The King of Hell’s Gate Metzeler 2015 is Jonny Walker. The Englishman, KTM Factory Rider, after three second places, has had reason to a Race beyond all limits, even the ones of a perverse fantasy, and beat on the impossible climb of the Hell’s Peak only two competitors, the incredible rookie Mario Roman and the “dreamer” Lars Enockl.
Only three “survivors”, but the figure reflects only a fraction of the hardness of a Competition that is not by chance associated to the imaginary of the hell. To the point that the moral “switch” of the Event is the conversion of his cynical creator, Fabio Fasola. After the decimation of the morning heat won by Mario Roman, in fact, it was clear that the 14 finalists, and with them the fans volunteers of the Organization and the indomitable crowd of Hell’s Gate Metzeler, had already proven to have earned, crossing the hell of Fasola, the Enduro … paradise.
No one would have stopped the Heroes of Hell’s Gate Metzeler, and it was at that point that the “devil” has decided to bestow the award of indulgence reducing from five to four the number of laps of the crucial phase of Hell’s Gate Metzeler. The now reduced task force Riders, engaged in what can be considered one of the toughest tests of their racing career, was further thinned, but three irreducible Riders came in the presence of the impossible climb of the Peak determined to dominate all the adversities.
At 19:20 Jonny Walker is literally taken over the climb almost at the end of his energies, after a first attempt thwarted by the breaking of the rope. 27 minutes later it was the turn of Mario Roman, the rookie of Hell’s Gate Metzeler, not accustomed to the pitfalls of the Extreme Enduro, who managed to outdo himself even spending a large amount of energy. The Spaniard, the best rookie, won the Red Bull Contest and will participate to the next Erzberg Rodeo.
And, finally, on the edge of the thirty minutes that are the merciless elimination watershed, the Austrian Lars Enockl can realize the dream to end, even on the podium, the Race that had “refused” him in the past.
The twelfth edition of Hell’s Gate Metzeler is, by heart, the hardest of the history of the Extreme Enduro created by Fabio Fasola. The “calvary” starts in the morning, with the decimation caused by a preliminary race well harder and more difficult than expected, due to bad weather. It starts to rain as soon as the fog clears, and the situation is complicated in a diabolical, growing weather disaster. At 15:30, when Fasola lowers the flag of the start, the final “round” of Hell’s Gate Metzeler 2015 gets its start in the storm of water and snow that surrounds the mountain of Il Ciocco. The development of the Competition is never in the game, but there are those who begin to imagine a Hell’s Peak inviolate. Then the decision of Fasola …
Jonny Walker: “I think it was the hardest race of my life. When Fabio has decided to eliminate the final round, for a moment I felt again reloaded, but soon after I was afraid of not being able to finish the lap and having to give up! “
Mario Roman: “After winning the preliminary competition I wanted to get at all costs the Hell’s Peak. On the last lap I lost the lights, the brake pads have been exhausted, and each descents has become terrifying. An incredible race, a hell from dawn to after sunset! “
Lars Enockl: “I understand now what it means to realize a dream. I had already tried, in vain, and did not expect to succeed this time to overcome Hell’s Gate Metzeler. It is more terrible than you can imagine, but now I’m happy. “
Hell’s Gate Metzeler 2015 Final Result. 1. JONNY WALKER (KTM); 2. MARIO ROMAN (KTM), +27’02; 3. LARS ENOCKL (KTM), +29’40.