Schumacher falls - literally - in motorbike race debut

As was reported earlier, Michael Schumacher made an appearance racing on a Honda at the Oschersleben circuit of the German Superbike Championship last weekend. On the surface, his twenty-eighth place finish seems rather disappointing, but upon further examination, it was a pretty good weekend overall for the ex-Formula 1 champ. Technical issues kept Schumacher from starting well, with only two racers behind him at position thirty-seven on the grid. Finishing all the way up to number 28 in the first race is a rather good outing considering the competition he was up against. In race two, Schumacher charged his way to position 21 before crashing out.

Despite the accident, Schumacher seems to have enjoyed his time on the track, saying, "I am a racer. I find motorcycles such a lot of fun, but I do not have any plans to enter a race series properly. Perhaps I will race from time to time, but always as a guest runner and without ambitions for another career." Good for you, Schumie. Thanks for the tip, Erik!

BMW introduces new R1200S-based HP2 Sport

click above image to view gallery of the BMW HP2 Sport

Longtime BMW riders would hardly recognize the motorcycles coming from the Bavarian bike maker these days. Starting with the redesign of the R-Series models and their bump in displacement to 1200cc's a few years ago, BMW has been making a statement that it's going to be moving the brand up in the performance ranks. The four cylinder K1200 series has given BMW an image-bike that further cements it into the high performance race, and now the R1200S HP2 Sport will take the BMW brand back to the race track in style.

Starting with the R1200S as its base, already BMW's sportiest model, the HP2 adds new 4-valve heads sporting dual overhead cams. Redlining at around 9,500 RPM, the power output of the engine has been increased to 128 horsepower, and the 85 ft-lb. of torque makes this engine very powerful for an air-cooled boxer-twin. Routing that muscle to the rear wheel is a six-speed gearbox featuring a quick-shifter that allows the bike to survive full-throttle up-shifts and performs quicker than what can be done using your hands and feet.