McGrath, Pa$tlana
Suruiue
loughest Bace
I
lf the first
one
didn't
get you, the
serond
or third one would
(unless
you're Dovid Knight, ol .ourre).
World Enduro
Champion
David
Knight showed once again why he is considered the
world's best extreme enduro rider by claiminS a convincing win at the I 2th running of the
Erzberg Rodeo Red Bull Hare
Scramble
in Eisenerz, Austria.
A few American riders
competed
in the Rodeo
this
year,
including a
pair
that
you might
have heard of
-
Jeremy
McGrath and ?avis Pastrana.
14cGrath
finished
the hare scrambles some two hours and I 5 minutes behind winner
Knight
having ftaveled
to
Erzberg for the first time.
"l
came to Erzberg to challenge mysell which is exactly what I did," said rhe seven-time
Supercross
Champion.
"l
didn't really know what to expect. Finishing third in the
prologue
was
great.
"My
stan wasn't so
good,
because I
got
stopped on the first hill," McGrath said of his
ride.
"Then
I had to turn around and attack the third hill for a second time, which
put
me
way behind the
leaders. The
big
rock
sectigns
were
iust
ridiculous -
they were so
hard.
After the first set of rocks I had to dive into a tree to
get
stopped on a ridi.ulously steep
downhill."
No one would have blamed McGrath for throwinS an the towel, but that's not his style.
"l
didn't ever think about
givinS
up, it was always my
goal
to
iust
keep soldiering on toward
the
fihish,'' Mccrath said.
"l
had
to stop
and rest in
a
few
spots, but
overall it was
goo'd-"
Mccrath went on to say,
"lt's
the hardest race l've ever done on a motorcycle.''
Returning to Erzberg, having failed to linish the event in
'05,
was Pastrana, who rode a
Suzuki
RM250- Wanting
to
simply finish the event, as well as beat Mccrath, Pastrana
achieved
both
his
goals
and then vowed never to return to the event again.
"l
couldn't have asked for anything better," Pastrana said.
''l
linished the race, finished
ahead of
lYcGrath
and
had the lead of the race for a liftle bit as well, so I achieved every-
thing that
I wanted to.''
The Erzberg race actually consists of two races
-
a hillclimb for twin-cylinder bikes, and
a hare scrambles
race -
and takes
place
over a
four-day
period,
l'4ay 25-28- The hare
scrambles,
however, is
the
premier
event and
is
considered by
many as
the
totrghest one-
day off-road event in the world.
Americans
Jimmy
Lewis and
Ryan Dudek
both
placed
in the top l0 of the hillclimb, with
Lewis
finishing
sixth and
Dudek lfth.
tonly Edmunds
{Top}
Jcremy M(Grqth never looked so
hoppy
"iust
to finish." But mony conrid-
cr thc Erzbcrg
Rodco Rcd Bull Hors
S
