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With the International Six Days Enduro and the Red Bull Romaniacs Extreme Enduro fast approaching, it would seem that much of BMW Motorrad Motorsport's current activity seems to be focussed on the G 450 X. However, the HP2 Sport has been testing at Magny-Cours in France and racing at Infineon circuit in the USA, where Brian Parriott has been enjoying yet more success with the sports boxer.

The enigmatic 41-year-old from Calistoga returned to the Infineon Raceway in California with the San Jose BMW Racing team to contest the Formula Open Twins and Formula Pacific races on his HP2 Sport.

Brian and San Jose BMW are currently in second position on the Formula Open Twins Championship leader-board. Interestingly, all of the bikes in this class are Ducatis, with the exception of the HP2 Sport, but that only makes Brian more determined to keep them all behind him!

Right from the beginning of this race it was obvious that as the lone BMW rider in the field, Brian had every intention of winning. Pushing hard into the turns and moving swiftly through the pack, Parriott demonstrated the HP2's superior handling and braking capability as he won in convincing fashion after taking the early lead.

"It's a great feeling to be achieving these results on the HP2 Sport," said Parriott. "I never really see myself as the lone BMW rider; I always think that I am just another competitor, who happens to ride BMWs. That said, it feels pretty cool for me, and I bet it hurts a little to be one of those Ducati guys at the end of the day!"

Brian was also in action that day in the hotly contested Formula Pacific round against a variety of race-replica machines such as GSX-R1000s, R1s and various other litre-class bikes. As usual, Brian went to work using his 'search and destroy' method of passing riders, despite being down on power and up on weight against these Japanese 'multis'. The experienced Californian racer easily moved through the field and managed to finish in a very respectable third place after a hard-fought battle.

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"I think at the club level the advantage of the HP2 Sport is its agility and the fact that the bike is very easy to ride," said Brian. "At Infineon it is very important to put large sections of the track together and do each section perfectly. On the BMW this is easy. I've ridden four-cylinder Japanese bikes around Infineon and they don't seem to be quite as easy to handle. Secondly, the braking power that I have with the sports boxer is unbelievable. I'll be 10 to 15 bike lengths behind another competitor coming into a heavy braking zone and then be able to pull off the pass easily. It blows me away sometimes how good the HP2 Sport stops. So at Infineon the definite advantages are agility and braking. Ask anyone how to go fast around here and they will say that these two things are very important. Our only real disadvantage is the top speed, but Chris at San Jose BMW is on the case there." In September Parriott heads to France for the famous Bol D'Or 24-hour race as a member of the BMW Motorrad Motorsport factory world endurance squad. He will partner StŽphane Mertens and Jose Luis Nion on the works HP2 Sport, while Thomas Hinterreiter, Rico Penzkofer and Richard Cooper will team up on the second factory machine.

On Monday and Tuesday this week, several members of the works BMW team were testing at the Magny-Cours circuit as preparation for the forthcoming round of the Endurance World Championship, which takes place there on 13-14 September. Three factory BMW HP2 Sport machines were on hand for the riders to work on perfecting the suspension and other settings, as StŽphane Mertens confirms:

"Most of the work carried out was on the suspension and the chassis. We've ridden in both wet and dry conditions, so this has allowed us to gain several base settings, which will be useful depending on whichever track conditions we encounter in September. It's also worth noting that our best lap time last year was 1:47.3 and during the two days of testing, Thomas Hinterreiter posted a 1:47.2, I did a 1:47.8 and Rico Penzkofer managed 1:47.9 - good performances when you consider that the test bikes weren't equipped with super sticky race rubber."

Look out for an in-depth Bol D'Or preview next week.