Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128355
Red Bull's roManiacs Rally The first edit ion of the Red Bull roManiacs Rally ended with a spectacular tour through the city of Bucharest, Roman ia. The Rally was the brainchild of organizer Martin Freinademetz to show off Romania. "Th rough this event, we wanted to show how beautiful Romania is for enduro riding, and how attractive and difficult a hard enduro rally can be . I th ink we succeeded to do both," Freinademetz said . The final test of the day included using a br ick factory, unused for years, full of concrete, wood and steel obstacles, a mobile bridge over the river and then an asp halt final route into Bucharest. Tho usands of spectators lined the route to watch the winne rs ride past the finish line. The ove rall winner was France's Cyr il Despres riding a KTM. Wh ile standing on the podi um, he thanked the aud ience for its hospitality and exuberance. "The scenery was extraordinary, I think it was the best enduro track I've ever ridden," he said. "The race was technical, long and hard , which gave me an advantage. I have great respect for all the riders who came to finish th is race - it was everything but easy." Fourth-place finisher South Africa's Alfie Co x, also on a KTM, was also very impressed. '" thought I was living in paradise, " Cox said, "but what I saw dr iving t hrough th is landscape beats everything e lse. The variety, the wideness and the enthusiastic people have deeply impressed me." The Team class was won by team Flatout by a huge marg in ove r team OMMA and team Dust'n Dirt . The slightly less difficult route for this class was still a handful , as the winner Erik Mocker stated . "I couldn't have ridden for one more hour, we are both exhausted. Now I enjoy anything else but riding my bike," said the 32-year old mechanic from Innsbruck, Austria. PHOTO BY CYRI LLE BARTHEIRED BULL (Above) Jean Nerva b ulldogs down a tough descent in Roma nia, (Above) St uck in the muck. (Left) Alfie Co x in the Romanian wilderne ss . To cas your vo e, og on 0 i~ '- _ !~~~ad.t~~D~!'~~k~~~ 6 Wha t was t he single most m emor able A. Valentino Rossi winning the opening race of the MotoGP season in his Yamaha debut at Welkom, South Africa. B. RickyCarmichael takingthe second rnoto win at Glen Helen to complete another perfect mo tocross season. raci ng moment of 2004 ? G. Loris Capirossi taking out allof the Americans at the japanese MotoGP race, including john Hopkins, Colin Edwards. Nicky Hayden and Kenny Roberts Jr. H. jeff Ward's tenacious ride at the Red Bull Supermoto A-Go-Go final to take the win and the championshi p over jurgen Ku nze!. C. Miguel Duhamel's come-from-behind victory at Infineon Raceway. where he over- came a 2 1/2-seconddeficit on the last lap to beat Jake Zemke. I. J.R. Schnabel pulling offa last-corner pass on C hris Carr to win the Springfield Short Track. J. jeremy McGrath's victory over Matt D . M ike laRocco's victory in his hometown supercross in Indianapolis in March. (Right) Thomas G ief le r rides into Bucharest. Buyten at the Moto-X Step-Up competition at the X Games after 45 minutes of raising the bar. E. Ben Bostrom's win at the X Games Supenmoto event after crashing out of the lead and then runningdown and passing Eddy Seel on the fi nal lap. K. Chad Reed and KevinWindham's seasonlong duel in Supercross en route to Reed taking the championship with 10 victories. F. Relatively unknown Henry Wiles' decimation of the field at the Peo ria TT. L.TheAnthony FaniaJr. and Aaron Yates smackdown incident at the Daytona 200. Online poll results from last week With the first roun d of the THQ AMA Superc ro ss Series co ming up at Anahe im Stadium, wh o do you t hink w illwin what many are claiming to be t he most anticipat ed Supe rcross of all time ? A. Michael Byrne 15 (0.30%) H. Ricky Carmichael 2624 (52,12%) B. Tim Ferry 14 (0.28%) I. Ernesto Fonseca 7 (0.14%) C. Mike laRocco 38 (0.75%) J. Sean Hamblin 14 (0 .28%) D. Jeremy McGrath 188 (3.73%) K. Travis Pastrana 78 (1 .55%) E. Travis Preston 16 (0.32%) L. Chad Reed 971 (19.29%) F. James Stewart 969 (19.25%) M. Sebastien Tortelli 14 (0.28%) G. David Vuillemin 14 (0.28%) N. Kevin Windham 73 (1 .45%) Total Replies : 5035