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/1475091
four. The KTM rider gave up over two hours of time on the first day of racing, which dropped him to sixth in the overall rankings: Lettenbichler's bike had a clutch problem and he was given a two- hour time penalty for receiving outside assistance. "I'm stoked with how I rode here at Romaniacs," said Lettenbichler. "It's such a cool event and so good to see riders from so many nation- alities competing. Obviously, it was tough to have the issue on day one and get the penalty so early on, but if nothing else it just motivated me to push hard throughout the rest of the race. "The final day was tough, we hit a massive uphill early on and after that there were a few really technical sections. Thankfully, it's been dry and so there was plenty of grip out there, if it had been wet if could have been a lot different. I'm second in the championship and there are only a few points in it. We head to TKO next, which I really enjoyed last year, so I'll give it my best there again and keep fighting to the end of the year." Completing his second appear- ance at Red Bull Romaniacs in fourth place, FMF KTM Factory Racing's Trystan Hart built his pace as the event continued. Lying fifth at the close of day three, the young Canadian made the best use of his technical abilities over the rugged Romanian terrain and conserved his energy to move up one place overall on day four. In finishing the final day less than four minutes down on winner Lettenbi- chler, Hart was able to claim fourth overall at the checkered flag and secure his best result in the world's toughest hard-enduro rally. "It's been a heck of a week, so to come away with fourth overall in my second attempt at Red Bull Romaniacs is incredible," Hart said. "A definite highlight for sure was finishing Off-Road day one in third, that was a real surprise. I had some ups and downs along the way. I feel like I'm still figuring out some stuff. I'm comfortable on the technical climbs but need more work on the high-speed stuff. It's crazy how hard the top guys are pushing on that terrain." Rounding out the top five over- all was KTM Michael Walkner. "It's up there as one of the toughest things I've done in my life for sure," Walkner said. "My goal this week was just to enjoy more time on my rally bike and experience this adventure. Without question, I've done that. I raced Bronze class and it was hard, but what the guys in Gold class are riding is on another level, and I take my hat off to them. Results-wise, hon- estly, I wasn't expecting to fight for the podium, so to finish third in Bronze is the icing on the cake. Red Bull Romaniacs served as the fifth of eight rounds in the FIM Hard Enduro World Champion- ship. This was Jarvis's first win of the Hard Enduro World Champi- onship season, and he currently sits fourth in the overall points standings. Roman is the new points leader but by only three points over Lettenbichler. CN OVERALL 1. Graham Jarvis (Hus) 2. Teodor Kabakchiev (KTM) +8:32 3. Mario Roman (She) +13:26 4. Trystan Hart (KTM) +32:59 5. Michael Walkner (GG) +38:30 6. Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) +1:52.26 7. Matthew Green (KTM) +3:03.38 8. David Cyprian (KTM) +3:42.03 9. Suff Sella (KTM) +4:54.09 10. Rigor Rico (KTM) +6:57.22 IN THE WIND P56 Mario Roman is the new points leader.