After his first Red Bull Romaniacs in 2013, Jonny Walker said: “For me they were the toughest days on a motorbike ever” – and he was devastated that he did not make it onto the podium. In 2014, just after having nailed the Erzberg Rodeo, Walker returned to Romania and came well prepared: “I have put in a lot of effort to prepare for this race and my focus is different from last year.” It might have been the necessary ingredient for a new “King of the Carpathians”, a new Extreme Enduro super talent. Walker was the first to arrive in the finish today, unchallenged and riding by himself. He had won 2 of the 4 Offroad Days and finished the Prologue 3rd. Walker is the overall winner of the 2014 Red Bull Romaniacs.
Today, Walker started as first in the morning, with Jarvis and Young following him in 5 mins intervals, Bolton 1 min later. Being fully determined and again on fire, Walker kept increasing his advantage over Jarvis step by step during the day. He lead by 3 mins at “Sigi Zig Zag”, 5 mins at the Service Point and 7 mins at checkpoint 7, just before the fearsome “Black Mamba”.
While the “retired King of the Carpathians”, Graham Jarvis, kept working on somehow catching up with Walker, he was starting to be chased himself: Paul Bolton, who had left 11 minutes after him at the Offroad Start in the morning, showed up hot on his heels. They kept playing “Catch me if you can” for a while, until Bolton managed to build a solid lead over Jarvis. Graham Jarvis: “Naturally, I was giving everything and rode a good race – to win the Red Bull Romaniacs a fifth time. But Jonny was simply to hard to beat and his victory is well earned. The many fast sections were in his favor – and I was often far out of my comfort-zone trying to match his speed there”. Spoken like a true sportsman!
Paul Bolton who had also passed Wade Young earlier in the morning, is the surprise of the day and kept delivering some of the fastest riding times (he plowed through the “Black Mamba” faster than Walker and Jarvis). Bolton: “I had a blast of a day, just tried to enjoy myself while at the same time screaming “never give up!” This might have saved him today, as he found himself mid-air at some point, both feet and one hand completely detached from the bike… Only a quick full-throttle coup de gas saved him. Around midday, Bolton had built a time-gap between himself and Jarvis and he started to be a hot candidate for the No. 1 position of the day. Bolton arrived at the fearsome finish second after Walker and until the very last minute, it was unclear whether Bolton would scoop the Day 4 win over him. Bolton was pumped to win the day and overall he finished 4th.
Like Walker, Wade Young came to his 2nd Red Bull Romaniacs in the best shape of his life. He surprised everyone on Offroad Day Two, when he started to ride some of the fastest times through the sections and was seen engaging with Walker and Jarvis. The Roof of Africa winner (youngest ever…), seemed to have unlimited energy resources all the way through the race and puzzled quite a few of his “colleagues” by simply lifting his bike through some unrideable sections. Wade Young: “The race was awesome. Day 1 I took it easy to get into things, day 2 I went really well and made up a lot of time, day 3 was good, I kept the pace going and made up some good time again. I almost ran out of petrol on day 3 having to ride 15km on reserve. On day 4, I battled a bit to to find my rhythm. I had one or two big crashes but tried to stay focused the whole race and managed to push all the way to the finish line. Young finished 3rd on Offroad Day Two and Three and 3rd overall.
The Czech Enduro legend Zdenek Cyprian started together with his 16 year old son David and they won the Silver-Team Class. David is the youngest Red Bull Romaniacs winner / podium finisher ever. “I expected it to be harder, next year I will try my luck in the Gold-Class!” states the Red Bull Romaniacs rookie.
The final day of the 2014 Red Bull Romaniacs started with a foggy morning after some heavy thunderstorms the night before. The fog and the wide open spaces on the mountain-tops made navigation a critical factor for the morning. The top-guns were sometimes struggling with visibility of just a few meters, but took it like pros and still passed through the sections within the estimated riding times. The daily morning workout awaited the Gold- and Silver-Class riders at “Sigi Zig Zag” with some heavy bike lifting and pushing. Some also chose an extra “gymnastics-class”, rolling off their bikes and cartwheeling down the hills in the forest.
The second half of the day was all foreplay for the famous Gusterita hill-climb finish in Sibiu. It was spiced with river-crossings for all classes, among them a wall-ride, variations of tricky ups and downs for the Bronze-Class and the “Slimy River” for Gold- and Silver-Class. Also, the Gold-Class was hit hard by “Long Walk Junior”, “Congo”, and “Black Mamba” before getting to enjoy a cool offroad ride through Sibiu and arriving at the finish hill climb.
Heinz Kinigadner, motorsports legend, experienced race organizer and founder of “Wings for Life”: “Currently there are only two professionally executed Extreme Enduro events: The Erzberg Rodeo and the Red Bull Romaniacs. It was the first time for me to get to experience this event and I am quite surprised: by the concept, the amount of people involved and the professionalism. This is a very unique event, there is nothing comparable out there! What amazes me most, is how the team around Martin Freinademetz manages to bring the participants of each of the classes to their limits. Which is the purpose: at the end of the day it is a race and not a 5-day adventure tour!”
Daily top 3 and overall top 5:
Prologue: Bolton, Jarvis, Walker
Offroad Day One: Walker, Jarvis, Bolton
Offroad Day Two: Jarvis, Walker, Young
Offroad Day Three: Walker, Jarvis, Young
Offroad Day Four: Bolton, Walker, Jarvis
Overall: Walker, Jarvis, Young, Bolton, Lettenbichler