For the second year in succession, an Italian bike has won the world's most famous, gruelling and spectacular hill climb event in the mountains of Colorado (USA).
Davey Durelle repeated last year's victory by winning the 2009 edition of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on his twin cylinder Aprilia SXV 5.5, setting the fastest absolute time and leaving bikes from higher classes behind.
The Italian rider Giuliano Covezzi secured fourth place, earning himself the title of “Rookie of the Year”.
Aprilia SXV 5.5, the twin cylinder supermoto that has revolutionised the off-road segment, blew away the competition to win the legendary Pikes Peak International Hill Climb for the second year in succession.
Ridden by the American Davey Durelle – who also won the 2008 edition in the saddle of the Venetian twin – the Aprilia SXV 5.5 once again proved to be unbeatable even by bigger engined machines from higher classes.
The second history-making win by the Noale based marque was made complete by an extraordinary fourth place by the other Aprilia rider, the Italian Giuliano Covezzi, in the up to 750cc class: a result that earned him the title of “Rookie of the Year”, awarded by the race organisers of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
Crowning this year's success for Aprilia was Landers Seviers' sixth place in the Supermoto class on an Aprilia RXV 4.5.
“We were confident about our chances this year, encouraged by Davey's extraordinary success during the last edition, and we were not disappointed”, said Rick Panettieri, Brand Manager Aprilia for the US. “With the success of this edition, the second in a row, Aprilia SXV has proven to be the bike to beat, with its revolutionary and powerful twin cylinder engine and its outstanding chassis”.
These three extraordinary successes reconfirm Aprilia's supremacy in one of the world's toughest and most spectacular races. Pikes Peak is an unparalleled proving ground for both man and machine. A hair raising climb from 2,835 to over 4,300 metres in altitude and 20 kilometres long, on both tar and – during the final section – dirt (the legendary Devil’s Playground), up one of the highest mountains in the United States. 156 heart stopping curves at the edge of a sheer precipice, side by side with the clouds.
The legendary "Race to the Clouds" is competed each year in midsummer in Colorado. It is unlike any other race in the world and a great celebration of motorsports. Now in its 87th edition, this is one of the racing world's oldest and most epic events, with every possible kind of vehicle taking part: rally cars and 4x4 off roaders with over 1,000 horsepower and trucks with almost 3,000 horsepower. Even motorbikes are admitted, as are quads and sidecars, all powered by the most extreme and highly tuned engines.
The Aprilia SXV 5.5 supermoto is a concentrated package of technology enclosed in an ultra-stiff frame consisting of a tubular steel trellis and pressed aluminium side plates, powered by an innovative, powerful, compact and incredibly light 77° V-twin engine. Dominating the circuits in the world Supermoto championship, where Aprilia has won 5 world titles to date, the SXV boasts class beating chassis solutions, with a variable cross section alloy swingarm and premium componentry.