K&N Backed Marco Belli's 750 Zaeta Earns Third Place at 2011 Pikes Peak Hill Climb

Belli has raced Pikes Peak three times and has never finished off the podium.
Belli has raced Pikes Peak three times and has never finished off the podium.
The still icy Colorado Springs air bites hard at 4:30 in the morning as racers prepare for the 89th running of the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 26. The world's most famous hill climb event, nicknamed "The Race to the Clouds" broke a bunch of records this year, and may well go down as the most successful of them all since the race began in 1916. On a morning that has even the sun reluctant to emerge from behind the Rocky Mountains, Italy's Marco Belli and his Zaeta ready themselves for their assault up the big dog.
The Zaeta DT 530 continues to gather attention with its impressive showings by Marco Belli at events such as the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.
The Zaeta DT 530 continues to gather attention with its impressive showings by Marco Belli at events such as the 2011 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.


After all the usual suspects, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW and all the others, took their runs up the infamous 12.42 mile course to the 14,110-foot summit, it was Belli and his Zaeta DT 530 taking third place in the 750cc class and a remarkable seventh place overall (over 90 motorcycles from 125cc to 1200cc).

"I competed with my own bike, a Zaeta DT 530, which I built by myself," Belli told K&N Race News. "I'm directly involved in Zaeta project, which is a flat-track racing bike, now available on the market." Zaeta also offers a street legal model.
Belli and his Zaeta took third place in the 750cc class, and a remarkable seventh place overall.
Belli and his Zaeta took third place in the 750cc class, and a remarkable seventh place overall.


The Ouroboros Zaeta is the dirt track bike preferred by Valentino Rossi's son Graziano. It was in fact Graziano and Paolo Chiaia that created the Italian-made 530cc single-cylinder.

"This was my third time at Pikes Peak," Belli said. "In 2007 I got second, and in 2008 I also got third, all in the 750cc class."

Not surprisingly, Belli is a very accomplished flat-track racer, "I won three English National Championships (2005, 2007, 2008), three Italian national titles (2001, 2002, 2010), and two European Mefo Cup (2008, 2010)." Belli has also raced flat-track in the US, "I raced AMA flat-track (amateur and Pro), and I also raced in the Nashville, Tennessee AMA Supermotos one time," the K&N sponsored rider added.

Belli currently leads the Italian Flat-Track Championship. "We have already got three races," Belli says, "And there are four more to finish. When I think about it, I feel like I've always used K&N products. My first bike was a moped 50cc Piaggio, which I learned to tune in my garage, and as I grew up I always thought about replacing every stock filter with K&N's."

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