Aprilia of the week: something different

This week we have something different for the Aprilia of the week. It's a custom rs250 build by the texas based Mototek. The rs250 has been build for a customer with loads of trick(and very expensive) goodies. Including:

-radial ohlins forks
-brembo gp monoblock radial brakes
-brembo 320mm narrowband front discs
-forged 10 spoke marchesini wheels
-316cc mototek big bore
-arrow exhaust system
-poggiali 2004 race replica paintjob
-loads more

The whole build of the project can be seen on mototek's forums. Go check out the 14 page report of the build here The pics of the finished bike are on page 14.

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Aprilia signs 3 new riders for the Offroad Team

Great news from the Aprilia Enduro front. Stefan Merriman will be riding a RXV in the 2007 season. Merriman is a four times Enduro World Champion (2000, 2001, 2003, 2004), in 2005 Merriman finished second in the E2 class. In 2006, despite a period of bad luck, having won three races, he finished the season in third place, taking to 62 his total of Enduro World Championship wins.

Aprilia Brand Manager, Leo Francesco Mercanti, explains how Aprilia sees the agreement with Merriman. “After so much development work and experience building in 2006, the arrival of a world class champion like Merriman is an important step forward in our plans for 2007. Aprilia hopes to achieve ambitious results in Enduro racing and we are delighted that this amazing Australian, a living legend in the discipline, has chosen to race with one of our twin cylinder machines. I’m sure that Stefan Merriman will be a trump card in the Enduro racing game, and will give us a really competitive and successful season.”

Merriman is new in the Aprilia team with Nicolas Paganon and Luigi Seguy. The young French Paganon, born in 1982, has already won three French National Championship titles. In 2006 he was the rookie of the Enduro E2 World Championship placing himself 8th overall with 153 points. Seguy, born 1975, will ride the MXV in Motocross where he has been achieving great results in the Mx1 & Mx2 class.

Patrick van Lee finishes the Dakar 2007!

Today was the last day of the dakar and I'm glad to report that Patrick van Lee with his Aprilia RXV 450 made it to the finish! With a 75th place overall and a 25th place in the sport production class 250-450cc he's the first rider ever to finish the Dakar rally on an Aprilia. The RXV was very reliable and he finished the rally without ever changing the engine (wich the bigger teams do regulary). The last 2 days where very succesful with a 56th place on day 13 and a 48th place on day 14. Aprilia News congratulates Patrick and hopes to see him back next year on an Aprilia. And hopefully Aprilia will also compete in the dakar 2008 with an official Factory team.

Dakar 2007: Report after 12 Days

Patrick van Lee is still competing on an Aprilia in the Dakar 2007 rally. After 12 days he's gaining places in the rankings very fast. Patrick earns major respect because he's been riding around with 2 broken ribs for about a week now. The RXV 450 has been performing without any big problems the last 3 days. Patrick lost some time helping other motorcyclists and cars. He even gave Robbie Gordon with his Hummer some of his spare petrol so that Robbie could continue the rally.

Result
Stage 8 71
Stage 9 65
Stage 10 46

He's currently ranked 84th of 141 riders and number 30 in the super production 250cc-450cc class.

Aprilia of the week

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Dakar 2007: Report after 7 days

Patrick van Lee is fortunately still going strong on his RXV450 in the Dakar 2007 rally. Day 5 and 6 where pretty much without problems and Patrick made good progress climbing 42 places in the rankings. On day 7 he finished 99th because of a faulty starter motor. After getting some help from a fellow motorcyclist he could continue on the way to the finish.

Day Result Overall Ranking
Day 5 59th 154
Day 6 54th 132
Day 7 99th 122

Dakar 2007: Report after 4 days

As most if you probably know Dutch rider Patrick van Lee is competing in the Dakar 2007 on an Aprilia RXV450. After 4 days he's 174th overall of the 200 riders. Patrick had a difficult start with some electrical problems on day 1 wich cost him a lot of time and made him finish at the back of the pack. Patrick is slowly climbing in the rankings with a 111th place on day 2, a 70th place on day 3 and today he finished 58th of 200 riders. Pretty good. Keep on checking Aprilia News for more news on Patricks Dakar efforts! Check out the website of the Aprilia Rally Team Netherlands here