Scott Summers Joins BMW XPLOR Race Team
Woodcliff Lake, NJ – November 1, 2007 – BMW Motorrad USA and BMW XPLOR are pleased to welcome Scott Summers, a pioneer of professional off-road racing, to their fast-growing racing team.
Scott Summers, one of the most celebrated off-road racers of our time, will partner with the BMW XPLOR Race Team, starting with the 2008 Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Racing Series. Summers’ GNCC team for the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons will have two riders in the XC1 class. He joins BMW after racing very successfully for American Honda for nearly two decades.
Summers first started receiving support from American Honda Motor Company during 1989. During his time with Honda, he earned nearly 100 overall national off-road event wins as well as 9 AMA Championships (five in the brutally competitive GNCC series and four in the far-reaching National Hare Scrambles Series. During his career, Summers did much more than win races and titles. He successfully transitioned from his role as a professional athlete to that of a businessman and the owner of his own race team. Since then, Summers has mentored other young up-and-coming racers, helping them understand what it takes to win at the highest level of the sport. During the 2007 GNCC Series, the most competitive Off-Road Championship in the world, Summers Racing earned podium finishes in 25% of the championship rounds.
“We are very excited to welcome Scott to our race team. He is a real champion both on and off the race course,” said Arturo Pineiro, head of BMW Motorrad USA. “These are very exciting times at BMW; these are also historic times.”
“All of us at BMW Motorrad are eager to show how competitive BMW can be on the race track, on and off-road,” said Dirk Biehler, Manager of Marketing at BMW Motorrad USA. “We have some very exciting bikes in our line up, and had a terrific 2007 race year. Now, we have raised the benchmark by partnering with one of the most successful teams in off-road racing. Scott Summers has played a significant role in making the GNCC what it is today – the most competitive cross country class in the world. BMW’s partnership with Scott Summers is sure to energize the 2008 GNCC series, and make us even more competitive in 2008.”
“Over the years I had the pleasure to meet and work with a lot of great people at Honda. I have many wonderful memories from my years at Honda and have friendships that will continue,” said Scott Summers. “I'm very excited about my new career path and the opportunities it will allow me. My new relationship with BMW will provide an opportunity for me to attend a lot of new events and meet a lot of new people.”
BMW Motorrad’s sports enduro prototype made its first U.S. appearance at the GNCC (Grand National Cross Country) race in Crawfordsville, Indiana October 27-28. Former motocross world champion Simo Kirssi – the lone BMW entrant – unfortunately, crashed 30 minutes into the 3-hour race on Sunday, October 28.
The talented Finn rode the sports enduro to its first-ever victory in the final round of the 2007 European Cross Country Championship, held in Schefflenz, Germany, October 6-7. The on-going development of the production bike has been widely viewed by the public throughout the off-road racing season in Europe, but, until last weekend, the new enduro had never made tire tracks on American soil.
The AMA/ATVA-sanctioned Can-Am Grand National Cross Country Series is America's premier off-road racing series. The 13-round race series stretches through the eastern U.S., beginning with the season-opener in Florida in March and concludes with the season-finale in Indiana in October.
For more information about the Grand National Cross Country Series, visit www.gnccracing.com.
BMW Group In America
BMW of North America, LLC has been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA, LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand, and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC in South Carolina is part of BMW Group’s global manufacturing network and is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 models and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles. The BMW Group sales organization is represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers, 335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 82 MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US) Holding Corp., the BMW Group’s sales headquarters for North, Central and South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.
Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the Internet at:
www.bmwgroupna.com
www.bmwusa.com
www.bmwmotorcycles.com
www.bmwxplor.com
www.miniusa.com
www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com
For information about Scott Summers or Summers racing contact Sharon Richards at OMS Sports, LLC at 714-538-1803. OMS Sports is a global, full-service sport marketing agency specializing in athlete representation, strategic marketing partnerships, industry relations, licensing and merchandising opportunities in the world of Extreme Personal Powersports.
