June 21, 2006

Erzberg 2006



KTM factory and SCOTT team riders David Knight, Cyril Despres and Giovanni Sala claimed three of the top four places at the second ever running of the twin-cylinder class race at the 12th Erzberg rodeo, staged in Eisenerz, Austria, where David Knight claimed an impressive win with his new 950 Super Enduro R, ahead of Finn Simo Kirssi with Despres claiming third and Sala fourth last friday.

Reigning Enduro 3 world champion and KTM Enduro Factory Team Farioli rider David Knight claimed victory in the twin-cylinder class of the ‘06 Erzberg Rodeo to go with his winning ride in the Hare Scramble race at last year’s event. Competing on KTM’s 950 Super Enduro R for the first time ever, having given the Austrian manufacturer’s new 250 EXC-F a winning UK debut just four days earlier, Knight finished two seconds ahead of Simo Kirssi, posting a time of 8 minutes, 52 seconds on the first of his two timed runs.

Backing up Knighter’s fantastic result was the fact that Dakar winner Cyril Despres and former five-time World Enduro Champion Giovanni Sala also secured great finishes. Placing third, having spent two months developing the race version of the 950 Super Enduro R, Cyril Despres posted a time of 9:02.38 on his first run up the mountain. Finishing in fourth Sala’s quickest run was just six seconds slower, which was good enough to give the Italian a well deserved fourth place finish.



David Knight: “Winning the Red Bull Hare Scramble as well as the twin-cylinder race has made it the perfect weekend at Erzberg for me. I was a lot more confident going into this year’s event because I knew what to expect and the race went really well. I missed the jump at the start because another rider started his bike too early and I looked across to see what was happening. I still managed to get a good start though, which was good. I got roosted with rocks by Werner Muller on the second hill so I went wide on the third hill, hit a hole, lost all my speed and had to go back to the bottom again to get another run at it.
“I managed to get back passed a load of the riders that had passed me without too many problems and then got roosted with rocks by Giovanni Sala on the 950. I got told then that I was in third so I settled down a bit then. I knew that Travis Pastrana was ahead of me but I passed him when he got stuck on some rocks. I only had Muller to get passed then and I was shouting and shouting at him to let me passed because his bike was just firing rocks at me all the time.
“Once I got passed I had no problems at all and just tried my best not to damage the bike. I was told that I had a good lead so I just rode steadily to the finish. It was definitely easier than last year’s race but I enjoyed it much more as well.
“Winning both classes was what I wanted to do but winning the twin class having not seen the bike until my first run up the mountain was great. I’m just pleased to have been able to defend my Hare Scramble title and make it a great weekend for KTM.”

Cyril Despres: “I’m really very happy with not only my result here at Erzberg but the results of the KTM riders in the 2-cylinder class — it has been a fantastic success. Two months ago Kurt Nicoll asked me to be in charge of the development of the 950 Super Enduro R race bike and the team of technicians and mechanics that I have been working with have been so enthusiastic about building this great bike, I am really proud of what we have achieved. My race was really nice. I am simply happy to be a part of the official KTM team but I am not too worried about my result, although finishing in third is great. I thought that my second run was my fastest but it was actually six seconds slower, which was a surprise. The course was really nice because there were plenty of places where you could open the throttle and really enjoy what the 950 Super Enduro R can do.”

Results: Top 4 Erzberg Rodeo, twin-cylinder class

1. David Knight, GB. SCOTT 8:52.27
2. Simo Kirssi, FIN. 8:54.21
3. Cyril Despres, FRA. SCOTT 9:02.38
4. Giovanni Sala, ITA. SCOTT 9:08.26

Results: Top 3 Erzberg Hare Scramble,

1. David Knight, GB. SCOTT 1:17:33
2. Andreas Lettenbichler, AUT. 1:26:21
3. Cyril Despres, FRA. SCOTT 1:27:33

For more information: www.ktm.com