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The world’s fastest Ducati Multistrada 1260 gave Ducati back their crown at the 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
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Ducati’s Carlin Dunne took his fourth win after a close battle with KTM’s Rennie Scaysbrook.
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KTM also won and broke the record for the middleweight division thanks to Chris Fillmore and the new KTM 790 Duke.
The 96th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb saw a lot of brave souls battling it out at the ‘Race to the Clouds’ near Colorado Springs, USA. For the motorcycle heavyweight division, it was expected that Ducati and KTM will go head to head but no one expected it would be such a close race.
With Ducati bringing in their biggest off-road guns to the scene, their specially-made 2018 Ducati Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak regained their crown after Carlin Dunne crossed the finish line at 9:59.102. The South African rider managed to fend off KTM’s Rennie Scaysbrook and his 2017 KTM 1290 Super Duke R by only a nail-biting 0.7 seconds.
“We did it. The Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak proved as amazing as we all hoped. It performed flawlessly, giving me everything I needed to get up the mountain. Pikes Peak is never an easy race, but the weather cooperated and we clinched the victory for Ducati.”
Although the top two finishers gave fans one hell of a race, it was the third fastest time of the day that shocked everyone. Chris Fillmore (the person who obliterated the Pikes Peak record last year with a 9:49.625) gave KTM the middleweight crown after he piloted the new KTM 790 Duke to victory.
What’s more amazing is the fact that he did so with a time of 10:04.038, just three seconds behind the race winner. This is considered a ground-breaking achievement considering how big the performance differences between the two machines.
While Ducati has successfully regained their crown at Pikes Peak, KTM came out not far behind with smiles on their faces. Thanks to Chris Fillmore, KTM now hold both the records for the heavyweight and middleweight categories with their 1290 Super Duke R and 790 Duke.
| Pos. | Rider | Class | Bike | Time |
| 1 | Carlin Dunne | Heavyweight | 2018 Ducati MTS1260 Pikes Peak | 09:59.1 |
| 2 | Rennie Scaysbrook | Heavyweight | 2017 KTM 1290 Super Duke R | 09:59.8 |
| 3 | Chris Fillmore | Middleweight | 2018 KTM 790 Duke | 10:04.0 |
| 4 | Codie Vahsholtz | Heavyweight | 2018 Ducati MTS1260 Pikes Peak | 10:12.7 |
| 5 | Thilo Gunther | Heavyweight | 2015 BMW S 1000 R | 10:16.6 |
| 6 | Lucy Glöckner (R) | Heavyweight | 2015 BMW S 1000 R | 10:21.9 |
| 7 | Davey Durelle | Middleweight | 2007 Aprilia SXV | 10:36.0 |
| 8 | Rafael Paschoalin | Middleweight | 2017 Yamaha MT-09 | 10:38.4 |
| 9 | Tyler O’Hara (R) | Lightweight | 2016 Yamaha YZ450F | 11:04.3 |
| 10 | Travis Newbold | Lightweight | 2005 Honda CRF | 11:13.9 |
| 11 | Joseph Toner | Exhibition | 2007 Aprilia SXV Custom | 11:29.1 |
| 12 | Akinori Inoue (R) | Heavyweight | 2018 Kawasaki Z900RS | 11:34.0 |
| 13 | Darryl Lujan | Lightweight | 2013 Honda CRF450R | 11:39.6 |
| 14 | Michael Woolaway (R) | Exhibition | 2014 Ducati Hypermotard | 11:40.7 |
| 15 | Theo Bernhard | Quad | 2007 Yamaha YZ500 | 12:03.7 |
| 16 | Mark Bartle | Lightweight | 2018 Honda CRF450F | 12:13.7 |
| 17 | Doug Chestnutt | Lightweight | 2012 Yamaha WR-450 | 12:33.6 |
| 18 | Jeremiah Johnson | Electric | 2018 University of Nottingham UoN-PP-02 | –.— |
| 19 | Robert Barber | Electric | 2018 Buckeye Current RW-3x | –.— |
| 20 | Leandro Rad (R) | Lightweight | 2015 Yamaha YZ | –.— |
