New Zealand’s Chris Birch had to settle for fourth overall as the Red Bull Romaniacs extreme enduro wrapped up its final day on the outskirts of Sibiu, Romania, overnight.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for expatriate Aucklander Birch, who had been on the podium the previous four years in a row – winning the race in 2010.

Even so, Birch had delivered an outstanding performance on Offroad Days 3 and 4, but because of his injured foot, he had fallen too far back on Offroad Day 2.

Fellow Kiwis at the Romaniacs this year also fared well.

Te Awamutu’s Kevin Archer finished 15th overall, Raetihi’s Phillip Cheater 18th and New Plymouth’s Dougy Herbert 20th overall.

Unfortunately for Tokoroa’s Sean Clarke – who was ninth on debut at this event last season – he was disqualified, although details of why are still unclear. Taupo’s Mark Delautour finished fifth overall in the expert grade, while Tokoroa pair Jesse Clarke and Mark Newton finished seventh overall in the expert teams’ section.

Winner again this year was Britain’s Graham Jarvis, with German Andreas “Letti” Lettenbichler second and British youngster Jonny Walker taking third spot on the podium.

The last day of the 2012 Red Bull Romaniacs started with an extra hour of sleep for the riders.

In a last-minute decision, the organising team around Martin “Freijn” Freinademetz granted the riders an easier and relaxed start into what would become their last and toughest day.

The level of difficulty and pressure had been rising as quickly as the energy level of the participants was draining. Some of the most insane sections were still waiting out there to bring the riders to their limits.

But the sprits were high, the weather perfect and the end of one of the best Red Bull Romaniacs ever was in sight.

At the end of the 2012 Red Bull Romaniacs, Freijn is sending his riders home today: All tired, most in good health and all extremely satisfied.

Freinademetz: “We have learned our lesson over the last nine years and are trying to get better each year. Our main objective is to send the riders home satisfied with their own performance and satisfied how this performance got recognised and awarded.

“Of course we are all humans, there can always be screw-ups, but they are certainly not part of our regular structure. Last year we got caught cold with way more finishers than we expected because of the great conditions. And this year the conditions are even better and we have ca. 80% finishers – but thanks to my wife Sigrid, we have enough “Finisher”- medals for everyone.”

For the organisers, the high number of finishers is not a contradiction to the concept of the rallye: Of course, some of the top 10 riders would prefer the difficult sections to become even harder, which would give their trial-experience additional edge over the competition.

Freijn explains: “we are trying to offer a good mix to all Hard-Enduro riders. We do not want to create a 4-days trial event, we are a hard-Enduro rally that offers equal chances for fast and technical riders alike. Competitors with trials background only, are already in slight advantage, but we will not increase the weighting on this. And we are also content with the high number of finishers in these great conditions: the race will become an unforgettable memory for them! And if the race would have taken place 2 weeks ago, it would have been a different story – with over 50% drop-outs!”

Despite the refusal to make the hard sections even more difficult, some of the top-riders already confirmed their return to Romania. Britain’s Graham Jarvis, the “Silent Assassin” who dominated the race without any real competition, is now a 3-times winner of the rallye, like Cyril Despres.

He has already confirmed to be back next year to complete his mission to kick Cyril off the throne for good and become the undefended “King of the Carpathians”. Jarvis, on his 300cc Husaberg, finished the first three Offroad Days of the Red Bull Romaniacs as winner and rode quite a lonely race at the top.

Lettenbichler was doing his best to offer Jarvis some company throughout the race, but his “social reach out” stayed unappreciated due to the fast pace of Jarvis.

Both ended up riding alone most of the time.

“Letti” however, who finished 3rd in 2011 because of several nasty crashes, was in his best shape ever and delivered a very balanced performance in 2012 in finishing runner-up.

His strategy to keep his head clear, have the time of his live riding some of the best Enduro tracks in the world and avoid mistakes, not only brought him the overall 2nd place, but also loads of fun.

The overall 3rd of the 2012 Red Bull Romaniacs, youngster Jonny Walker profited from his extremely steep learning curve. After nailing the prologue, the “young gun” had a tough awakening on the first day and he was seen struggling through the Romanian wilderness. On the fourth day however, he came in first – as winner of the day. “I’m here for the experience this year and want to come back next year to kick some butt. I am stoked to have made it onto the podium of this unbelievable race!” Walker finished 3rd in the overall rating of the 2012 Red Bull Romaniacs.

Freinademetz: “We have marked and prepared ca. 600km of tracks, employed 400 people, distributed 20.000 litres of fuel and 390 litres of 2-stroke oil to the 16 tank points, build 4 service points and established 40 checkpoints, provided food and accommodation for riders and team, arranged world-class rescue services and security – we are as tired and relieved as the riders and extremely happy that we had such a great racing event to celebrate the sport of Extreme-Enduro! A big thank you to my team and the participants for making this happen! This is a perfect position to start preparations for the Red Bull Romaniacs 2013, which will be our 10th anniversary!”

Day four results:

Pro class

1       Jonny Walker      GBR KTM 300 EXC      05:13:12

2       Andreas Lettenbichler   DEU HUSQVARNA 300         05:19:10

3       Chris Birch        NZL   KTM 300    05:19:27

4       Graham Jarvis     ENG HUSABERG 300  05:20:33

5       Xavier Galindo    ESP   HUSABERG TE 300       05:34:17

6       Erwin Kovacs       ROU KTM 300 EXC      05:41:10

7       Melcior Faja        ESP   KTM EXC 250      05:42:30

8       Altus de Wet       RSA   KTM 300 EXC      05:49:48

9       Philipp Scholz      DEU KTM  06:07:35

10     Scott Bouverie    RSA   KTM 300    06:35:33

11     Rienk Tuinstra     NLD   HUSABERG TE 300       06:35:55

12     Kevin Archer     NZL   KTM 350 EXC      06:38:35

13     Paul Fratila         ROU KTM 350 EXC-F  06:45:38

14     Darryl Curtis       RSA   KTM 300 EXC      06:51:03

15     Riaan van Niekerk        RSA   KTM 300    06:55:21

16     Graham Hedgcock        RSA   KTM 300 EXC      06:57:47

17     Kendall Norman   USA KTM 300    07:16:41

18     Phillip Cheater NZL   KTM 300 EXC      08:01:32

19     Dougy Herbert NZL   KTM300 EXC       08:25:03

20     Jesus Zavala       MEX HUSABERG TE 300       08:26:50

21     Emanuel Gyenes ROU KTM 300 EXC-E  08:44:46

22     Jacob Abeleven    AUS HUSABERG TE 300       04:31:24

23     Harry Neumayr   AUT   KTM 300 EXC      11:45:00

DSQ Sean Clarke       NZL   SHERCO 300       DNS

DSQ Ioan Tara   ROU HUSQVARNA TE 310    DNS

DSQ Chris Warwick     AUS KTM 300 EXC      DNS

 

Red Bull Romaniacs 2012 overall final standings:

1. Graham Jarvis                    ENG HUSABERG 300, 19:03:47

2. Andreas Lettenbichler       DEU HUSQVARNA 300, 19:47:43

3. Jonny Walker                     GBR    KTM 300 EXC, 20:12:08

4. Chris Birch                      NZL   KTM 300, 20:25:19

5. Xavier Galindo                   ESP   HUSABERG TE 300, 20:48:55

6. Melcior Faja                       ESP    KTM EXC 250, 21:29:35

7. Erwin Kovacs                     ROU   KTM 300 EXC, 21:57:25

8. Altus de Wet                      RSA   KTM 300 EXC, 23:10:21

9. Darryl Curtis                      RSA   KTM 300 EXC, 24:00:50

10. Rienk Tuinstra                 NLD   HUSABERG TE 300, 24:06:29

11. Philipp Scholz                  DEU KTM, 24:18:15

12. Scott Bouverie                RSA   KTM 300, 24:25:33

13. Paul Fratila                     ROU   KTM 350 EXC-F, 25:24:02

14. Riaan van Niekerk          RSA   KTM 300, 25:41:15

15. Kevin Archer                NZL KTM 350 EXC, 25:51:07

16. Graham Hedgcock          RSA   KTM 300 EXC, 26:16:39

17. Emanuel Gyenes            ROU KTM 300 EXC-E, 28:23:13

18. Phillip Cheater             NZL KTM 300 EXC, 29:48:20

19. Kendall Norman              USA KTM 300, 30:24:44

20. Dougy Herbert             NZL KTM300 EXC, 32:32:02

21. Jesus Zavala                  MEX HUSABERG TE 300, 36:52:00

22. Jacob Abeleven             AUS HUSABERG TE 300, 39:26:12

23. Harry Neumayr               AUT   KTM 300 EXC, 41:19:19

DSQ Sean Clarke               NZL SHERCO 300, 99:99:99

DSQ Ioan Tara                     ROU HUSQVARNA TE 310, 99:99:99

DSQ Chris Warwick              AUS KTM 300 EXC, 99:99:99

© Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com