ENDURO: HISTORICAL UNDERTAKING FOR PAGANON AND THE APRILIA RXV 4.5, THE FIRST TWIN IN HISTORY TO FINISH AT ERZBERG
After Antoine Letellier's (Aprilia RXV 5.5) fantastic double overall victory in the two days leading up to the Iron Road of the 2008 Erzberg Rodeo (the extreme Enduro race), Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia RXV 4.5) put the icing on the cake by finishing 12th in the Hare Scramble. It was the first time that a twin motorcycle reached the final finish line at the top of Mt. Erzberg. The fantastic weekend for Team Aprilia Off Road thus finished in the best way possible after Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5) won the European S1 Supermoto GP and Stefan Merriman (Aprilia RXV 5.5) enjoyed the same result in the Italian Enduro Championship.
Noale, May 26, 2008
Team Aprilia Off Road Enduro is heading home with its head held high following the 2008 Erzberg Rodeo, the extreme Enduro race. After Antoine Letellier (atop the RXV 5.5) dominated on both Friday and Saturday in the lead-up to the Erzberg Rodeo Iron Road, the official team from Noale was again a great protagonist on Sunday, May 25 in the highly feared finale of the race: the Hare Scramble, or better yet, the dizzying climb to the top of Mt. Erzberg.
Letellier was absent from the race (engaged in an event in Germany organized by the national importer), so the torch was passed to Nicolas Paganon. The Frenchmen finished 12th with his Aprilia RXV 450, making history since never before in the 14 years of the event has a twin motorcycle reached the finish line of what is considered the queen race of all extreme competitions.
Just think that of the 500 riders who qualified, only 36 of them (from 14 different nations and three continents) crossed the finish line. And it was all done under the awestruck crowd of 32,000 spectators.
Thus ended a fantastic weekend for Team Aprilia Off Road; the best possible finish after the victories of Thierry Van Den Bosch (Aprilia SXV 4.5) in the European S1 Supermoto Gp and Stefan Merriman's (Aprilia RXV 5.5) overall victory in Colleferro in the Italian Enduro Championship.
Erzberg 2008 – Final Classification of the Hare Scramble
1. Tadeusz Blazusiak (Ktm);
2. Andreas Lettenbichler (Bmw);
3. Paul Bolton (Honda);
4. Cyril Despres (Ktm);
5. Kyle Redmond (Ktm);
6. Geoff Aaron (Ktm);
7. Gerhard Forster (Bmw);
8. Chris Birch (Ktm);
9. Juha Salminen (Ktm);
10. Mark Jackson (Ktm);
11. Ralf Scheidhauer (Ktm);
12. Nicolas Paganon (Aprilia RXV 4.5);
13. Darryl Curtis (Ktm);
14. Edward Jones (Ktm);
15. Rene Dietrich (Ktm);
16. Alex Antor (Ktm);
17. Martin Craven (Ktm);
18. Cory Graffunder (Ktm);
19. Andrew Reeves (Ktm);
20. Roland Sailer (Ktm).