With the latest edition of the tough enduro event in full swing, we explore the characters of Red Bull Romaniacs, so to speak…
Romania
is the host country of Red Bull Romaniacs, and the key to its catchy title. It’s in Central Europe, lying on the Black Sea between the neighbouring countries of Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova. Romanian riders competing in the event on their home soil (and we mean soil – see ‘M’ below) include Emanuel Gyenes, Fratila Paul, Cristian Paul Harpa, Ioan Tara, Romeo Dunca, Cristinel Babes, Calin Raducu, Victor Crivoiruc, Eduard Razvan Avramescu, Nedelcu Laurentiu, Lucian Neaga, Ionel Ceasar, Dani Otil and Krisztian Nagy.
Off-road racing
forms the basis of Red Bull Romaniacs. This isn’t your average road racing or motocross event like the TT or MX1. This is kilometre after kilometre of wearying, hilly, rough terrain, well off the normal beaten track. They don’t call it endurance racing for nothing!
Mud,
as you may have noticed, is a big part of Romaniacs. No matter what you do or where you ride during the event, you, your bike and everything you go near will be covered in the damned stuff – especially if it rains. 2010 has already seen quite a lot of the wet stuff, with the sun only deciding to show on the second day.
Andreas Lettenbichler
won last year’s Red Bull Romaniacs, and this year, the German has come back to Romania to defend his title with the prestige of the starting number ‘1’. As redbull.com writes this (after Day Two), he’s doing OK, too, on the BMW. Will he win again? That may all depend on…
New Zealand's Chris Birch,
who won the prologue on the first day and, after two days’ hard graft on the bike, has a 70-second advantage over nearest rival Lettenbichler. Despite some bad luck at the recent Red Bull Hare Scramble in Erzberg, Austria, Birch has excellent form, previously gracing the Romaniacs podium as well as twice winning the tough Roof of Africa enduro challenge and taking a hatful of national titles back home in NZ.
In-city
is where the event begins, with the prologue, where a series of manmade obstacles in Sibiu city centre replace rocks, tree roots and everything else mother nature can throw at a motorcyclist besides. After this crowd-pleasing display of skill for the locals, there are four full days of stages in the wilderness before a winner is crowned.
Arduous conditions
lead to tough rules. Not everyone finishes every stage, and there are time constraints so that riders aren’t still bombing across the countryside in the middle of the night. On a tough first day in the torrential rain and mud this year, just 30 per cent of the pro riders made it to the end before the time limit kicked in.
Count Dracula,
the famous vampire of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel who spawned a legend and many thousands of dodgy horror movies (and even a muppet who taught kids ot count on Sesame Street), hails from Transylvania. It’s not the riders’ first priority, but sticking a little garlic into their riding gear before nightfall and a wooden stake strapped to the bike wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world when you’re in the heart of Dracula country and might stumble across a tumbledown castle in the mountains…
Sibiu,
as we have seen, is the base for Red Bull Romaniacs and the setting for the Saturday Prologue, and it lies in the middle of the province of the same name, itself in the middle of Romania, with the Transylvanian Alps to the south and the Carpathian Mountains off to the east. It was also European Capital of Culture three years ago (sharing the honour with Luxembourg). Among its many attractions are the Theatre Festival every May, with shows at the 18th-century Radu Stanca National Theatre and the Gong Theatre, which hosts unusual puppet shows (maybe Sesame Street’s Count von Count could drop in after all…). A medieval festival every August celebrates local Transylvanians traditions dating back to the 12th century. There are also weekly classical concerts from State Philharmonic of Sibiu, though we imagine the sound of engines may be drowing out some of the gentler local customs…
Keep up with the latest from Red Bull Romaniacs at out event page
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