KTM celebrated its seventh consecutive win at this year’s Red Bull Harescramble when Taddy Blazusiak etched his name into the Erzberg Rodeo history books by clinching his fifth consecutive victory in the world’s toughest one day Enduro race where only nine out of 1898 riders made it to the finish.

This year, the Brother Broadlink KTM’s South African contingent was lead full steam ahead by the experienced Darryl Curtis on his 300 EXC. With nine Erzberg Rodeos under his belt, the multiple South African National Champion set the standard for his teammates when he fought his way into tenth place overall in 2010. Curtis was just one checkpoint from the chequered flag when he got time barred this year at check point 19 (out of 20), after he had fought through Carl’s Diner and was so close to the finish line.

“Erzberg has now reached its limit, the course was un ride able this year and only the world’s best trials riders were able to make the finish.We tried our best, but time eventually caught up with us.” ,said a disappointed Curtis.

His team mate Riaan van Niekerk put his expert Enduro experience to good use, but despite his top fifteen start, the talented rider on his KTM 300 XC-W fell down a steep off camber in the forest where he lost a lot of time. Brother Broadlink KTM team mate Scott Scheepers and fellow South African competitor Adrian Werner helped Van Niekerk getting back on track and Scheepers and Van Niekerk were riding together until they got time barred. It was truly amazing to see the camaraderie amongst the South Africans.

“For us as South Africans the wet conditions at Erzberg made it just that much harder. This in my opinion was probably the hardest Erzberg so far and Taddy agreed with us on that. The weather made it extremely difficult, with more pushing and more sliding which all took up time, too much time at the end of the day which made me miss the time bar. I was worried about ‘Carl`s Diner’ that was twice as long this year and tried to save my energy for all the no help zones, but in the end that was the ‘easy’ part. The forest sections were the ones that got the better of me. It was so slippery and steep in places that nobody could do it without any help. I was so glad to see all of the South African supporters in the forest to assist us. A big thanks to the KTM family and supporters, they are the ones that makes it all worth it and make us come back every year.”, said Van Niekerk.

Fighting their way through blood, sweat and tears, the South African soldiers threw everything they had into challenging the formidable Red Bull Harescramble, and emerged with pride firmly in place. The riders return home with some great memories, and a burning passion to return in their hearts.