Getting his event off to a slow start, Jarvis placed an unusual seventh in the Friday prologue. Picking up things to end up fourth on Saturday, Graham knew only victory on the third and final day would help his chances of winning this year‰Ûªs Hixpania Hard Enduro.
Last away in the Le Mans style start, he steadily began to pick riders off as the race progressed. By mid-distance he had climbed up to fourth and was beginning to find his pace. With two laps to go, Jarvis launched his attack for victory and managed to break away. With an impossible climb delivering the final sting in the tail for the race, he was the first to reach the top after KTM's Jonny Walker, who lead at that stage, had a spectacular loop out. Walker was able to re-mount but was fourth across the line. This tied him on points with Jarvis, but his position on the final day would relegate Walker to second overall and give Jarvis victory.
"I honestly wasn‰Ûªt expecting to win this one today," a bemused Jarvis said. "Coming into the final race, Sunday‰Ûªs extreme race, I was about fourth overall in the points classification and so thought the overall win was out of reach. My plan was to just fight for the win in this race and see what happened.
"I was actually the last rider to reach my bike at the start and so was last away. I picked off a few riders quickly enough and to be honest it helped not leading. I could read the tracks the guys had made and managed to avoid some of their mistakes with line choices. The top four riders bunched up at about the halfway point and then with about two laps to go I got into the lead and pushed on.
"The final hill-climb was pretty much impossible. But luckily I got there first and was roped up. I just had to watch and see what would unfold next. Jonny Walker had a crash and dropped to fourth. We tied on points but my win was enough for victory. I‰Ûªm really happy with that because Hixpania was one of the few hard enduro races I‰Ûªd yet to win.‰Û
