Sibiu - July 31, 2019
For immediate release!
When the going gets tough, the tough get going. At 44 years old Graham Jarvis from the UK (Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing Team) once again demonstrated his excellent form by winning the Off-road Day 1 "War Zone" at Red Bull Romaniacs "Sweet 16" Edition. Wade Young (RSA, Sherco Factory Racing Team) and Manuel Lettenbichler (GER, Flatschingfast Factory Team) came in 2nd and 3rd - being about half of Graham's age.
Off-road Day 1 of Red Bull Romaniacs kicked off at 06:45 AM this morning with Pol Tarrés (ESP) first onto the tracks on his Husqvarna. The Gold Class track today was a shorter one with 102 km but supposed to be quite intense. However, most of the pro competitors admitted that they are now beginning to understand why the tagline of the Red Bull Romaniacs 2019 Edition is "Sweet 16": Challenging, but rideable and just a bit less demanding compared with the last two editions.
The conditions for the Gold Class were really dry today and we saw Wade, Manuel and Graham pushing hard right from the start. Given the results of the Prolog time trial in the centre of Sibiu yesterday Manuel started 9 minutes, Graham 10 minutes and Wade Young 11 minutes after Pol Tarrés.
Since Off-road Day 2 tomorrow is supposed to be a lot faster than today, Graham knew he had to make up some time in the tougher and more technically demanding terrain which he is most skilled in. Given the shorter distance of 102 km the "Silent Assassin" didn't fool around: Right from the start he got into his quite unique rhythm and passed one competitor after the other. Avoiding mistakes and making sure not to mess with the GPS navigation, Graham maintained a continuous pace and was pleased with his result.
The young privateer Davide Cyprian from the Czech Republic showed an exceptional performance on his KTM today by clinching an impressive 6th place ahead of Jonny Walker (UK, KTM) and Taddy Blazusiak (POL, KTM) who won the Prolog yesterday.
Competitors Quotes - Off-road Day 1 - Gold Class
Graham Jarvis: "It was an easier day compared with Off-road Day 1 in 2018 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. Also I didn't make any serious mistakes and I caught the other guys early on so I gained a bit of time. It's going to be faster days, it won't really suit me. But I have to get over it and go full throttle."
Wade Young: "I had a bad start today and hurt my foot, don't know how bad it is actually but it's been pretty painful for most of the day. Still I came on strong towards the end of the day and I'm happy having made up quite a lot of time so I'm very happy to finish second today."
Manuel Lettenbichler: "The day was not bad, I gave it all and had a good start. I was pretty fast on the first uphill and caught some competitors who had started ahead of myself like Billy Bolt. So we rode in small groups for most of the day, it actually felt almost like a Motocross race today. Sure, some of the uphills were a bit demanding but not too hard - I expected the day to be much harder I must admit. I made a little mistake just before the finish, went over the handlebars and had to fix the throttle real quick. If the Off-road Day 2 tomorrow is supposed to be a fast day it obviously will be really fast."
Mario Roman: "It was a good day, I felt strong throughout the entire day and I thought it would be a lot longer. I'm happy being in 4th position after this first day at Red Bull Romaniacs. As this was just the first day and we have three more days ahead of us I'm really happy today with my position."
Alfredo Gomez: "The morning was a bit hard, I had a stupid crash shortly after the start and broke the hand guard. But we fixed it in the service point and after that I felt good on the bike. I caught up with Graham and Mani and we rode together for quite a while. Mani also had a crash shortly before the finish and I stopped to ask if he's alright. All in all it was a good day."
David Cyprian: “I had a great day today – I rode a very solid pace. I managed to stay mistake-free through the day and ended up seventh, which is great. It has just started to rain now so tomorrow might be pretty tough but I’m still looking forward to it and we’ll see what happens in the next few days.”
Offroad Day 2 - Decebal
The course tomorrow on August 1, 2019 will be one with some historical flavors. Decebal was the last King of Dacia - a historic region in Romania and he is famous for fighting the Romans, also in the region we'll get to ride tomorrow. However, the competitors will fight against the track, especially on the 151 km of the Gold Class: The second day will again start with a proper Red Bull Romaniacs style Gold Loop before it turns into a very fast race track covering a lot of kilometres. Thus, the competitors with fearless high speed skills might have an advantage tomorrow. At the end of the race there is a new section - Brother of K2 - where competitors will have to demonstrate excellent uphill skills if they don't want to lose too much time there. The remaining section between the Brother of K2 and the finish is a fast track again.
Off-road Day 2 Signature Sections: Hill 16, No way out, Brother of K2.
The results of the Off-road Day 2 determine the starting order of the Off-road Day 3.
Top 10 Results - Gold Class
- Graham Jarvis (GBR Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing): 4 hours 27 minutes 16 seconds
- Wade Young (ZAF, Sherco Factory Racing Team): 4h 28m 31s (+1m 12s)
- Manuel Lettenbichler (DEU, Flatschingfast Factory Team): 4h 29m 22s (+2m 3s)
- Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco Factory Racing Team): 4h 30m 11s (+2m 56s)
- Alfredo Gomez Cantero (ESP, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing): 4h 31m 1s (+3m 55s)
- David Cyprian (CZ, JD Gunnex KTM): 4h 46m 58s (+19m 44s)
- Jonny Walker (GBR, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 4h 45m 13s (+19m 56s, +2m 30s penalty for speeding)
- Taddy Blazusiak (POL, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 4h 48m 6s (+23m 16s, +2m 30s penalty for speeding)
- Pol Tarrés (ESP, TTR Officine Rigamonti Husqvarna): 4h 54m 8s (+26m 21s)
- Dieter Rudolf (AUT, KTM): 5h 8m 1s (+40m 46s)
Top 3 Results Silver and Bronze Class
Top 3 Results - Silver Class
1. Dustin McCarthy (USA, Chocolate Mountain Ranch): 5 laps - 9m 32s 387ms
2. Aleksi Vilkko (FIN, Snellman Motorsport Finland): 5 laps - 9m 36s 133ms
3. Stefan Simpson (GBR, KTM AG): 5 laps - 9m 40s 130ms
Top 3 Results - Bronze Class
1. Brent Brady (AUS, Somerville Motorcycles): 4 laps - 9m 48s 877ms
2. Marco Faria (BRA, Faria Máquinas/BMS Racing): 4 laps - 10m 16s 627ms
3. Robin Holtmeulen (NLD, Hocoparts Racing): 4 laps - 11m 13s 127ms
Photographer Credits: Carmen Mayer
