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In fact, San Jose BMW's second place after eight hours of racing was
quite a feat, considering that they suffered a few unfortunate mishaps
during the race. Brian Parriott picks up the story:
"In eight hours a lot can happen - and it certainly did! The weekend
began well and we had a very good feeling early on about our chances.
We thought Richard Cooper would be the best starter because of his
weight advantage and this actually worked out great, because he got a
great start and was up to third position by turn one."
With two bikes in front of Cooper, the British rider was able to use
the slipstream to his advantage and keep the leading riders in his
sights. And because of the superior fuel economy of the R1200S, the
San Jose BMW team rider was able to stay out on track longer and pit
later than the other teams.
After Cooper's session, Parriott took over and managed to actually
move up to first place while the leading bike was in the pits. He
maintained this position and then handed over to Nate Kern, but a
crash in his session brought the safety car out, which negated the
lead that Nate had built up. When he pitted, the San Jose BMW team
lost their lead again.
"From that point we were completely focused and trying to catch
up," continues Brian. "We did regain control of the lead during my
stint and then when Nate took over he maintained this advantage. We
made up quite a bit of time and were doing great, but towards the
end of the race, Richard got tangled up with another rider. He had
the sense to pit the bike and we had just enough time to look over
it, change fuel and tyres, before I was out on track again!"
San Jose BMW's R1200S
"However, after two laps I was called back to the pits, because the
officials were concerned about the crash damage. Despite all of
this delay I was able to restart the race, 10 or 11 positions behind
the leader. From that point on, I rode as hard as I could and
managed to get to within a few seconds of the leader, but I then
started to have a problem with brake fade. However, despite losing
more time, we made it on to the podium after a very exciting race
in which the top teams were very closely matched. For me the result
was wonderful - we had a podium finish regardless of what we had to
do to get it!"
This was a view shared by Brian's team-mate, Nate Kern: "After this
result, Brian and I have even more confidence for the future. The
credibility we now have as riders on this machine is solid. After
our crash no one would have ever thought we would be there in the
end, but we were!"
The final word went to Chris Hodgson, team manager at San Jose BMW.
"Due to his weight advantage, the decision to start with Richard
(he is 5'-1" tall and 114 lbs) was paying off until he got tangled
with another racer and crashed. This incident was the other rider's
fault, and when Richard was knocked off the bike he was within four
seconds of the leader! Brian got on the bike very quickly without
losing too much time, but when the officials needed to inspect the
bike to make sure it was safe, we lost quite a bit of time. However,
despite everything, we finished second - only 25 seconds behind
after eight hours of racing - so the team should feel extremely
proud of their achievements."
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