From Erzbergrodeo XV
EISERNERZ, AUSTRIA -- "Tougher than anything I've ever ridden," were Taddy Blazusiak's first words after reaching the Red Bull arch inside the Erzberg-Arena on Sunday.
It was definitely the hardest Hare Scramble of all time and Blazusiak crowned his Erzbergrodeo success with an unbelievable margin of more than 40 minutes over second placed Briton Graham Jarvis (Sherco). Jarvis had to start the Red Bull Hare Scramble out of third row and managed to overtake 114 other riders on his way to the podium.
BMW factory rider Andreas Lettenbichler from Germany piloted his G450X to a third place finish, and even though he had no mechanical problems this year, Lettenbichler had to go far beyond all physical borders to reach the finish line.
Twenty-one-year-old Cory Graffunder (CAN, KTM) proved once again his riding abilities and placed a career best fifth at the Iron Giant.
Out of the 500 riders who started at 12:00am, only 21 brave athletes made it to the finish within the four hours race time. Considering the prolongued and dramatically selective race track, the high temperatures and the ammount of high-profile riders in the starting-grid, it's plain to see that these 21 riders have put their profile on the top of the world's offroad racing scene.
Trials superstar Dougie Lampkin (UK, Beta) had to call it quits at the infamous "Gerichtsgraben" section before he could reach Checkpoint 17 out of 20. The 12-time Trials World Champion collapsed because of total exhaustion and had to be rescued by helicopter. Race director Karl Katoch immediately stopped the riders behind Lampkin to secure the rescue-mission and then re-started the race from this section.
Last year's third place finisher Paul Bolton (UK, KTM) also had to quit his race due to exhaustion before CP 15.
Brothers Ben and Dan Hemingway from Leeds, UK made up for quite a sensation by finishing fourth and seventh at their first ever Erzbergrodeo entry.
Results
1. Taddy Blazusiak (POL, KTM) 1:41:46
2. Graham Jarvis (UK, Sherco) 2:22:05
3. Andreas Lettenbichler (GER, BMW) 2:25:17
4. Ben Hemingway (UK, Gas Gas) 3:27:48
5. Cory Graffunder (CAN, KTM) 3:37:50
6. Rory Mead (NZL, Yamaha) 3:38:02
7. Dan Hemingway (UK, KTM) 3:54:24
8. Chris Birch (NZL, KTM) 3:55:01
9. Gerhard Forster (GER, BMW) 3:58:21
10. Kyle Redmond (USA, Yamaha) 4:08:16
11. Mark Jackson (UK, KTM) 4:08:49
12. Melchior Faja Beltran (ESP, Gas Gas) 4:12:43
13. Erich Brandauer (AUT, Husaberg) 4:14:45
14. Piero Sembenini (ITA, Gas Gas) 4:17:26
15. Jade Gutzeit (RSA, BMW) 4:19:05
16. Darryl Curtis (RSA, KTM) 4:21:21
17. Ralf Scheidhauer (GER, KTM) 4:28:00
18. Andrew Reeves (IRL, KTM) 4:30:39
19. Armin Falk (AUT, KTM) 4:32:32
20. Martin Craven (UK, KTM) 4:39:33
21. Louwrens Mahoney (RSA, KTM) 4:47:25
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