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Erzberg Rodeo

Coordinates: 47°31′30″N 14°54′42″E / 47.52500°N 14.91167°E / 47.52500; 14.91167
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Erzberg Rodeo
CategoryMotorcycle sport
Motorcycle racing
CountryAustria
Inaugural season1995
Riders1,500
Official websitewww.erzbergrodeo.at//
Start quarry

The Erzberg Rodeo is an Austrian motorcycle enduro event started in 1995 and held annually in May or June, run on ore. It is the largest of its kind in Europe.[1]

The Erzberg Rodeo is part of the Red Bull Hard Enduro Series, together with Red Bull Romaniacs, Red Bull Minas Riders, Red Bull Megawatt, Red Bull Sea to Sky, and Roof of Africa. In 2018 it joined the World Enduro Super Series, which became the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship in 2021.

Races

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The four-day event consists of the following races:

  • Thursday: "2 - cylinder elite class", two runs (2005 was the first, with about 60 starters) on the prologue route.

Since 2008, the Rodeo-X Endurocross competition, instead of the elite class, has been held on Thursday. The 2-cylinder machines start in the normal "Iron Road Prologue" in class "Desert Bomber".

During the event the Rodeo-X shows some of the world's best motocross riders doing spectacular stunts and breakneck jumps. Since 2009 has been part of this program and on Thursday, another side event, the so-called Rocket Ride. In this steep slope race, which is held on one of the slopes of the Hare Scramble start, 300 riders start the 3-part slope to climb in record time. The top 48 riders in the qualification round then go to a knockout system in groups of 6 riders, each of which the top 3 to qualify for the next round at the end of the Rocket Ride Champion determined.

  • Friday and Saturday: one run of the "Iron Road Prologue" on a 13 km long gravel path to the vicinity of the summit. The prologue is also the qualifying for Sunday. Here several classes start: Desert Bomber (multi-cylinder bikes), street bikes, scooters and mopeds, women's class until 2004 Standard Singles (street-legal single-cylinder enduro) and since 2004 Quads. The starting field is limited to 1,500 participants. The starters go in 20 to 40 seconds interval between 9.00 and about 17:00 on track.

Since 2008, competitors from over 40 countries competed.

  • Sunday 12:00 to 16:00: the highlight of the "Red Bull Hare Scramble". The top 500 of the prologue are eligible to start on Sunday. The route is changed every year. For the 35 km long route, the winners usually require between one and a half and two hours. Of the 500 starters, rarely more than 30 come within the four-hour-long race to the finish.

History

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For the economically weak region, the Erzberg Rodeo is a growing source of income and is supported not only by the local politics but also the Austrian state of Styria.

Karl Katoch is the organizer of this international event and is also considered as its founder.

2015: The 2015 hare scramble took an interesting turn with the addition of several new difficult areas of the course. A section known as Carl's Dinner was revamped to be longer and more difficult, as well as the addition of a new impassable section, known simply as Downtown. A section where riders were forced down into a ravine and were forced to climb a very steep muddy hill. First to arrive was Graham Jarvis after passing Walker shortly before due to a blown radiator on Walkers bike. Second to arrive to the new Downtown section was Alfredo Gomez who had also passed Walker for the same reason. After a while Walker was able to let his bike cool down and ascend a hill he was previously stuck on, to which he then met Jarvis and Gomez at Downtown and was shortly followed by Andreas Lettenbichler. After getting stuck as well, the four riders and friends banded together to ensure they all made it up the hill, each one helping the others pull their bikes up. When all four reached the top, they had very little time to finish, roughly 20 minutes, as the friends made their way coasting in celebration to the finish where they all took the podium with quick succession.

Hare Scramble winners

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Year Winner Country Bike
1995 Alfie Cox  South Africa KTM
1996 Christian Pfeiffer  Germany GasGas
1997 Christian Pfeiffer (2)  Germany GasGas
1998 Giovanni Sala  Italy KTM
1999 Stefano Passeri  Italy KTM
2000 Christian Pfeiffer (3)  Germany GasGas
2001 Juha Salminen  Finland KTM
2002 Cyril Despres  France KTM
2003 Cyril Despres (2)  France KTM
2004 Christian Pfeiffer (4)  Germany GasGas
2005 David Knight  United Kingdom KTM
2006 David Knight (2)  United Kingdom KTM
2007 Tadeusz Błażusiak  Poland KTM
2008 Tadeusz Błażusiak (2)  Poland KTM
2009 Tadeusz Błażusiak (3)  Poland KTM
2010 Tadeusz Błażusiak (4)  Poland KTM
2011 Tadeusz Błażusiak (5)  Poland KTM
2012 Jonny Walker  United Kingdom KTM
2013 Graham Jarvis  United Kingdom Husaberg
2014 Jonny Walker (2)  United Kingdom KTM
2015 Jonny Walker (3), Graham Jarvis (2), Alfredo Gomez, Andreas Lettenbichler  United Kingdom  Spain  Germany KTM Husqvarna
2016 Graham Jarvis (3)  United Kingdom Husqvarna
2017 Alfredo Gomez (2)  Spain KTM[2]
2018 Graham Jarvis (4)  United Kingdom Husqvarna
2019 Graham Jarvis (5)  United Kingdom Husqvarna
2022 Manuel Lettenbichler [de]  Germany KTM
2023[3][4] Manuel Lettenbichler (2)  Germany KTM
2024 Manuel Lettenbicher [de]  Germany KTM

Source: Results of Red Bull Erzberg Rodeo[5] [6] 47°31′30″N 14°54′42″E / 47.52500°N 14.91167°E / 47.52500; 14.91167

Records

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Most finishers: 51 (1999)

Fewest finishers: 5 (2015)

Most wins: 5 (Tadeusz Błażusiak, Graham Jarvis)

Youngest finisher: Manuel Lettenbichler - 16 years old (2014)

Youngest winner: Manuel Lettenbichler - 24 years old (2022)

Most wins by manufacturer: KTM - 19

References

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  1. ^ "Enduro News - News".
  2. ^ "Erzbergrodeo".
  3. ^ redbullerzbergrodeo. "Results Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2023". redbullerzbergrodeo. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023.
  4. ^ enduro21. "2023 Erzbergrodeo final results – complete finishers list". enduro21. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023. Retrieved June 13, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Results. "Red Bull Erzbergrodeo".
  6. ^ redbullerzbergrodeo. "Results Archiv". redbullerzbergrodeo. Archived from the original on June 13, 2023.
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