Franco Caimi and BMW G 450 X win Argentinean Enduro Championship

BMW Motorrad colleagues and fans in South America are currently celebrating as BMW G 450 X rider Franco Caimi has won the prestigious 2009 Argentinean Enduro Championship.

Twenty-one-year-old Caimi has been a fantastic ambassador for the brand throughout 2009, having begun the year racing the G 450 X alongside Joel Smets and Dakar rider Andrés Memi in front of more than 70,000 fans at the Summer Enduro Gesell Le Touquet in Argentina. This demanding and exhausting race – which saw about 1,000 riders compete – saw Franco put in a great performance to fight from near the back of the field up to 11th place after falling during the first lap when another participant knocked him off his motorcycle.

The young rider from Mendoza followed this up several weeks later with victory in the first round of the first round of the Argentine Enduro Championship, where Franco left his competitors in no doubt of his ‘unstoppable’ ability on the G 450 X. He finished one minute and ten seconds ahead of his team mate Marcos Polo and over four minutes ahead of the third-placed rider Marcos Giustozzi, and the 2008 Argentine Enduro Champion Kevin Benavides.

Since then it has been a rollercoaster ride for Franco, who has dominated the ten-round 2009 Argentinean Enduro Championship, making it onto the podium no less than nine times, including four wins, two second places and three third places. In addition to this, Franco also found the time to travel to the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in Portugal in October, where he was a Gold Medal finisher and the best Latin American rider out of 70 who made the long trip across the Atlantic Ocean to compete.

His 25th place in the E2 Class and 67th place in the overall results out of a total of 580 top riders show that he is a force to be reckoned with on the G 450 X. However, bringing BMW Motorrad Argentina its first enduro championship has been the ‘icing on the cake’ for the young rider, who says that he couldn’t have done it without the support of his BMW colleagues.

“The guys at BMW Argentina really helped me a lot throughout this year, and this really made a difference,” said Franco. “They were very involved with this project right from the beginning and they always tried their hardest to help me prepare so that I was in the best condition to race, as well as always being quick to help us with our many requests. The fact that I’ve won this championship is largely as a result of all their efforts, and it’s great that we’ve all worked together as one big team.”

Another thing Franco has been quick to credit is the performance of his BMW G 450 X, which he believes is a great package that aspiring enduro riders and racers should seriously consider, straight out of the crate.

“I’ve spent all this year training and racing on the BMW G 450 X and have found it a very user-friendly bike. Right from the beginning it was easy to ride and handle, and I soon felt completely at home on it. This has been the case throughout the world of course – not just only at amateur level, but also in top competitions, racing against Japanese and other European brands, and achieving very good results. Furthermore, apart from the standard
modifications allowed, the G 450 X that I raced all through the year was very close to the standard version – I just had an Akrapovic exhaust and WP suspension. As for the engine, we didn’t touch it at all, as it has enough power – the key is learning how to make best advantage of it!

With this national championship series victory, and notable performance at the ISDE, Franco Caimi’s name will no doubt become more widely recognized among the international enduro community, which is something he has been working towards for many years. Although he’s still very young, Franco’s is no stranger to success. He’s been riding motorcycles ever since the age of four, when his father Mauricio – a rugby player – bought him his first motorcycle.

At the age of 12 he asked his father if he could prove his skills in a race and has never looked back. By the age of 17 Franco had won his local championship five times and was a twice ‘class’ winner of the Argentinean Championship. With the support of his family, he then started to race in Chile and participating in the Latin American Championship, winning it in 2006 and being selected as the most promising Latin American rider by
journalists from 32 countries. By that time Franco already had raced at four ISDE events, achieving two Gold Medals, as well as being (at 16-years-old)) the youngest rider ever to win a gold medal in the history of the ISDE.
Now, having raced in six ISDE events and collected four gold medals, as well as winning the 2009 Argentinean Enduro Championship, the international stage surely beckons for Franco, whose ambitious spirit, rofessionalism and outstanding performances have made him a perfect ambassador for BMW Motorrad and the G 450 X. It’s worth remembering his name, because you’ll be seeing a lot of him in the future.