There a tranquil, picturesque little village in Italy named Castelvecchio Pascoli, located near Tuscany that is home to rolling hills and verdant forests. And probably a few orchards to boot. But most dirt bikers will know the area for its infamous Hell's Gate extreme enduro event.
The year 2011 marks the sixth year of the event, and was attended by 119 of the best dirt bike riders in the world, including the likes of UK-born trials champion Dougie Lampkin.
The event starts early, 7.00am, and tasks riders with five qualifying laps of the Hell's Gate course, which is enough to cause most riders to collapse in a heap and shiver for several hours while curled up in the foetal position.
They don't call it extreme enduro for nothing.
Riders must navigate an extremely rocky, and at times an icy, trail that wends its way up and over a peak, and repeated laps of the incredibly challenging course takes its toll on riders, with several crashing out and breaking their bikes and their bodies.
After the qualifiers, the finals take place over another five laps, and on average around 10 riders make it to the finish each year, kindly known as Hell's Peak.
This year, only two riders made it the finish, both from the UK, with 35-year-old Graham Jarvis (Husaberg, UK) winning the event, and Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas, UK) arriving 25 minutes later at the finish.
The event's doyen and enduro legend, Fabio Fasola, had to shorten the final race from six to five laps in order to ensure at least one rider made it to Hell's Peak.
Master Fasola (as he likes to be called) had this to say at the end of the Hell's Gate extreme enduro event: "There never was so much public to Hell's Gate, so many emotions and so much heart and passion! The Hell’s Gate celebrates the extreme enduro with an event where all the riders who had the strength to take part to it can be said to be the real brave [ones]! On the top of all of them, the solitary knight Graham Peter Jarvis!"
Results – Hell’s Gate 2011
Qualifying
1. Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) 41’31’’15
2. Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas) 42’27’’89
3. Xavier Galindo Arbones (Husaberg) 43’02’’18
4. Alessandro Botturi (Gas Gas) 43’12’’20
5. Maurizio Guerini (Husqvarna) 43’41’’73
6. Andreas Lettenbichler (Husqvarna) 44’13’’84
Finals
1. Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) 5 laps
2. Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas) 5 laps (+25 Minutes)
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