Sibiu, Romania, July 12th, 2016 – traditionally, all Red Bull Romaniacs participants approach the prologue with nightmares and butterflies in their stomach: This “Gate to Romania” is feared by most of the riders with only a few exceptions. The inner city race course is a tribute to all Extreme Enduro fans, making it easy for them to follow the action and admire their heroes. For the riders, the prologue defines the starting order and the amount of penalty time added to their first offroad day.
The 2016 prologue unfolded today with perfect summer weather, blue sky and in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans. In the mornings` time trial qualifications, riders quickly realized that this prologue was different, that it allowed flowy and faster riding with less severe technical challenges! One man in particular seemed to thoroughly enjoy this line-up of obstacles and blew everyone else out of the water: Red Bull Romaniacs newbie Billy Bolt (GBR) dominated the 1.5-minute course and was more than 6 seconds faster than Paul Bolton, who is considered the “Prologue Master”… Bolton and the other podium suspects, Walker, Mini-Letti and Jarvis stayed within split seconds of each other, increasing the tension for the finals in the evening.
The finals started with the Bronze class, in which the podium was manned by Toomas Triisa (1st, EST), Miroslav Culka (2nd, CZE) and Tönu Kallast (3rd, EST), with fairly even performances (all within one minute time difference after 7 laps). After heavy battles among the top 5, the Silver class showed a similar outcome: the top three finished within one minute of each other, also at about 15 minutes for 7 laps. The Podium: Chris Perry (1st, AUS), Angus Macdonald (2nd, NZL) and Andrew Noakley (3rd, GBR).
The Gold class finals were dominated by Alfredo Gomez (ESP), who gained over 1.5 minutes over the rest of the field in 11 laps. Always finding the best line around heated battles in the difficult sections, he rode in a different league than the other Gold class finalists. The most spectacular action unfolded in the Brit-fight over the remaining Top 5 positions: Jonny Walker (2nd, GBR), Graham Jarvis (3rd, GBR), Billy Bolt (4th, GBR) and Paul Bolton (5th, GBR) were finishing only seconds apart. Among them, Walker and Bolt rode fender against fender for most of the race, dominating the first two laps and pleasing the crowd with breathtaking action. Walker only managed to get rid of Bolt after 10 laps, while Jarvis sneaked in from behind, securing the last podium spot for himself. As winner of the prologue, Gomez was free to choose his starting position for tomorrow: he is going to hit the fresh track as third rider.
Gomez: “I wasn’t really fighting or competing against anyone, I was just riding, it’s the prologue, I just concentrate on not falling!”
Jarvis, when the commentator referred to his age, said: “I plan to just keep going until I drop and if I didn’t think I had a chance at winning I wouldn’t be here. They added the water this year which made it slippery and there was some queuing at the difficult stuff, otherwise it was smooth”
Walker: “In a few spots it was a fumble, a mess of riders and I didn’t see what was going on with who. When I finished I thought I was first , I didn’t see Gomez pass me.”
Martin Freinademetz: I am happy that after 5 years of begging Andy to make the prologue less scary, I finally succeeded. The results show that this is not a bad direction – especially in favor of the riders for the Iron- and Bronze class. And even the top guns, who take these obstacles in MotoCross-style, seem not to be complaining too much! We kept the general speeds moderate and are happy that we celebrated the kick-off of the 2016 Red Bull Romaniacs without major accidents!
Prologue Manager Andy Fazekas: “My goal this year was to make the prolog more approachable for all riders in every class. I wanted to make it more flowy so riders would still have to use their technical skills, yet would all be able to go through to the off road days without injuries. Creating a more “fun” prolog and less death defying!”
What to expect tomorrow: Different from the prologue, the first half of Offroad Day 1 will be the stuff that nightmares are made of, except for the Iron class. Right after the start, the Gold class will have a tough time all the way to the first checkpoint, warming up for the day with “The Impossible” and “The Appetizer”. Then, until the Servicepoint faster riding will be spiced with short hard sections like “The Sherwood forest” and “125 Killer”.
The Silver class will have a good warm-up for the day in the new “Empty yourself”. Then, until the Servicepoint, faster riding with a couple of harder sections will make sure they won’t get cold… The day will be very nice, but dominated by tough riding, sometimes together with the Gold class in some classic sections like “600cc”, “The Tuica trail”, and the “Vodka Red Bull”.
The Bronze class will have a hard time on a long and tricky single trail through the forest right after the start. The first hour will be cruel and unforgiving. But after that it’s time to enjoy the panorama trail and breath a little before attacking some great single trails. Shortly before the finish, they will have to tackle the section called “Turbo Cow” which will indeed finish many…
The Iron class will get eased into it gently until the Servicepoint, where their downhill skills will be put to the test in front of spectators.
Prologue results 2016:
| 1 | 3 | Alfredo Gomez Cantero | ESP | KTM EXC 300 | 11 | 17:53 | ||||
| 2 | 1 | Jonathan Walker | GBR | KTM Exc 300cc | 11 | 19:29 | 01:00 | |||
| 3 | 2 | Graham Jarvis | GBR | Husqvarna TE300 | 11 | 19:36 | 02:00 | |||
| 4 | 30 | Billy Bolt | GBR | KTM exc 300 | 11 | 19:38 | 03:00 | |||
| 5 | 4 | Paul Bolton | GBR | KTM Exc 300 | 11 | 19:41 | 04:00 | |||
| 6 | 6 | Manuel Lettenbichler | DEU | KTM 300 EXC | 10 | 18:01 | 04:30 | |||
| 7 | 29 | Xavi Leon Sole | ESP | Husqvarna TE 300 | 10 | 18:52 | 05:00 | |||
| 8 | 5 | Wade Young | ZAF | Sherco 250 | 10 | 18:54 | 05:30 | |||
| 9 | 10 | Travis Teasdale | ZAF | KTM 300 EXC | 10 | 18:54 | 06:00 | |||
| 10 | 7 | Philipp Scholz | DEU | EXC 350F | 10 | 19:09 | 06:30 | |||
| 11 | 28 | Mario Roman Serrano | ESP | Husqvarna TE300 | 9 | 18:05 | 06:45 | |||
| 12 | 11 | Philipp Bertl | AUT | BETA RR 300 | 9 | 18:14 | 07:00 | |||
| 13 | 44 | Keith Curtis | USA | KTM XCW 300 | 9 | 18:33 | 07:15 | |||
| 14 | 8 | Lars Enöckl | AUT | KTM 250EXC | 9 | 18:50 | 07:30 | |||
| 15 | 32 | Jake Whitaker | NZL | Husqvarna TE 300 | 9 | 18:57 | 07:45 | |||
| 16 | 9 | Scott Bouverie | ZAF | KTM 300cc | 9 | 19:13 | 08:00 | |||
| 17 | 13 | Dwayne Kleynhans | ZAF | KTM 300 | 9 | 19:25 | 08:15 | |||
| 18 | 41 | Barend Erasmus | ZAF | KTM 300 | 9 | 19:28 | 08:30 | |||
| 19 | 18 | Jonathan Richardson | GBR | KTM 300 EXC | 9 | 19:40 | 08:45 | |||
| 20 | 50 | Kyle Flanagan | ZAF | Sherco 300 cc | 9 | 19:46 | 09:00 | |||
| 21 | 16 | David Cyprián | CZE | KTM EXC 250 | 9 | 20:01 | 09:15 | |||
| 22 | 45 | Sonny Goggia | ITA | BETA RR300 | 8 | 18:01 | 09:30 | |||
| 23 | 42 | Jürg Schütz | CHE | Beta RR300 | 8 | 18:05 | 09:45 | |||
| 24 | 22 | Ben Hemingway | GBR | Factory Beta 300 | 8 | 18:25 | 10:00 | |||
| 25 | 17 | Yannick Marpinard | FRA | Beta RR 300 | 8 | 18:27 | 10:15 | |||
| 26 | 35 | Wayne Thompson | NZL | Husqvarna TE300 | 8 | 18:35 | 10:30 | |||
| 27 | 31 | Robert Nowak | AUS | KTM 300 exc | 8 | 18:41 | 10:45 | |||
| 28 | 12 | Miha Spindler | SVN | beta 300 rr | 8 | 18:50 | 11:00 | |||
| 29 | 19 | Florian Peyret | FRA | TM racing 300 | 8 | 19:05 | 11:15 | |||
| 30 | 15 | Otto Freund | DEU | KTM 300 EXC | 8 | 19:38 | 11:30 | |||
| 31 | 46 | Teodor Kabakchiev | BGR | KTM EXC 300 | 7 | 17:04 | 11:45 | |||
| 32 | 40 | Thomas Schranz | CHE | KTM EXC 300 | 7 | 18:03 | 12:00 | |||
| 33 | 47 | Fran Rico | ESP | KTM EXC 300 | 7 | 20:03 | 12:15 | |||
| 34 | 51 | Dani Oliveras | ESP | KTM EXC 300 | 1 | 01:10 | 12:30 | |||
| 35 | 27 | Dan Hemingway | GBR | Factory Beta 300 | 1 | 12:45 | ||||
| 36 | 48 | Thibaud Leiser | CHE | KTM EXC 300cc | 1 | 02:01 | 15:00 | |||
| 37 | 23 | Rienk Tuinstra | NDL | KTM 300 | 1 | 02:04 | 15:00 | |||
| 38 | 43 | Alessandro Azzalini | ITA | KTM EXC 350cc | 1 | 02:04 | 15:00 | |||
| 39 | 34 | Marcel Teucher | DEU | KTM 300 EXC | 1 | 02:12 | 15:00 | |||
| 40 | 21 | Dougy Herbert | NZL | Husqvarna TE300 | 1 | 02:17 | 15:00 | |||
| 41 | 25 | Ervin Kovacs | ROU | KTM Exc 300cc | 1 | 02:22 | 15:00 | |||
| 42 | 39 | Phillip Cheater | NZL | KTM Exc 300 | 1 | 02:24 | 15:00 | |||
| 43 | 24 | Tommy Sell’g | NOR | KTM EXC 300 | 1 | 02:26 | 15:00 | |||
| 44 | 26 | Varga Zsolt | ROU | KTM 300 | 1 | 02:35 | 15:00 | |||
| 45 | 36 | Tibor Hostyanski | HUN | KTM 300 xcw | 1 | 02:44 | 15:00 |