shook me fairly badly. Many others had problems too so I got into the top ten to qualify for the final pretty easily with seventh place.

It was actually in the final that I was able to give my best performance, finishing third with a distance of 204,7 metres. The winner was Werner Müller (three times Enduro European Champion from Austria) with 209.1 metres, ahead of hillclimbing specialist Lars Nonn from Germany with 207metres.

“It wasn’t that easy to move the HP2 to this height because from about 180 metres the terrain is more like an uphill trials section. But in the lower sections of the slope there is no other off-road motorcycle that can catapult you uphill so impressively. It was pure fun, which isn’t surprising with 105 hp off-road.”

Chris’s next appearance will be at the BMW Motorrad International Biker Meeting, held from 7-9 July at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany. More information can be found at www.bmw-motorrad.com