US BMW GS Trophy Team member and REV’IT! sponsored rider, Tom Asher is poised to make history as the first-ever rider to compete with a BMW R1200GS Adventure in the Open Class of the 2017 KENDA Tennessee Knockout Extreme Enduro — a race ranked the 4th toughest in the Hard Enduro Series.

With a bike twice the size of his competitors, Asher has a unique set of challenges ahead: The course is built for lighter, more agile enduro bikes, and the R1200GSA will afford him less maneuverability and suspension travel than other challengers, on top of the burden of extra weight. Asher jokingly thinks he may run a small advantage with the extra fuel range but adds that he will have to “use skill with everything – no winging it or muscling it through.” Unlike with the GS Trophy, he will not have the support of team members to get him through the challenging obstacles he’ll encounter.

Tom’s path to this race is almost as unique as the bike he has chosen to ride in the knockout. The 49 year-old motorcycle mechanic from Johnstown, Ohio raced enduro bikes at a professional level in his youth, but injuries and life changes forced an early exit to his racing career. He would later transition his skills over to large Adventure Bikes and has spent the last two decades training riders how to handle extreme off-road terrain on big bikes.

Over the years, Tom developed a reputation for being able to take an Adventure Bike almost anywhere. In 2016 when he read about the BMW GS Trophy Qualifier online, he decided to enter on a whim. By the end of the first day of the two-day competition, he had already scored enough points to race with the US BMW GS Trophy Team in the 2016 finals in Thailand. Now, Asher returns to the scene to show off what large adventure bikes are capable of in the hands of a skilled rider.

Tom will have his work cut out for him lining up next to Extreme Enduro legends like Graham Jarvis and Cody Webb on lightweight 300cc two-stroke machinery. “I have to keep pushing myself to reach my goals! This should be a great test,” says Tom. Just completing a lap on the Big GSA will be a huge accomplishment. You can cheer him on starting at 9am this Saturday, August 12th at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, TN.

Watch some of the mayhem that awaits Tom and his BMW R1200GSA below!

Update: See what happened here