The Spaniard conquers the world’s toughest hard enduro to take his first solo victory at the Erzbergrodeo’s Red Bull Hare Scramble.
Alfredo Gómez is the new king of the Iron Giant. Delivering a near flawless performance, the KTM rider took victory in the ultimate Hard Enduro race, the Red Bull Hare Scramble.
Enjoy the best of another wild Red Bull Hare Scramble in the video below
Unbelievable. This is incredible for me. Every Hard Enduro rider wants to win this race and now I’ve done it. I’m so, so happy right now
With 500 riders lined up at the start of the race on the quarry floor of the Iron Giant, the tension and anticipation of what was to follow was menacing. 25 sections covering over 35km of the toughest enduro terrain known to man stood between those riders and the finish line, with the majority of the line up knowing they’d never make it.
Chief organiser Karl Katoch waved the flag at noon and the 23rd edition of the Red Bull Hare Scramble roared into life.
Back in action after a year’s absence, Jonny Walker took the holeshot and looked to establish early dominance. But Wade Young, Cody Webb and Billy Bolt latched onto his wheel tracks, taking the fight to the KTM rider.
Meanwhile, Gómez was working hard to recover from a poor start. At Three Kings section, last year’s winner Graham Jarvis hit trouble and slipped down the pack, allowing the leading group to gain time. At checkpoint 13, Walker led Webb and Bolt, but Gomez, in fourth, was beginning to reel them in. One by one he ticked them off, and on the opening section of Carls Dinner the Spaniard was leading.
It was a position he wouldn’t relinquish, pulling even more time in the latter stages of Carls Dinner. Scaling both Dynamite and the final Lazy Noon relatively cleanly, Gómez rode into the winner’s area as this year’s delighted champion.
“I had a bit of trouble off the start and really had to dig deep,” explained Gomez. “I felt so good in Carls Dinner and hit the front, but I was afraid to look back after that and just kept pushing on for the win.”
Working overtime to recover from his mistake, Jarvis was feeling the pressure. Losing time to the leaders in the near impossible wooded sections, he then caught Bolt and Young at Carls Dinner before finally finding a way past.
Pushing on, he got by both Webb and Walker, arriving at Dynamite tantalisingly close to Gómez. Running out of time and sections though, Jarvis ultimately had to settle for second.
I made a small but very costly mistake on Three Kings. I misjudged it and had to ride it twice – I lost a bunch of places as a result
“I kept chipping away and eventually got up to second. I could see Alfredo leave Dynamite as I got to it, and knew by that stage only a miracle would give me the win.”
Hitting the proverbial wall numerous times on the first half of the race, Webb had an eventful start to his day. Regrouping after Carls Dinner, he found a second wind and was able to pick up his pace for third.
“I just rode bad in the beginning,” admitted Webb. “I’m not sure why. But it came together in the second half and was good. Third is good, but if I rode the first half like the second then maybe I could have been more of a threat.”
The battle for the remainder of the top five went down to the wire, with Young nipping past Walker on the summit of Lazy Noon to snatch fourth, pushing Walker back to fifth.
Always a strong opponent at the Iron Giant, Paul Bolton carded sixth, with Billy Bolt taking seventh. In total 25 riders finished Red Bull Hare Scramble 2017 inside the four-hour time limit.
Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble 2017 results
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Alfredo Gómez (KTM) 2h 17m 6s
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Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) +3m 22s
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Cody Webb (KTM) +5m 4s
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Wade Young (Sherco) +9m 31s
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Jonny Walker (KTM) +10m 41s
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Paul Bolton (KTM) +15m 53s
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Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) +18m 24s
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Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) +24m 47s
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Mario Roman (Sherco) +30m 20s
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Travis Teasdale (KTM) +34m 6s