Jonny Walker wins Hell's Gate

Conditions in Northern Italy were atrocious for the Hells Gate Extreme Enduro as rain trenched the course.

After the cancellation of Stage 1 Jonny Walker led with the fastest time on Stage 2. The times were tight. Graham Jarvis was 4 seconds slower but a 2 minute penalty dropped him back to 10th. Andreas Lettenbichler was 2nd and Alfredo Gomez was 3rd. Ben Hemingway was 8th and Dan Hemingway was 13th.

Graham Jarvis beat Jonny Walker by 11 seconds on Stage 3 and moved up into 7th. Spain's Mario Roman was 3rd fastest - 9 seconds ahead of Austria's Lars Enockl. 

Enockl set the fastest time on Stage 4 and moved up into 2nd, Mario Roman rode consistently and he took the overall lead. 

At the end of the Elimination morning session 14 riders qualified from the 112 starters. 1. Mario.Roman, 2. Graham Jarvis. 3. Lars Enockl, 4. Alfredo Gomez, 5. Andreas Lettenebichler, 6. Jonathan Richardson, 7. Jonny Walker, 8. Ben Hemingway, 9. Blake Gutzeit, 10. Diego Nicoletti, 11. Philipp Scholz, 12.Alexandre Queyreyre, 13. Maurizio Lenzi, 14. Jung Schutz.

The 4 lap Main race started as the light faded and the rain turned to snow. Mario Roman was in pole position but Alfredo Gomez soon hit the front. The gullies were filling with melt water and Gomez was forced to retire with a damaged motor. Graham Jarvis moved up into first place but the water level was still rising and Graham also went under and out.

Jonny Walker took the lead on the second lap. Only 3 riders survived to start the fourth lap. Jonny Walker was the first to climb the Il Ciocco Peak to take his first Hell's Gate win. Mario Roman was runner up and Lars Enockl was 3rd. Rookie Mario had a good race and he made up most time on the downhills with no brake pads. Only these three riders were classified as finishers.

“That’s the hardest race I’ve ever done,” Walker said in the finish area.