[19.02.13]

Husqvarna racing News

SOLID 6TH PLACE FOR LETTI AT THE HELL'S GATE

02/18/2013

129 international riders including the world's elite showed up and were facing unexpected conditions. It had been snowing massively in the days before the race - which is not unusual for the higher sections of the race in the hills of the Tuscany. But still the amount of snow has hardly been experienced before in this area. Those conditions made the qualification laps in the morning quite tricky to ride since the snow had started to melt and over night some passages turned into pure ice. Therefore Letti took it easy to avoid crashing on ice and saved some energy for the main event in the afternoon.

Coming in sixth in the qualification put him into the second starting row at the main event with a total number of 30 riders. After a good start Letti got trapped in an uphill losing his 4th position to his friends from the Trials days, Ben and Dan Hemingway. But with his built-in "never give up" mentality he managed to get back into the race. The combination of the snowy conditions, clutch problems and some crashes resulted in Letti being taken out of the race in the final lap in sixth position. If the gap on the leading rider, Graham Jarvis, is more than 30 minutes at one of the checkpoints, the officials will take riders out.

Having missed out on Tough One in January, Letti still ranks on ninth position after two races in the "Kings of Extreme Enduro" (KoEE). The KoEE is an unofficial Extreme Enduro world championship combining the 7 most relevant Extreme Enduro races.

Andreas Lettenbichler: "The morning was a good ride, not too technical but you had to take it easy. Especially after the first lap the track got really icy but I'm happy with the sixth place in qualifying. It was a classic enduro special test and due to the conditions they took out a couple of technically demanding parts. In the main race I've had a good start but struggled a bit in an uphill called 'Laghetto'. I was in 4th position but this was where the Hemingway brothers passed me. In the fourth and final lap I was facing some clutch problems and the engine stalled a couple of times so it cost some energy to keep going. I had a some crashes which increased the gap on Jarvis so I was pulled out of the race at the 'Cascata' section which is not too far away from the finish. While it's a bit sad not having reached the finish line at Hell's Peak overall I'm happy having finished in 6th place given the conditions."

Results: Hell's Gate 2013 Castelvecchio Pascoli, Tuscany, Italy:
1. Graham Jarvis (GB, Husaberg) 4 laps
2. Jonny Walker (GB, KTM) 12 minutes 17 second6s
3. Cody Webb (USA, Beta) 17:32
4. Alfredo Gomez (SP, Husaberg) 21:52
5. Ben Hemingway (GB, KTM) 29:28
6. Andreas Lettenbichler (D, Husqvarna) 1 lap
7. Michael Vukcevic (BE, Sherco) 2 laps
8. Diego Nicoletti (IT, KTM) 2 laps
9. Melcior Faja (SP, KTM) 2 laps
10. Xavi Galindo (SP, Husaberg) 2 laps

GREAT DEBUT FOR THE HUSQVARNA MX JUNIOR TEAM

02/18/2013

The season for the new Husqvarna MX Junior Team managed by Bud Racing started last weekend with the International motocross race in Valence, France.

Benoit Paturel on his Husqvarna TC250R raced in the MX2 class and was able to finish in fourth place of the day. This result bodes well for the rest of the season.

Paturel was right behind the world Championship riders Teillet, Nicholls and Febvre and first in the ranking of the riders who will participate in the European Championship.

For David Herbreteau the task to reach a good result was much more difficult as he had to start with his CR125 in the MX2 class which also includes the 250 4t riders. But the fifteen years old French stayed cool and finished his first race on a 125 in 25th place.

The next event for the Husqvarna MX Junior Team is scheduled for mid-March with the first round of the French Motocross Championship.