Pfeiffer wins Indoor Freestye World Championship

From BMW Motorrad Motorsport

Last Sunday, for the third time in succession, Chris Pfeiffer succeeded in taking the Indoor Streetbike Freestyle World Champion title on his BMW F 800 R.

Suffering from flu, Pfeiffer was still weak as he traveled to the world championships, held as part of the Swiss motorcycle show SWISS-MOTO 2009, so that he seemed unlikely to succeed in defending his title. During the first qualification round on Saturday, he was forced to drop a number of physically challenging tricks from his routine and was only ranked third.

In much better form, the 38-year-old managed the second qualification round more successfully, winning with the best marks for the round and for the day as a whole. At the same time, he also took the lead in the overall ranking prior to Sunday’s final.

On Sunday, as the last of 16 semi-finalists, Pfeiffer entered the 50 x 15 meter action area, which had been covered with 70 tons of asphalt, ready for a perfect performance. However, two minutes into the four-minute round he fell during a “Touch-Ground-Circle”, a move he invented himself involving a one-handed sharp-angled wheelie. Nonetheless, Pfeiffer managed to complete the round and, despite losing points, still went on to the final as one of the 10 best competitors.

The final provided one of the most impressive demonstrations of Pfeiffer’s ability. Here he used his modified F 800 R to go through his entire repertoire of motorcycle tricks with the smoothness and precision of a Swiss watch. Once again achieving the best result of the day, he easily took the much sought after World Championship title for the third time in a row.

“I was very calm before the start and was really just looking forward to showing everyone what I could do," said the four-time World and European champion. "The atmosphere at SWISS-MOTO was incredible, which encouraged me to go that extra mile. When I finally turned off the engine of my F 800 R and waited for the scoring, I already knew that this would be enough. I was thrilled when I saw the judges’ confirmation. Because of the conditions under which I competed, this was definitely my toughest World Championship title, which made victory all the sweeter.”