Enduro

Wade Young Wins Red Bull Romaniacs, WESS Round Four

Posted:

Sunday, July 29th, 2018

2:17 AM

Wade Young Wins Red Bull Romaniacs, WESS Round Four

Wade Young, Manuel Lettenbichler and Jonny Walker topped the podium in the Gold class.

South African Wade Young has claimed victory at the fourth round of the World Enduro Super Series, Red Bull Romaniacs.

Runner-up on the fourth and final off-road day of the world‰Ûªs toughest Hard Enduro Rallye, Young has etched his name into the history books as the youngest winner of the 15-year running of the race. At the end of an epic week-long battle, he was joined on the podium by Germany‰Ûªs Manuel Lettenbichler and Brit Jonny Walker in second and third respectively.

There were further celebrations with Austria‰Ûªs Dieter Rudolf winning the Silver category, Brazil‰Ûªs Gianino Coscarelli claiming victory in the Bronze category and Lithuania‰Ûªs Mindaugas Simkevicius topping the Iron class.

It‰Ûªs always been my goal to win here and now I‰Ûªve managed to tick that box. It‰Ûªs the toughest race in the world and it feels awesome to have won it.
Wade Young

With just four minutes separating Young and Lettenbichler entering the final day of racing at Red Bull Romaniacs, the outcome of round four was too close to call. Young led the field away and pushed hard from the off. But Lettenbichler was making time in the early sections and by the midway point had caught up to Young, but also brought Walker with him.

Jonny Walker launches skyward!

On a technical climb after the service point Lettenbichler found a way past Young and suddenly it looked like the fight for victory was weighing in the 20-year-old German‰Ûªs favour. However, the South African had other ideas and after taking a moment to regroup he made his break with about 20 kilometres to go. Pulling clear, he charged his way into the Gusterita finishing arena and despite not winning the day topped the event overall to become the fourth different winner in this year‰Ûªs WESS championship.

‰ÛÏI can‰Ûªt believe it, I am over the moon to have won," Young enthused. "It‰Ûªs been such a long race and so tough. Manni caught me early on today. He would gap me on the hills and then I would have to charge on the fast sections to reel him back in. It went like that for the whole day right until the last couple of checkpoints where I was able to break away from him before the finish. It‰Ûªs always been my goal to win here and now I‰Ûªve managed to tick that box. It‰Ûªs the toughest race in the world and it feels awesome to have won it.‰Û

Winners are grinners, Silver class winner Dieter Rudolf .

Behind the top three, Billy Bolt finished fifth on the final day of racing to end his Red Bull Romaniacs in fourth overall. Building pace throughout the week, Spain‰Ûªs Alfredo Gomez took fourth on Off Road Day 4 to complete the top five in the overall classification.

Just missing out on an overall top five position, Paul Bolton was sixth, while David Cyprian was seventh. South Africa‰Ûªs Blake Gutzeit was eighth, Mario Roman ninth and Philipp Scholz (KTM - GER) rounded out the top 10.

The World Enduro Super Series continues with round five at Red Bull 111 Megawatt in Poland on September 8-9.

Results: World Enduro Super Series, Round 4

Red Bull Romaniacs, Off Road Day 4 (Final)

Gold Class
1. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM - GER) 4:58:48
2. Wade Young (Sherco - RSA) 5:00:37
3. Jonny Walker (KTM - GB) 5:06:17
4. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna ‰ÛÒ ESP) 5:19:23
5. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna ‰ÛÒ GB) 5:24:48
6. David Cyprian (KTM ‰ÛÒ CZE) 5:56:18
7. Paul Bolton (KTM ‰ÛÒ GB) 5:56:31
8. Blake Gutzeit (Yamaha ‰ÛÒ RSA) 5:56:45
9. Mario Roman (Sherco ‰ÛÒ ESP) 6:01:09
10. Philipp Scholz (KTM ‰ÛÒ DEU) 6:17:53

Silver Class
1. Michael Walkner (AUT) 4:44:27
2. Josu Artola (ESP) 4:53:10
3. Dieter Rudolf (AUT) 4:53:48
4. Dave Wood (GBR) 5:16:54
5. Stefan Simpson (GBR) 5:18:22

Bronze Class
1. Fausto Mota (PRT) 4:13:11
2. Jean-Michel Vigand (FRA) 4:24:50
3. Gianino Coscarelli (BRA) 4:34:27
4. Milos Novakovic (SVN) 4:35:48
5. Gethin Francombe (GBR) 4:37:18

Iron Class
1. Mindaugas Simkevicius (LTU) 4:18:00
2. Markus Oberndorfer (AUT) 4:20:58
3. Antanas Lucinskas (LTU) 4:28:04
4. Timothy Lightfoot (AUS) 4:45:44
5. Markus Beeler (CHE) 4:46:20

Provisional Final Overall Classification

Gold Class
1. Wade Young (Sherco - RSA) 26:03:15
2. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM - GER) 26:05:30
3. Jonny Walker (KTM - GB) 26:39:22
4. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna - GB) 28:27:36
5. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna - ESP) 28:55:17
6. Paul Bolton (KTM ‰ÛÒ GB) 29:43:36
7. David Cyprian (KTM ‰ÛÒ CZE) 31:12:43
8. Blake Gutzeit (Yamaha ‰ÛÒ RSA) 31:44:26
9. Marion Roman (Sherco ‰ÛÒ ESP) 32:07:30
10. Philipp Scholz (KTM ‰ÛÒ DEU) 33:53:15

Silver Class
1. Dieter Rudolf (AUT) 24:11:06
2. Michael Walkner (AUT) 25:57:30
3. Josu Artola (ESP) 26:09:14
4. Emanuel Gyenes (ROU) 26:50:07
5. Stefan Simpson (GBR) 27:17:11

Bronze Class
1. Gianino Coscarelli (BRA) 22:44:27
2. Milos Novakovic (SVN) 23:00:30
3. Fausto Mota (PRT) 23:55:49
4. Andreas Maier (AUT) 24:00:46
5. Aivars Kukojs (LVA) 24:11:06

Iron Class
1. Mindaugas Simkevicius (LTU) 22:45:24
2. Antanas Lucinskas (LTU) 24:43:03
3. Markus Oberndorfer (AUT) 24:46:52
4. Markus Beeler (CHE) 226:30:27
5. Maksim Gusevskii (RUS) 27:16:52

Provisional World Enduro Super Series Standings (after 4 of 8 rounds)

1. Jonny Walker (GBR) 2900 points
2. Manuel Lettenbichler (GER) 2715 points
3. Billy Bolt (GBR) 2520 points
4. Wade Young (RSA) 2220 points
5. Paul Bolton (GBR) 1832 points
6. Graham Jarvis (GBR) 1818 points
7. Josep Garcia (ESP) 1750 points
8. Taddy Blazusiak (POL) 1445 points
9. Travis Teasdale (RSA) 1410 points
10. Lars Enockl (AUT) 1351 points