Enduro
Jarvis Takes Fourth Red Bull Romaniacs Win
Graham Jarvis makes history by winning this year’s Red Bull Romaniacs.
5 min
Jarvis Takes Fourth Red Bull Romaniacs Win
Graham Jarvis makes history by winning this year’s Red Bull Romaniacs.
Winning the fourth and final day of racing at the Red Bull Romaniacs, Graham Jarvis cemented himself as the most successful rider in the ten-year history of the event by collecting his fourth victory.
Going into the final day of racing with a healthy lead, Jarvis looked almost assured of the win. But knowing that anything can happen in Hard Enduro, the Brit maintained his unrelenting pace. Setting off first on the road, Jarvis stayed out front for the entire day. Entering the finishing arena in Dealul Gușteriței, the Husaberg rider breezed his way up the near vertical hill climb before riding into the winner’s enclosure as this year’s Red Bull Romaniacs’ champion.
“It feels incredible to have won the Red Bull Romaniacs four times,” confirmed Jarvis after the podium celebrations. “It’s been a tough week but I’m so glad to have won.
“Overall everything’s went well – it’s pretty much gone to plan. Getting that big lead on day one really helped a lot and I knew then I could win. But I tried not to think about it too much. In this race anything can happen so I pushed hard every day. The only time I eased off was after the final service check today - I felt that I’d done enough to win. Getting this fourth victory means a lot."
Jarvis is the most successful Romaniacs rider
© Robert Lynn/Future 7 Media
Chasing his teammate home for second position, Alfredo Gomez ended his week as runner-up to Jarvis. Despite never having previously contested the race, Gomez impressed each day. Never faltering outside of the top three, the Spaniard held off Andreas Lettenbichler by over six minutes to finish second.
“This race has gone way better than I could ever have imagined,” told Gomez. “I came here hoping for a top five result but to finish second is amazing.
“I knew the fight for the podium would be difficult. I didn’t have too much of a lead over Lettenbichler. I was a bit nervous because of that and I made a lot of mistakes. In the afternoon I began to settle and found a good rhythm. Ending the race on the second step of the podium in fantastic.”
Continuing to maintain his run of podium results at the Red Bull Romaniacs, Lettenbichler ended day four in third to join Jarvis and Gomez on the podium.
“Overall it’s been a great week for me,” commented Lettenbichler. “I knew coming into today that it was still anybody’s race for the podium. During the morning I suffered some more cooling fan issues and I wasn’t able to fix it until the service check. That tightened things up between Jonny Walker and myself so I pushed hard in the afternoon. I rode the final thirty kilometres flat out and took some big risks but thankfully it all paid off – I’m very happy.”
Graham Jarvis on the rocks
© Robert Lynn/Future 7 Media
Knowing that there was still an opportunity to finish on the podium, Walker attacked hard from the word go. Gaining time on Gomez and Lettenbichler, he almost stole third position. But a navigation error slowed his progress and Walker was forced to settle for fourth.
Delivering another solid result, Paul Bolton ended day four in fourth place to complete the top five in the overall classification.
Final overall results 1, Graham Jarvis, UK, Husaberg, 23 hours 46 minutes 55 seconds 2, Alfredo Gomez, Spain, Husaberg, 24:32:21 3, Andreas Lettenbichler, Germany, Husqvarna, 24:46:57 4, Jonny Walker, Britain, KTM, 24:50:46 5, Paul Bolton, Britain, KTM, 26:01:54 6, Chris Birch New Zealand, KTM, 26:05:26 7, Ben Hemingway, Britain, Beta, 26:42:26 8, Philipp Scholz, Germany, KTM, 32:02:41 9, Lars Enoeckl, Austria, KTM, 32:06:36 10, Wade Young, South Africa, Husaberg, 32:10:37
