2008 Rally
Registration is online! Take advantage of discounts on admission and meals by registering in advance.

S1000 RR shown
BMW has unveiled its superbike. It has all of the goodies we've seen on the spy shots: OZ wheels, radial calipers and so forth. No word on a public introduction yet.

Robert Hellman
The RA is saddened to annouce the passing of Dr. Robert Hellman. He died Sunday, March 9, 2008 at his home in the company of those he loved. Robert Hellman was 63. The BMW Riders Association has lost the man that was the foundation of our organization for many years and a great friend.

Daytona, March 2008

AMA Formula Xtreme (Daytona 200)
(3/6/07) In Thursday morning's session, the BMW times tightened up a bit, with Cooper still fastest at 1:45.026 and a spread of 0.85 seconds separating the four BMWs.
In afternoon qualifying, the BMW's qualified 26, 31, 33, and 37 out of 71, solidly mid-pack.

In Wednesday afternoon's practice session, Cooper held the fastest BMW lap time so far with a 1:45.473, directly behind Steve Atlas (on a CBR600) who rode the F800S for San Jose last fall, and about 6 seconds slower than the leader. The other three riders are about a second slower.
There is additional practice on Thursday morning with qualifying ion the afternoon. The 200 will be televised on Speed Channel at 1:30 on Saturday.

MOTO ST
Nate Kern and Richard Cooper took the Atlanta BMW R1200S to a third-place finish in MOTO-ST's season-opening 300 mile race at Daytona. This, on a mostly stock bike that was prepared immediately before the race after Thomas Hintereiter crashed the front-line race bike during practice.
Hintereiter was here to race in the MOTO-ST as well as one of four HP2 Sports in the AMA Formula Xtreme Daytona 200 on March 8, but suffered a broken hand which will probably leave him unable to race the fourth machine. We expect Richard Cooper to fill his place on the grid, along with Kern, Brian Parriott and Rico Penzkofer.
Before the MOTO-ST race, Kern and Cooper took first and second place in the ASRA Thunderbike race, with Nate racing for BMW of Atlanta and Cooper racing for Morton's BMW. This marks Mortons' first solo foray into racing, after assisting Nate's XPLOR team last year.

New F650GS arriving in the US
See OTL Intel

Elections
Voting is over! The last vote was cast about 8:00 PM on the 15th.
Results of the election, as well as an evaluation of this online voting system, will be in the February/March OTL.

Misprinted January issues of OTL
Several members have reported their January OTL missing pages and having duplictes of others. If your OTL was misprinted, please contact the Association Administrator via the contacts page and request a new one.

Rally in the U.P.!!
The RA will be taking the International Rally to Michigan's Upper Peninsula for 2008. Ride across "Mig Mac," aka the Mackinaw Bridge, on the way to this mid-June rally. The rally website is just starting to take form now.

Welcome to the BMW Riders Association
If you're serious about your riding, you're in the right place. The BMW RA is an international community of BMW riders focused on the machine, the marque and the company that makes it all work. It is our mission to enhance the BMW motorcycling experience for our members and provide a forum on the history, current offerings and the future of the marque. We're glad you're here.

Cool links
How a BMW motorcycle is produced
Beemers at B-Cubed Daytona campout
Latest newsletter of the International Council

Attention Club Officers! It's time to renew your Charter for 2008 with the RA.