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Graham Jarvis Leads Red Bull Romaniacs Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Graham Jarvis has put in a winning ride on Offroad Day 1 at Red Bull Romaniacs, round four of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship. The Brit finished fastest to take over the overall race lead from Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler with South Africa’s Wade Young third. Overnight rain and early morning mist made it a tricky start for competitors as the Gold class riders set off into the 116-kilometre-long day. While the drop in temperature was welcomed, the rain would make some of the descents increasingly slippery for those opening the course. Third in yesterday’s Time Trial, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Alfredo Gomez was first to start Offroad Day 1, by virtue of the reversed start order from yesterday’s top three. He was followed by young Bulgarian hotshot Teodor Kabakchiev (Husqvarna) who was eager to build on his result of second, 24 hours earlier. Time Trial winner Sherco Factory Racing’s Wade Young was third off the line. With the top three feeling their way through the conditions, they were soon caught by KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler. But on corrected time it was Vision Track Beta’s Jonny Walker who was fastest through checkpoint 1. Together with Mario Roman (Sherco) the later start time was playing right into Walker’s hands. For the first half of the morning the pace was high. A GPS navigational issue just before service dropped Roman back outside the top three. Jarvis began to take the reins out front, setting some of the fastest checkpoint times. Having shaken off a few mistakes in the morning, the six-time Red Bull Romaniacs winner was now on a charge. Topping three of the day’s final five checkpoints, the Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider claimed a healthy three-minute-and-29-second margin of victory over Lettenbichler to bump him to the top of the overall standings. Enjoying a solid ride throughout, Lettenbichler steered his KTM home for second, keeping relatively close to Jarvis. Despite a strong ride exiting the service point, the day didn’t quite go Young’s way and he ended it third, losing nine minutes to Jarvis. Working their way through traffic from 11th and 12th respectively, Roman and Walker gained the most places on Offroad Day 1. Walker edged out Roman, jumping from0 12th to fourth, with Roman taking fifth, just 25 seconds behind the Beta rider in the overall standings. Offroad Day 2 marks the beginning of the all-important marathon stage. Competitors will end the day in the forest where no outside assistance is allowed. Remaining fast, but preserving both rider and machine, will prove crucial in order to enjoy a relaxing night under the stars! Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna): “It was actually an eventful day. I dropped into a hole early on, got lost in the mist, but then found my rhythm and started to pick off some riders. It’s been a little bit of a surprise to win today, but I’m happy with that result because I feel like my riding is good. Yeah, tomorrow night in a tent should be interesting for an old guy like me, but I’m battling on!” Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM): “I’m happy with that result today, I felt like I put in a solid ride. The pace of everyone up to the first service point was so high and we were all on the limit for sure. Graham rode insanely good and when he’s at his best like that, he’s tough! I feel like I’m off to a good start in Red Bull Romaniacs, tomorrow will be interesting and I’m excited for the marathon stage. We’re heading into new riding areas and with tomorrow night’s bivouac there should be good vibes at the finish. I’m excited to sleep in a tent!” Jonny Walker (Beta): “I had a good start this morning and just made a couple of little errors in the second half of the day. But they were fairly normal for a race like this. Overall, I’m happy to get a big day like this in on my Beta and I feel like I’m riding well, with more to come. There’s a long way to go, but a podium result is possible if I can keep things together - that’s the goal.” Mario Roman (Sherco): “I’m pleased with things today. I struggled a little with setup in yesterday’s Time Trial so we changed a few things around and it seemed to work much better. Conditions this morning were slippery with the rain and fog, which came as a surprise overnight. You needed to be careful on the downhills. After a strong start, I had a GPS issue before service, so I had to retrace my tracks. But I got it fixed and was able to put another strong ride in during the second half of the day. Overall, it’s been a good start to the week and I will push again tomorrow.” Results: Offroad Day 1 1. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 4:51:07 Overall Standings (After Offroad Day 1) 1. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 5:29:49 *Results are provisional and subject to change following GPS inspection Offroad Day 1 in perfect hot, summer weather, but “slippery when wet” Silently, out of nowhere, Jarvis grabs the day victory and overall lead Sibiu / Hermannstadt, Romania, 28 July, 2021 - A beautiful Red Bull Romaniacs Offroad Day 1 started today from the well known steel bridge crossing the Olt River, in the Râul Vadului region south of Sibiu. Low fog was covering the valley and an unexpected rainfall overnight had washed away most of the dust, but left many of the hard sections in quite slippery conditions. For the Gold competitors it was again an “all or nothing” kick off into the day. At 07:00 am they were unleashed onto the steep, rocky “Sheeps trail”, warming them up instantly, followed by a smooth ride along the river to the “Nice One”. After that, the fun kicked in at the “Sheep farmer” one of the Red Bull Romaniacs’ signature sections. It was quite a struggle to get traction and riders were pushing their bikes in some of the steep rutted parts and were even helping each other when the bikes were slipping away. There were a few games of tag taking place during the first part of the morning in particular between Alfredo Gomez and Teodor Kabakchiev, who was hot on his heels. Teodor passed Gomez in the “Sheep farmer” section for a while, meanwhile Manuel Lettenbichler and Wade Young were battling it out back and forth all the way to the service point where Wade arrived a bike length ahead! Jonny Walker, Billy Bolt and Taddy Blazusiak were also back and forthing, struggling to break away from one another. These “Alpha”-battle-proven Romaniacs veterans were being chased hard by some of the newcomers in the Romanian forest like Trystan Hart and Michael Walkner, who were pushing hard and posing as a possible threat during the first half of the day. By the time they reached the service point, located on a plateau in the
Toscana Hills, the tracks, despite being quite slippery, were in near
perfect condition. After a 20 minute break riders set out again and it
appeared that the track managers were showing some mercy and eased up on the
steep climbs and offered some flowy riding through the smooth enduro terrain
surrounded by the spectacular Romanian landscape. But in true fashion this
did not last long, the wakeup calls came quick and hard with “Martin’s
Idea” followed by “Dammed Dam”, “Broke back Mountain” and “The
Impossible”. The final hour and a half to the finish would be what Martin
Freinademetz refers to as “Really Gold” riding. The top guns broke away
in these technical sections, carefully selecting lines that left the less
experienced behind fighting their own battle. And then there was Graham
Jarvis, having missed his 7th Romaniacs victory by only 2 minutes last year,
due to a crash and placing 6th in the TTQ yesterday his determination was
steadfast. He “silently” started from the back this morning and kept a
low profile. But after the Service Point he took the lead, had a technically
smooth afternoon and gave his all through the tough sections and descending
the final steep downhill. At the end of the day, Graham was the fastest
rider to pass through the finishing arch, followed by Mani in second and
Wade in third. The Silver class had 123 km of classic Romaniacs tracks. Starting out there were some steeper uphills and downhills which then progressed into faster, flowy tracks where riders were able to open up before being dealt some final surprises. Nick Farhinger (USA) and Toniu Mulec (SVN) seemed to be duelling throughout most of the day and ahead of the rest of the pack until the last difficult section when Fahringer pulled away and finished in first place, Mulec in second and Jamie Lewis (GBR) in 3rd. Emanuel Gyenes, in his 18th year of Red Bull Romaniacs, was able to put his mechanical skills to the test after breaking his clutch lever, which he went on to damage again in another small crash and he crossed the finish line in 14th place today. Ski-star Marcel Hirscher from Austria could not finish the race after a crash today. The Bronze riders were elated with their morning, the tracks were fast and mostly dry with some tough ups and downs, especially the final descent into the finish where riders cartwheeled down the slippery slope leaving a pile of carnage for the Gold class to dodge around when they arrived at the scene! Pol Tarres seemed to start out slightly slower and then gather momentum and pick up speed as the day progressed. He displayed jaw-dropping riding skills through the 130km of tracks, maneuvering his roaring Yamaha Tenere 700 through the technical terrain alongside the light and nimble, by comparison, enduro bikes, some of them already stranded right and left of his path. The Iron class had a tough start with some sections becoming slick in the overnight rain. Some competitors drained their energy resources quite early on. By the afternoon they were happy to cruise some grassy, flowy trails above the Olt River and relieved to have a shorter day today, 89km. The Atom riders showed signs of struggling in some muddy, wet log sections in the forests and the gap between the leaders grew as the day went on. After a tiring 116 km, an elevation gain of 9347m and descent of 9408m the Gold competitors will soon realize that things are not going to get any easier on the second day. With their history of setting the stage for extreme enduro, Martin and the track managers will, in true Red Bull Romaniacs style, navigate the tracks through some of the toughest signature sections like “Galindo Hill”, “Babysitter”, “Lost World” and “Kill ‘em all” whilst offering up some fast sections in between to show some compassion. The start will be at Gura Raului. This year's competitors will be the first ever to partake in the “competitors only” marathon bivouac stage. After passing through the Service Point competitors have no more support help until the Service Point the following day on Offroad Day 3. By adding this stage the rallye will be able to access new offroad regions even further out into the wilderness. As if the level of extreme riding terrain and hard endurance required both mentally and physically isn’t enough this stage takes it one step further including each rider being responsible for their own bike mechanics. Martin Freinademetz: “Today's first real, long offroad day of Vertical Madness Reloaded 2021 has been definitely a beautiful racing day and this can be seen in the results with the majority of the participants finishing today's race. Only the Silver class seemed like they had to suffer a bit: We expected dry conditions but a short thunderstorm overnight made the race track quite challenging and wet enough to be slippery, yet no dust. We can also expect some thunderstorms tonight in some areas. We’ll go for the full race length tomorrow. The first day is usually quite a critical day with racers maybe going a bit fast but maybe the slippery soil made them go more careful. The battle for the lead was very challenging, you could see the King of the Carpathians getting closer to the lead at each checkpoint and in the end he took the lead. Mani, who has proven himself last year,was also riding well. So far so good. Tomorrow we head to the marathon stage for only the riders and their tents, no families, wives or support crew. The weather looks good, I think we will have a nice time and I’m looking forward to that!” Results: www.redbullromaniacs.com/results/2021/
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