NEWS: WORLD XTREME ENDURO CHAMPIONSHIP
02.07.2010
CURTIS FINISHES RED BULL ROMANIACS IN EIGHTH PLACE
VAN NIEKERK GIVES UP HIS RACE TO HELP KIWI BIRCH TAKING THE WIN
Brother KTM SA riders Darryl Curtis and Riaan van Niekerk recently returned from another epic trip, the Red Bull Romaniacs in Sibiu/Romania. The five day Xtreme race is renowned for its spectacular tracks that traverse the Carpathian mountains as well as man made wooden obstacles like wall rides, cable slides and canal jumps. The prologue in town is a crowd pleaser with a quarter mile dash over logs, rocks, cars and whatever else track designer Andy Fazakas can muster. Four tortuous days follow in the forests and mountains with riding time normally between six and ten hours per day. The dry race in 2009 was so successful that entries were up for this year's race, especially in the expert and hobby classes. The usual PRO's had all entered , in preparation for the proposed 2011 World Xtreme Enduro Championship, Chris Birch, Andreas Lettenbichler, Graham Jarvis, Taddy Blazusiak, Paul Bolton, Gerhard Forster, Lionel Seydoux, Erich Brandauer.
Joakim Ljunggren a top World Enduro Championship contender had entered a FE 390 Husaberg and South Africa's Jade Gutzeit had entered on a KTM 300. Torrential rain turned this year's race on its head, making the conditions almost un-ride able, it had already been raining for three weeks solid and wasn’t about to let up. Riders setting their bikes up in the nearby forest before the race all commented on how slick the tracks were, it was going to be tough. The conditions favoured Chris and some of the UK riders as the conditions back home were pretty much the same. Problems were evident from the start of the prologue with qualifications reduced to one run per class, the slick conditions made it a challenge just to get around the course. Chris Birch had a trouble free prologue and took the win ahead of Graham Jarvis and four time Erzberg winner Taddy Blazusiak.
At Romaniacs there is little sympathy from race organiser Martin Freinademetz, the race must go on, "for sure it´s going to be hard….it always is". Day two is traditionally difficult with insane up hills and down hills that are tough enough in the dry let alone the torrential rain. The climbs in the forest seem never ending, once the rocks and roots are exposed from the first few bikes there is no more traction and the pushing begins. This is where Brother KTM rider Riaan van Niekerk started running into trouble, his fan had stopped working and the KTM 300 had started overheating. Team mate Darryl Curtis tried to lend a hand but there was nothing much that could be done, there was no way to keep the engine cool. Riaan soldiered on topping the radiator up as often as possible, but eventually the engine was damaged and he was forced to retire along with about 50 percent of the field.
The fuel distances had not been adjusted for the conditions and by refuel two, the Romanian landscape was littered with bikes that had run out of gas. The down hills were so steep and slippery, that they were impossible to ride. “The trick is to turn your gas off at the top and slide your way down sideways while trying to dig your heels in to slow down, which seldom works anyway and soon you find yourself looking for a tree or something to stop you.” said Darryl Curtis. The experienced rider also ran out of fuel and was left stranded five kilometres before the refuel and lost over an hour before he got going again. Only a handful of PRO riders made the finish; the rest of the field were time barred at the last check and accrued penalties of up to 8 hours! Taddy Blazusiak had also crashed heavily in the forest and had injured his shoulder, not a good thing just three weeks before the start of the World Enduro cross Championships. Graham Jarvis on his Sherco had won the day some 40 minutes ahead of Kiwi Chris Birch (KTM) who was another one hour and 42 minutes ahead of third place BMW factory rider Andreas Lettenbichler. Gutzeit had finished sixth and Darryl Curtis (Brother KTM) 10th.
The race allows for one days grace, so if you did not make the finish one day you could start the next day with massive penalties of course. Riaan had a new 2011 engine fitted thanks to the KTM Factory mechanics and set off on day three with around 18 hours of penalties. Darryl's exhaust pipe had ruptured just two kilometres after the start, blowing a large piece out, luckily he made it to the service area where it was swapped out. The Brother pair was riding together when they came across race leader Chris Birch who had run into electrical problems, Riaan offered to give up his race and get Chris back on the road. They swapped electrical components until they had found that the stator was faulty, Chris got going, leaving Riaan stranded as he had packed Riaan’s CDI box in his bum bag without thinking. Riaan was left with a 14 kilometre push back to civilization, where he negotiated a lift back to Petrosani, with his bike strapped to the roof of a Land Cruiser, he got a heroes welcome when he got back at 9pm that night. His race was over, but he would still be allowed to start and ride the track to the end. Lettenbichler had won the day ahead of Bolton, Ljunggren, Gutzeit and Birch who had recovered nicely to fifth for the day retaining his overall lead thanks to Riaan. Graham Jarvis was not so lucky on his Sherco as the tank started leaking early in the day. He replaced it at the service point and soon after the sparkplug cap melted and along with some other spark issues left him by the wayside. He eventually got towed back to the pits and was given a three hour penalty.
By day four fatigue was starting to show, even the PRO's were moaning at the ridiculous course and by now only the strongest were still in the race. Another sloshy day was on the cards and late in the day Darryl had fallen down a hole and had completely exhausted himself getting out. It was the turning point in the race for him and it was now just a question of getting to the finish. Right near the end, PRO's were sent up a steep creek littered with fallen trees. Riders had to team up two on a bike to get through; it was too much and angered some of the PRO's. Organisers insisted that the trees had not been there when they had pre run the track a week before the race. But it is what it is and all riders had to muscle their way through. Jarvis had bounced back taking the win and pulling 30 minutes on second place Paul Bolton, Lettenbichler came home third and Chris Birch finished fifth after more electrical problems hampered him. Darryl Curtis came in eighth behind Forster and Lionel Seydoux.
Day five was no better than the rest, after tackling the canyon early in the morning, PRO riders were sent up a steep muddy gully that was impossible to ride, the first few PRO's had got through with a struggle, carving a rut so deep that riders teamed up four on a bike and muscled them up the hill; it was an exhausting one hour process. The route to the finish was like an endless swamp that sucked the last bit of life out of the riders. Chris Birch made the finish first and took the overall win ahead of Graham Jarvis and the 2009 winner Andreas Lettenbichler. Paul Bolton took fourth, Gutzeit fifth, Seydoux sixth, Forster seventh and Curtis eight.
Résumé after five days of torture: a lot of sweat and blood, taking man and machine to their limits. But isn’t this why they all come to an Xtreme event like the Red Bull Romaniacs? We will for sure hear more about this interesting Xtreme Enduro series that might become a World Championship on 2011.
Article: KTM
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Franziska Brandl
e-mail:franziska@ktmsa.co.za
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 Samo Vidic.jpg "Day 2")
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