The Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rally was decided on the last day of the four-day competition in Sibiu, Romania, July 23-26. Several riders battled up front for all four days, but it was essentially KTM’s Manuel Lettenbichler and Husqvarna’s Billy Bolt battling for the overall win on the final day.
Bolt opened the racing with a win in the Prologue, which was held on the streets of Sibiu. The Prologue, used to determine starting positions for the main race, saw Bolt take the win over Mitch Brightmore and Lettenbichler.
Despite having the starting advantage on day one, Bolt was unable to capitalize, finishing third on what was a brutally difficult course. The win instead went to Lettenbichler, followed by Teodor Kabakchiev. Mario Roman and Graham Jarvis completed the top five.
After day one, Lettenbichler enjoyed a six-minute-plus lead.
Day two was quicker and less technical than day one, but the winner remained the same. However, Lettenbichler had to stay on his toes all day, feeling a lot of pressure from behind. Riding well and moving up through the pack was Bolt, who took second, finishing ahead of Roman and Kabakchiev. Michael Walkner rounded out the day’s top five.
Lettenbichler started day three as the overall leader with a comfortable margin over Bolt, who ended up winning day three. Lettenbichler and Bolt rode nearly side by side all day. Lettenbichler crossed the finish line first, but Bolt took the day’s win on adjusted time, gaining a bit of time on the German, Lettenbichler, heading into the day-four finale.
Day three saw a few important casualties. Kabakchiev had to withdraw after hitting a tree and injuring his wrist, and Alfredo Gomez pulled out with a broken bone in his hand.
Bolt, in second, was down nearly 14 minutes to Lettenbichler going into the final day and was unable to close the gap. Instead, Lettenbichler set the pace off the start and never looked back for the day’s and overall win, his sixth at the Romaniacs.
Bolt got off to a rocky start but still finished second on the day, handing Lettenbichler the victory.
Roman was third on the day, giving Sherco third overall.
“This feels unreal,” said Lettenbichler after securing the overall victory. “My team deserves this win just as much as me. I had some doubts at the beginning of the week, purely because I haven’t been able to train as much as I would have liked coming into this event. I felt under quite a lot of pressure this year. The pace was super high from everyone, and the conditions and heat here in Romania only added to the challenge. I kept my cool all week, though—opened up a bit of an advantage on day one and was able to maintain that to the finish. This has definitely been one of the toughest Romaniacs I have ridden. I think if the weather hadn’t been so dry, the race could have been very different. It’s amazing to take six wins here now; I just need one more to equal Graham [Jarvis], so you can be sure I’ll be back next year to try again.”
“Of course, second place is not the position I strive for, but I am happy with the result, the race, and how my riding went,” Bolt said. “It’s always been a difficult run for me here, but this year I feel I got it right and made big improvements in this race. It’s been a positive week for me in Romania. Starting out with a win in the Prologue and then winning the penultimate day is brilliant, but overall, my consistency was there pretty much every day. Coming into the race fit and healthy for what felt like the first time in a very long time made a huge difference.”
An Adventure category was introduced this year, and Pol Tarres took the win in the Ultimate class on a Yamaha Tenere 700, with Jonny Walker taking second, three minutes and 43 seconds back on a Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro. There was also an Adventure Lite class that Triumph-mounted Sam Sunderland won aboard a Tiger 900 Rally Pro, as well. CN
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OVERALL (Top 5)
- Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 21:41:45
- Billy Bolt (Hus) 22:14:56
- Mario Roman (She) 22:43:30
- Michael Walkner (GG) 24:15:07
- Graham Jarvis (Hus) 24:40:42
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