WALKER WINS 2015 RED BULL ROMANIACS
The Red Bull Romaniacs is the toughest Hard Enduro Rally on earth. And Jonny Walker (KTM) has won it again. He was pushed hard throughout the whole race by Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna), who took the day’s win from him within the last few meters. They had crossed some of the world’s most difficult terrain and ended up only being a few seconds apart at the end of the day.
Following the results of the previous day, the starting order at 7am this morning was Letti, Gomez, Jarvis, Young, Walker, Bolton. Paul Bolton, (KTM) started the day by pushing hard and staying on the heels of the two leaders. He was riding some of the best times and caught up with the leading pack around the “Appetizer” section. He was awarded with third on day four and finished the rally fourth overall.
In “Appetizer”, only Jarvis passed through like a champ. Everyone else was struggling in this section, including Walker, and even needed help (Letti, Bolton). Due to the favourable weather conditions throughout the race, there was hardly any water in the “Appetizer” today. However, there were still plenty of mean little pools, capable of swallowing whole bikes and riders. Wade Young (KTM) drowned his bike ther, shortly before the Service Point. The same fate had awaited Lars Enöckl and Jonny Walker in 2014.
A few more drowned bikes and some fast riding later, the final cruel surprise was awaiting the riders in the famous Red Bull Romaniacs finish “Gusterita”. In addition to the already existing uphill, prologue master Andy Fazekas added new sections just before the finish arch, causing utter carnage in front of the cheering crowd.
The Bronze class riders, who had arrived there earlier, made it even more difficult by carrying mud and water from the pond onto the structures. Walker was first to arrive there, after struggling slightly with the main uphill. Only a couple of minutes ahead of Jarvis, he lost precious time in the mud hole, which ended up costing him victory for the day.
Jarvis, who kept chasing him like a bat out of hell throughout the race, nailed the finish uphill in his first attempt and kept flying towards Walker. One of the most breathtaking finishes unfolded, with Walker being stuck in the mud and Jarvis approaching. Jarvis pulled smoothly through the slippery section and passed Walker only meters away from the finish line. This last effort secured him his win for the day with a lead of just seconds.
Once he had passed the Red Bull arch, Jarvis held his breath in anticipation, while Walker was struggling out of the mud and over the wet wood. But Walker pulled through and managed to preserve his overall lead, winning the 2015 Red Bull Romaniacs with by 2 minutes 10 seconds over Jarvis.
Silver
The Silver class was dominated by New Zealanders Archer, Herbert, Clarke, Parker, Broughton and Grey, who consistently placed in the top 10. Kevin Archer (KTM) maintained his overall lead throughout, with his closest threat being Norbert-Levente Jozsa (KTM), who finished as runenr0-up. The Romanian Norbert kept pushing Archer throughout the race but Archer was the stronger rider and won the Silver class.
Bronze
In the Bronze class, Israeli riders, Tomer Shemesh and Ziv Kami (both KTM) performed well at this 2015 Red Bull Romaniacs, placing 1st and 3rd. Neither rider favoured the prologue and chose to take it easy, preferring to preserve themselves for the offroad days. Unlike Sandra Gomez, Alfredo’s younger sister, who showed her fellow class riders, as well as spectators, how a technical prologue is done. Her first Hard Enduro rally was off to a great start, placing third in the prologue.
After delivering top ten performances during the first days, the rallye had begun taking it’s toll on her and she finished only 25th overall. Sven Heidemann (GER, KTM) finished 2nd in the Bronze class.