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enduro
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Hell's Gate |
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Many said before its start that the winner of the fifth edition of Hell's Gate would have been the heir of David Knight, three times winner on top of the Hell's Peak. They were right, but the couldn't imagine how big he would have written his signature on the extreme enduro race of Fabio Fasola. Tadeusz victory was clear as crystal water, as everybody saw since the very beginning of the wonderful Tuscan race. The qualifying morning session was tuned up on Simone Albergoni' notes, who finished first in the enduro race, leaving behind, the Polish rider and the British Tom Sagar. Tough race, driver in very cold weather conditions, but with beautiful sceneries: "Classical" enduro. And all drivers appreciated. The enduro race begun, and at 03.00 PM Fabio Fasola signed the race departure with the Italian flag, in the pure tradition of Hell's Gate. Once again a very thrilling time, when the best specialists of the extreme enduro fight in order to get the best position in the first turn. Blasuziak makes it, shot as a bullet from the start, leaving everybody behind. He literally flies, correct, because at the end of the first lap it was clear to everyone who will be the winner of Hell's Gate 2008: Tadeusz Blasuziak , extreme enduro 2008 rookie of the year, the new David Knight rival. The first lap said who could have been the winner, but didn't clear how strong could be the lesson for the challengers. Blasuziak was fast, without pushing too hard, though he was still studying the track, which he was discovering for the first time. In order to verify the amount of pressure given from Blasuziak to all other riders, we'll have to wait until the end of second lap, where the Polish driver took part of all his energies and talent. Nothing to do for the competitors. An infernal rhythm, the others couldn't stand it. Little by little the toughest competitors of the very beginning (Simone Albergoni and Antoine Meo, the brightest examples) started to feel the fatigue and to suffer Tadeusz's rhythm, excellent player of refined technique. Really a very high rhythm the Polish one, forcing Fasola to break up with one of the traditions of the race: "Keeping going on like this, the race will finish before it gets dark!", he said True. The particularly clever weather conditions not even comparables to the previous Hell's Gate conditions, Blasuziak finished even before the Dark. Even the final impressive Hell's Peak couldn't stop his sequence, terminating with a fastest race time. Three minutes later, another strong indication from the drivers who decided to participate with a trial motorbike. Here is coming Graham Jarvis, British driver who definitely underperformed with an enduro motorbike. Paul Bolton, another British driver arrived right after, then Tom Sagar, British as well. At the fifth place, finally, Simone Albergoni is classified as first of the Italians. Then Piero Sembenini, clasified sixth, with a trial motorbike as well. Almost with half an hour of delay from the winning KTM, the last duel of the day, between Cyril Despres and Mario Rinaldi, went in favour of the Dakar winner for just a breath of air. Prizes are a KTM EXC450R for Blasuziak , a KTM 65 for Jarvis and a refined N.D.C. leather bag for Bolton. Then finally the night, with the final gala ceremony signing a gorgeous and thrilling 5th edition of Hell's Gate.
Factory rider Taddy Blasuziak of Poland put in a superb start-to-finish race on Saturday to take victory in the Hell's Gate Extreme Enduro event in Il Ciocco, in Italy's northern Tuscany. Taddy, who has been making a huge impression on the international extreme Enduro calendar in the winter months in his first season as a fully-fledged KTM factory rider took the holeshot and led through the entire race. Going into the last lap, Britain's Graham Jarvis, riding a trial bike had narrowed the gap to the KTM extreme star to about one minute. Then Taddy turned up the gas and crossed the finish line with a very comfortable margin. Tom Sagar fourth KTM factory rider Tom Sagar finished fourth after a tough battle with third placed Paul Bolton. Cyril Despres, KTM Red Bull rally rider used Hell's Gate to keep his hand in after the disappointment of the cancellation of the Dakar Rally and finished in seventh place. U.S. MX KTM rider Mike Metzger got a taste of European riding in the morning but failed to qualify for the main event, which started at 3.00 p.m. and concluded about 30 minutes after nightfall. Another trophy for Taddy's collection Taddy now adds the Hell's Gate trophy to his collection, which includes the victory in the Hare Scramble at the 2007 Erzberg Rodeo, a result that saw him elevated to factory rider status for KTM, the coveted Last Man Standing in Texas, victory in the final round of the AMA Endurocross series in Las Vegas and at the RodeoX Endurocross in Linz, Austria. The Polish rider also finished second overall behind the mighty Knighter (KTM's David Knight) in the just concluded 3-race series Enduro Indoor World Cup and in "The Tough One" in the UK in January. Taddy, who has been away from Poland since December will now take a break from competition. He admitted that he was looking forward to resting his wrists, which he said had become sore during recent competition. Conditions for this year's Hell's Gate were tough. Unlike earlier years, the ground was not frozen and with rivers running low it the track surface was also dry and very hard.
Tom and Greg travelled to the region of Tuscany to compete in the 4th running of Fabio Fasola's "Hells Gate" extreme enduro, this would be their first appearance at this event. This one day enduro is held on a private estate of the Il Ciocco Hotel resort using a small wooded mountain and makes use of two circuits of about 50 minutes in length. Both Tom and Greg started in confident mood, prior to the race they had been training this week in Italy with Taddy Baluzsiak. The first part of the race is of a traditional Enduro format, 4 laps and 3 special tests, the top 30 riders would be seeded through to the afternoons Hells Gate Race. This first half is quite fast but mixed with a few technical sections, tight time controls, a long 10 minute+ cross country test and icy conditions which claimed both Tom and Greg. But both riders qualified well despite taking it easy after their falls, Tom finished 3rd overall and 1st E3 rider and Greg took 2nd position in E2 behind Baluzsiak. The main event is the Hells Gate extreme race which starts at 3.00pm on a Tarmac grid with the bikes being lined up Road Race fashion in order of the mornings results, the result is decided on the first rider to compete the 4 laps and climb the final Hells Gate hill. Tom made a great start and held 3rd position for most of the first lap behind Taddy and Antoine Meo but crashed over the bars in one stream, he damaged the bike and lost several places as he repaired some damage. After remounting he worked back up to 4th but just couldn't quite catch 3rd, although he finished only seconds behind Paul Bolton at the finish. Greg was also having a good ride, despite a bad start he worked his way through the field into the top 10, there are several check points each lap and if you are more than 30 minutes behind the leader then you are disqualified, Greg started the final lap just 23 minutes behind leader , but Baluzsiak was feeling some pressure from Trials bike mounted Graham Jarvis and increased his pace considerably , this effectively meant that at the final check point only 5km from the finish Gregg arrived outside the 30 minute cut off and was eliminated, much to his disappointment as all the hard work had been done and he was on his way to a 9th place finish. Results:- 1. Taddy Baluziak KTM Factory 250 EXC 2. Graham Jarvis Sherco Trials 3. Paul Bolton Honda 250CRF 4. Tom Sagar KTM Factory/D3 300 EXC 5. Simone Albergoni UFO Corse 250 Yamaha 6. ??????????? Beta Rev 3 Trials 7. Cyril Despres Red Bull KTM Factory 250 EXC 8. Mario Rinaldi Husaberg 450 FE 9. No more finishers Next Event:- February 17th Rd 1 GBXC Cross country race, UK
This race is absolutely awesome and the Italians certainly are the most enthusiastic people I know when it comes to bikes! The day is split into two, with the morning race being a 'traditional' Time Card Enduro which started at 7am and finished at 1pm for Wayne. Now that's 6 hours on rough Italian terrain, just to get you warmed up! Whoever wins this gets 'pole position' on the tarmac grid for the main afternoon race and only the top 30 from the morning race qualify. Then if any of the 30 riders fall behind the leader by more than 40 minutes they are pulled out of the race. Wayne qualified 4th which was cool because it meant he would be on the front row with Fabrizio Dini, Paul Eddy and Alessandro Botturi. Also worth mentioning that KB Racing GG rider, Paul Bolton qualified 14th which is his first time card Enduro was impressive.
At the end of the race, the riders have to get up the final hill which is simply waaaaaay too steep even for Trials bikes, so its left to simple brute strength and manpower to drag, push the bike and rider to the podium at the top. We saw the headlamp and heard the deep throaty bark of the 300 gasser clear its throat at the bottom and then Wayne let rip, getting a fair way up before myself and the Lancashire posse jumped on him and dragged him to the top to WIN Hells Gate ! Bigtime and yes I was emotional...my best bud and my bike had won ! Also congrats to Paul Bolton who finished 11th after being pulled out of the race on his last lap due to a over heating Gasser....Paul will definitely return next year a little more prepared and has gained valuable experience at his first Hells Gate. Well Done pal. Next event, no idea...rest needed! Special thanks to Factory Kev for preparing the bike and Roy Kerr from Traitech for providing the best lights ! Also thanks to the Italian GG Importer for send their mechanic 'Tommaso' for helping too. Hell’s Gate MG.K-Vis 2007 Results Qualifying Final Press release Archive.
Knighter makes it three wins from three starts at Hell’s Gate KTM factory rider David Knight claimed his third consecutive victory at the Hell’s Gate race in Italy, winning the ’06 event by three-and-a-half minutes despite losing the use of all his lights during the closing stages of the event. Topping the qualifying morning race comfortably David then collected 8’000 Euro for winning Hell’s Gate ’06. With much of the course used for the morning’s qualifying enduro covered in sheet ice, Knighter simply did as much as he had to do in order to place himself in pole position for the start of the main Hell’s Gate race. Focused on simply remaining upright and not damaging his bike David aggravated an injury to his left ankle, which caused him to slow his pace further during the later stages of the race. Leading the Hell’s Gate race from the start, Knighter then dropped to second behind fellow Brit Wayne Braybrook after making a mistake in the first river section. Happy to remain in second during the first lap, David then returned to the front of the race early on the second lap. Pushing hard during the second and third laps, as day turned to night things started to get interesting for David. Finding that first he couldn’t get his main lights to work, he soon found out that his back-up lighting system also wasn’t working. Having to ride on with just his helmet lights those too soon stopped working leaving David to fend for himself with no lights. Managing to borrow a helmet that was fitted with a small light David managed to cautiously make his way towards the final Hell’s peak hill. Failing in his first attempt to get up the steep climb, on his second go David reached the safety of the many enthusiastic spectators, who pulled him to the top of the climb. On reaching the top David was awarded 8’000 Euro and secured a hat trick of Hell’s Gate victories. David’s next event is the first round of the ’06 British Enduro Championship held on Sunday February 26.
“The main race started well. I lead for a little while but I was struggling for grip in the first rock section and Wayne passed me. I just wanted to ride steady and not use too much energy. I could see Wayne ahead of me so I knew he wasn’t getting away from me too much. I stopped for fuel every lap. Because Wayne had to stop to change his gear lever I managed to pull away a bit. I pushed on hard on the second lap and then at the end of the third lap I think I had about a 10 or 15 minute lead over Wayne. “The last lap was hard. Because of the altitude and the cold my bike started to run a bit weird – it seemed to lose the bottom end power because the jetting was of. Bashing the exhaust didn’t help either. My main light didn’t work so I put my second lights on, which also didn’t work. I could still see at that point but half way around the last lap, in the forestry, it was really dark. I put my helmet lights on but they were pointing in the wrong place. I stopped to adjust them but about five minutes later they went out. I had no lights at all then. I stopped to try and get them going but I couldn’t fix it. I couldn’t see a thing. I got to a nasty uphill, ran someone over that I didn’t see, and then had to swap my helmet with someone who had a helmet with a light. It wasn’t much good but I was able to stop and look at the really hard parts of the track. “On the final hill I just nailed it but had to have a second go because I hit some tree stumps. On my second attempt I got far enough to get helped and then I just worked with the spectators who pulled me up the final part of the hill. It was a simple problem with my lights, but it made things difficult for me. “It’s great to win the event for the third time, but this year’s race was the hardest. The ice, the cold, the altitude and then losing my lights right when I needed them, made it really hard. I certainly had to work for the win this year.” Results – Camel Hell’s Gate ‘06
Hell's Gate 2005 Hell' s Gate 2004 KTM News
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Taddy Blasuziak wins Hell's Gate 2008.by
Fabio Fasola.
Taddy Blasuziak opens Hell's Gate and blasts his way through KTM
KTM press release
D3 Racing - Hells Gate , iL Ciocco, Italy
Wayne Braybrook (GAS GAS UK) has just won the
infamous 'HELLS GATE' Enduro in Italy! Report
by John Shirt Jr
Then
the afternoon race starts at 3.30pm and its the first rider to complete 4
laps wins....about 4 hours! Without David Knight present, and Wayne
finishing second to Knighter for the past two years and second to him at
the Last Man Standing and second to him at The Tough One, you can safely
say he was favorite....however the pressure was intense for Wayne because
of this and also because we knew Paul Eddy was well up for it! They
set off and Eddy lead with Wayne second. Botturi managed to pass them both
and lead most of the first lap. I was in hot pursuit on a Trials bike so i
could get to as many places as possible to help, drag and push Wayne
through some of the real bad bits of the course, but as i said the
Italians are so 'mad for it' they jump in and help as well. Wayne was
eager to get away from the start but a few small crashes allowed Botturi
and Eddy to get away a little. The second time i saw Wayne on the first
lap he looked white as a ghost and he shouted 'ive bust ma finger' ! not
stopping he raced on. This worried me bigtime so i racing down the road to
meet him further round and he stopped to show me that he had dislocated
his little finger....NOT GOOD! He carried on whilst i tried to find a
doctor which i found but it was no good because all i can say in italian
is 'Ciao' ! Whilst i was flapping with the Italian Doc...I heard a Gasser
revving up the road.....BRAYBROOK leads....go on pal! To say Wayne is
tough is an understatement and as i know him so well i knew he would just
'knuckle down' and race on! He then basically slowly but surely pulled a
lead from Eddy who had passed Botturi and was comfortably second.
Camel
Hell’s Gate Enduro ’06, Il Ciocco, Lucca, Italy
David
Knight: “The morning race went well - it was just a bit dodgy in places
because of the ice. I didn’t know how tight it was going to be on time
so I pushed on during the first lap, which was good fun. The special test
was really slippery – I was just trying to get round without crashing
and wrecking myself or the bike. I put a good time in on the second lap
but it got so slippery on the going. I hurt my ankle, which caused me a
few problems, so after that I was trying just to protect it as best I
could.