2022 Red Bull Romaniacs results: Seventh victory for Graham Jarvis – “I was just surviving”
Results from the final day at the 2022 Red Bull Romaniacs where the GOAT Graham Jarvis has claimed a remarkable seventh victory at the Hard Enduro World Championship event – Teodor Kabakchiev fights off new HEWC points leader Mario Roman for the podium.
2022 Red Bull Romaniacs Off-road day 4 in a nutshell:
- The last day at Romaniacs is rarely easy and the course setters didn’t relent this year. One of the first uphills raised the heart rate quickly and woke everyone up for a hard day in hot conditions. The brutal steep “Cliffhanger” section as seen on the live broadcast, was just one savage example of what the riders faced.
- Through it all, and through the whole week, Graham Jarvis says he was trying to “keep focusing on the track” and it proved there is certainly life left in the old dog who takes his seventh victory at this event.
- Third behind Mani Lettenbichler and Mario Roman on the trails, with Teo Kabachiev not far behind and it was tough call for these guys on some fresh hills without track dug in to get wheels into. But he needed only to keep them in sight and Kabakchiev behind to secure the win: “I was just surviving and hanging in there,” said Graham at the finish, “I’m just happy to finish and take the win after my knee injury. A big thanks to my team who’ve worked so hard this year to get me here.” This victory makes Jarvis the first privateer rider to win Romaniacs (we think).
- Teodor Kabakchiev had to work hard for his runners-up place at the hardest HEWC of all. This is his second P2 this season after the Serbian round and the Bulgarian had to withstand a lot of pressure from Mario Roman on the final day. He finished just nine minutes behind Jarvis after four days racing.
- Second on the final day and third overall, 13 minutes behind Jarvis, Mario Roman gave it everything right to the finish line. A slowish day two hurt Mario’s overall chance of a won or beating Kabakchiev but importantly it now means he leads the Hard Enduro World Championship points standings.
- Trystan Hart was another rider storming the final day for a strong finish, overtaking Michael Walkner on the day and overall. The Canadian grabbed fourth place for the week, 32 minutes behind Jarvis.
- Michael Walkner suffered on the last day with a bashed-up foot but claims fifth overall after an impressive week. He was the last rider not to get swallowed up by Mani Lettenbichler’s relentless climb back up the rankings.
- The winner of the final day, taking his second day win of the week, Mani Lettenbichler surely would have been challenging Jarvis for the win if his clutch hadn’t cried enough on day one, costing him a two-hour time penalty. His “pressure off” riding for the rest of the week saw the KTM rider climb back up the leaderboard to an eventual sixth place, 1:52.26 behind Jarvis.
- Behind the Gold class the competition is no less intense and after taking third on the final day, former overall winner Chris Birch secured another Romaniacs trophy for himself. Consistency was the key as Birchy spent the week more or less alongside second placed Fabien Poirot who came home 2:42s back. Adam Giles finishes third, 18 minutes back.
- Edgar Silins has been in charge of the Bronze class for much of the week and he claimed the win ahead of Marius Popovici. The closest fight in this class unfolded between Alexis Berepion and Matthias Walkner and by the final Red Bull arch, having taken the day win, the former Dakar champ Walkner put a KTM rally bike on that last step of the podium.
- Ovidiu Nistor was another rider dominating. The Romanian claims the Iron trophy ahead of Arron Flynn with Richard Copsey making it two British riders on this podium.
- Big leads overall is it? Look no further than Chris Beecroft in the Atom class who arrived at the finish with more than half an hour advantage. Hans Haunschmid took second with Markos Pantelides third, taking a Romaniacs podium home to Cyprus.
*Results will update
2022 Romaniacs overall result:
Romaniacs day 4 results, Gold class:
2022 Romaniacs day 4 results, Silver class:
Silver class overall top 10:
2022 Romaniacs day 4 results, Bronze class:
Bronze class overall top 10:
2022 Romaniacs day 4 results, Iron class:
Iron class overall top 10:
2022 Romaniacs day 4 results, Atom class:
Atom class overall top 10:
Photo Credit: Future7Media | Andrea Belluschi