The weekend saw the feared Prologue and the first racing day of the world’s toughest Enduro racers at Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu. Let’s take a look at some of the most eye-catching moments.
Jumping over logs and rock islands, cruising through a forest of hanged tires, and all this in pouring rain was the intimidating overture to the four days of motorsports madness in Sibiu, Romania. Thunderstorms moved in and just before the kick-off of the prologue, the track became soaked in water. This neither impressed the riders nor the thousands of spectators who came to celebrate the sport of Extreme-Enduro.
With 40 tonnes of stone, 50 cubic metres of logs, 30 cubic metres of sand and tonnes of used tires built into another inner-city Prologue that kept the competitors on their toes.
On Day 1, the riders had to adjust themselves to whatever nature had up its sleeve for this tough stage.
Officially the warm-up and the “easy” day of the race, Day 1 was a joy ride for some but a tough challenge for most: “Homer`s downhill”, ascending creeks, and a monster-hill-climb finish already started wearing on the riders.
The general feedback from the riders was about the beautiful landscape, with its rolling hills and easy navigation but also the extreme character of some of the surprises that the Red Bull Romaniacs team around Martin "Frejn" Freinademetz had prepared for them.
Another challenge were the uphill sections with large rocks. These were the areas, where many of the competitors burned valuable energy and had to see the two participants on trial-bikes fly uphill past them. Hence, the riders where not too unhappy to finally arrive at the finish of Race Day 1 and gave the monster hill-climb just underneath them a good chance to kick them off their bike once more. Only about ten riders made it all the way up, the others took the “chicken-lines”.
While lots of men were still struggling in the woods, the female Romanian Hobby Team had arrived. Sorina Sandu and Andreea Goga took off their helmets and looked...fresh! Quite unlike some of their male fellow riders, one might add.
Leading after Day 1:
1.Graham Jarvis (GBR)
2. Andi Lettenbichler (GER)
3. Xavi Galindo (ESP)
4. Chris Birch (NZL)
Photos © Mihai Stetcu and Predrag Vuckovic / Red Bull Photofiles
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