Off Road Day One
Britain’s Graham Jarvis has claimed victory on Off Road Day One at Red Bull Romaniacs, round five of the World Enduro Super Series. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing rider charged to the top of the standings on the opening full day of competition, finishing ahead of Sherco Factory Racing’s Wade Young (RSA) and Germany’s Manuel Lettenbichler.
With Tuesday’s Prologue in Sibiu soon forgotten, the competitors from 50 nations quickly got down to business on Off Road Day One. Although the shortest track in this year’s race at 102 kilometres in length for the Gold Class riders, it was anything but easy. With a brutal climb directly after the 6.45am start, riders were immediately woken up and put to work.
At the head of the field it was TTR Officine Rigamonti’s Pol Tarres (ESP) who led the riders out, followed by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jonny Walker (GB) and Taddy Blazusiak (KTM – POL) – all separated by three-minute gaps.
Starting seventh on the road, Jarvis quickly went to work and closed in on his rival, using the opening climb to his advantage. But it was clear he wasn’t going to have things all his own way as Lettenbichler, Young, Blazusiak and Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna – ESP) kept him honest.
During the afternoon the leading group broke up, with Jarvis, Lettenbichler and Young pulling clear. A technical problem saw Blazusiak drop back, losing positions as he fought to overcome his issue, while Walker sat steady in sixth.
On corrected time it was Jarvis who took the opening day win by one-minute and 12-seconds from Young, with Lettenbichler only one minute further back in third. With Mario Roman (Sherco -ESP) fourth and Gomez fifth, the top five are separated by less than four minutes.
Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna – GB)
“It was an easier day compared with the Off Road Day 1 I had last year, which I was quite happy about. I didn’t really make any time on the difficult sections, but I kept a good pace throughout the race. Importantly, I didn’t make any serious mistakes and was able to catch the other guys early on. I gained a bit of time then and it’s probably made the difference today for sure. With my time here last year still haunting me I feel I’ve helped put things right on day one. But there’s going to be faster days, so how it will suit me I don’t know. But I need to get on with it and go full throttle.”
Delivering one of the day’s most impressive rides was JD Gunnex KTM’s David Cyprian (CZ). The young 21-year-old looked confident on the challenging climbs and it showed with the privateer claiming a well-deserved seventh.
David Cyprian (KTM – CZ)
“I had a great day today and feel like I rode with a very solid pace. I managed to stay mistake-free through the day and ended up seventh, which is a great start to the week. As we finish today it’s just started to rain, so tomorrow might be pretty tough if it continues like that. But I’m looking forward to it and want to keep this momentum going – we’ll see what happens during the next few days.”
Australian Adam Giles was 24th outright on Wednesday, a brillliant performance. Countrymen Chris Perry was 29th and Anthony Solar 30th with that Aussie trio all contesting the premier gold class of the competition.
In the Silver class the top honours went to Spain’s Josu Artola who showed his form in the hot temperatures to pull 10 minutes clear of second-placed Emanual Gyenes (ROU). With a number of riders given 10-minute penalties, third place went to Great Britain’s Josef Westgarth with Patrick Riegler (AUT) in fourth.
Aussie Shane Moss was 19th in Silver, Adam Poole 24th, Tim Gibson 31st, Sam Preece 61st and Shane Bowden 93rd.
The heavily contested Bronze class saw Poland’s Marcin Weglarz take an early lead in proceedings. Weglarz topped the standings over France’s Jean Michel Vigand with Germany’s Wilhelm Ehm third.
Australian Brent Brady was fifth in the Bronze class ahead of countrymen Adam Brice in 28th, Christian Barrett 39th, Jason Beaton 46th, Robert Kingston 65th, Raymond Borg 68th, Dwayne Affleck 80th, Brendon Cousins 81st, Nicholas Kirk 92nd and Paul Mapperson 93rd, Marc Grills 111th, Craig Roberts 112th, John Cockings 168th, Brett Summers 181st, and
The opening day in the mountains for the Iron class saw Israel’s Oz Nehoray secure a commanding 13-minute 30-second margin of victory. Italy’s Agostino Crema was second with USA’s Danny Melvin third.
Aaron Macfadzen was the first Aussie in the Iron class ahead of Aaron Panozza in 38th, Klaus Mueller in 60th, Dominic Dercole 69th, Joshua Devine 75th, Brenden Murphy 81st, Christopher Withers 94th, Andrew Donnelly 95th,
Red Bull Romaniacs continues with Off Road Day 2 where competitors will tackle a new course that will take them deeper into the Carpathian Mountains. The longest day of the event, Gold class will cover 151 kilometres of riding.
2019 Red Bull Romaniacs
Off Road Day 1
Gold Class
- Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna – GB) 4:27:16
- Wade Young (Sherco – RSA) 4:28:31
- Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM – GER) 4:29:22
- Mario Roman (Sherco – ESP) 4:30:11
- Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna – ESP) 4:31:01
- Jonny Walker (KTM – GB) 4:45:13
- David Cyprian (KTM – CZ) 4:46:58
- Taddy Blazusiak (KTM – POL) 4:48:06
- Pol Tarres (Husqvarna – ESP) 4:54:08
- Dieter Rudolf (KTM – AUT) 5:08:01…
Silver Class
- Josu Artola (ESP) 4:13:22
- Emmanuel Gyenes (ROU) 4:23:35
- Josef Westgarth (GB) 4:24:56
- Patrick Riegler (AUT) 4:25:24
- Alberto Aramburu (ESP) 4:27:08…
Bronze Class
- Marcin Weglarz (POL) 4:08:24
- Jean Michel Vigand (FRA) 4:11:15
- Wilhelm Ehm (GER) 4:19:33
- Valerii Oleinikov (RUS) 4:24:44
- Eric Slominski (USA) 4:24:45…
Iron Class
- Oz Nehoray (ISR) 3:08:29
- Agostinio Crema (ITA) 3:21:59
- Danny Melvin (USA) 3:24:15
- Anna Schmölzl (GER) 3:25:01
- Graham Maclachlan (RSA) 3:27:18…
Source: MCNews.com.au