to extend his lead to almost 16 minutes over Teodor Kabakchiev.
Graham Jarvis held firm to win Offroad Day 3 at Red Bull Romaniacs, round five of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, Sibiu, Romania.
Edging ever closer to a historic seventh win at the world’s toughest Hard Enduro Rallye, Jarvis emerged from the tough penultimate day of racing as the winner.
Day 2 winner Manuel Lettenbichler had to settle for second best on the day, behind Jarvis. Mario Roman finished out the latter half of the day strong to take third.
The gloves were off with Graham Jarvis putting on yet another outstanding performance. Determined to show that he’s hungry to fight at every opportunity for Offroad Day wins, the Brit pushed hard all day to keep his closest rival Lettenbichler at bay.
After Lettenbichler caught everyone on the hop yesterday to win by 16 minutes, Graham was in no mood to allow that to happen again. With the early morning high-speed grassy sections not quite to his liking, the Husqvarna rider turned up the heat when they entered more technical terrain. Pushing hard he topped two important checkpoints of the day and despite Lettenbichler fighting back in the closing stages, Graham had enough in hand to seal the win.
The victory, his second of the week, sees him extend his race lead to almost 16 minutes with just one more day remaining. Claiming the overall victory will see Graham secure a historic seventh Red Bull Romaniacs win.
After yesterday’s maximum attack, Lettenbichler found he didn’t have enough in the tank today to push again at 100 percent. And with Jarvis upping the pace, the German was forced to settle in behind the Husqvarna rider and ride together. Moving up to sixth overall in classification, the KTM rider will aim to go all-out tomorrow to claim the final stage win.
Behind Jarvis and Lettenbichler, the battle for third was tight between Mario Roman, Michael Walkner, and Teodor Kabakchiev. Walkner was on a mission during the morning and quickly caught up to Roman. The pair then stayed together to close in on Kabakchiev.
The pace Roman and Walkner were setting was high, however, Roman just had a little extra in the closing stages to pull some time back on Walkner to claim third. In the overall standings, it proved good teamwork for the duo, with Roman claiming some time on Kabakchiev in second, while Walkner overtook Canadian Trystan Hart to move into fourth.
While the battles were plenty at the top of the standings, we also saw the race end for numerous riders. Tuesday’s prologue top-two of Alfredo Gomez and Taddy Blazusiak both retired. There was disappointment too for Italy’s Sonny Goggia who dropped out of sixth overall due to injury.
Round five of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship at Red Bull Romaniacs concludes with tomorrow’s final Offroad Day 4.
Results: Round 5 – Red Bull Romaniacs Offroad Day 3
1 Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 5:28:02
2 Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 5:29:55
3 Mario Roman (Sherco) 5:32:27
4 Michael Walkner (GASGAS) 5:33:27
5 Teodor Kabakchiev (KTM) 5:34:35
6 Trystan Hart (KTM) 5:45:53;
7 Matthew Green (KTM) 6:19:42
8 Suff Sella (KTM) 6:22:31
9 David Cyprian (KTM) 6:26:04
10 Dominik Olszowy (GASGAS) 6:35:06
Provisional Classification (After Offroad Day 3)
1 Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 16:34:25
2 Teodor Kabakchiev (KTM) 16:50:09
3 Mario Roman (Sherco) 16:56:10
4 Michael Walkner (GASGAS) 17:02:37
5 Trystan Hart (KTM) 17:14:13
