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Added on the 11/02/2020 07:34:19 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
After eight days and approximately 2500 km the 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy has reached its conclusion at the ski resort of Coronet Peak near Queenstown. And it’s South Africa who are the champions, having narrowly beaten off the close attent
Day seven of the 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy saw the GS riders head further south, exchanging the high country of the Mackenzie Basin for the first reaches of the Upper Otago, not an easy transition as mountains are constant barriers to movement here in the South Island. The smallest lines of weakness – passes and gorges – are typically the only way to reach new territory and so it was the GS Trophy route negotiated four mountain passes and plenty of water crossings before the riders were allowed to reach the camp at Lake Wanaka, which in the early evening sat in the shadow of the imposing Mount Aspiring (a world heritage site).
If day five of the 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy had been upscaled, then day six was simply super-sized. The GS riders crossed the South Island west to east, riding 440 km over mountain passes and along the Canterbury Plain to reach Lake Tekapo, in the foothills of the Southern Alps, in the early evening. Along the way they encountered yet more mountain tracks, made multiple river crossings and, as Team Middle East were keen to point out, they’d been through that famous Kiwi experience: four seasons in one day.
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!
Today’s stage was something of a liaison as the 2020 BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy transitioned from the North Island to the South Island of New Zealand. The GS riders had interpreted this as a chance to rest and recharge their batteries, only with a 3:30 am call to breakfast – so as to catch the early inter-island ferry – they soon realised, like Int. GS Trophy riders before them, that there really is no rest in this competition until the finish.Nonetheless, today was a great opportunity for the GS riders to share experiences, as with three hours on the ferry they had plenty of time for inter-team chats. Albeit that was after they had completed their first challenge of the day – the ‘40 years of GS Quiz’ in which they were tested on their knowledge of this iconic motorcycle that has become so much more than just a brand. In fact it was a ferry ride in three parts: knowledge test, sleep and sight seeing, the latter coming as the ferry made its way down the spectacular Queen Charlotte Sound to the port of Picton.
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