Graham Jarvis Adds Erzberg Rodeo To Win List
Cycle News Staff | June 3, 2013
Alredo Gomez, Jarvis’s teammate, finished second. Photography by Jonty Edmunds/KTM Images.
Extreme off-road star Graham Jarvis can finally add the Red Bull Hare Scrambles Erzberg Rodeo to the list of his accomplishments. The Husaberg rider from Great Britain has won just about every extreme off-road race there is except Erzberg, but after years of disappointment at this race held in Austria (June 1-2), Jarvis can now say that he’s won what many feel is the toughest off-road competitions in the world.
Starting from the second row, Jarvis had about as flawless ride as you can have on such a tough and demanding course and came away with the win with room to spare.
“For once this race has gone perfectly for me,” Jarvis said. “I’m so happy to have finally won the Red Bull Hare Scramble – it’s amazing. Oddly, starting from the second row worked in my favor. I saw the riders on the front row have problems with the water, so I knew I had to be careful. I stuck to my line and didn’t do anything stupid and cleared the quarry. Only after that did I think about racing.
“I pushed hard and steadily worked my way past as many riders as I could. I knew I was going well, as I saw less and less wheel tracks ahead of me. Just before Karl’s Diner [a section of the course] I passed [Andreas] Lettenbichler and took over the race lead. I was happy to lead into Karl’s Diner because that’s usually my strongest section. Once out front I was able to ride my own race and opened up a decent lead. I didn’t run into too much trouble at Dynamite and after that I was able to cruise into the finish line to win the race.”
Jarvis finished the race 18 minutes ahead of Husqvarna’s Andreas Lettenbichler.
“It’s a massive relief to have finally won the Red Bull Hare Scramble,” Graham said. “It’s the only Hard Enduro race I’d yet to win. Missing out on the victory for the last three years makes this win extremely rewarding. I’m a happy man.”
Husaberg rider Alfredo Gomez secured third place ahead of KTM’s top finisher Jonny Walker and Beta’s Ben Hemingway.
Doug Lampkin (Gas Gas), Taichi Tanaka (KTM), Ivan Cervantes (KTM), Alex van den Broek (KTM) and Pierre Pallut (KTM) completed the top 10 overall.
