VOL. 52 ISSUE 29 JULY 21, 2015 P37
a six-minute deficit, he man-
aged to gain the advantage over
Jarvis.
Walker went on to gap Jarvis
by a comfortable margin by the
finish of day two. "Letti" took a
dive in standings (quite literally)
after losing time due to a high-
speed crash. New Zealander
Chris Birch was also in the
running, but crashed out on day
two. Unlike Birch, Letti soldiered
on, and rebounded on day three
in a big way, taking the stage
win. Although Letti eventually
went on to finish sixth, he was
proud of his efforts in Romania.
The mixed results throughout
the first four days of competition
set the stage for a thrilling show-
down on day four, where Jarvis
and Walker duked it out for what
was one of the closest-ever
finishes in the race. The last sec-
tion of the race was strewn with
obstacles, including a balance
beam over a mud pit. Walker,
who was in the lead, slipped off
the beam and needed a second
try. But as he was dragging his
KTM out of the mud, Jarvis ar-
rived, and cleared the beam.
Although the move allowed
Jarvis to top the stage, Walker
managed to cross the beam and
stop the clock with his overall
lead still intact. After over 24
hours of tallied race time, the
final gap was little more than a
minute.
"It's been an unbelievable
race," Jarvis said. "I think that's
the closest and most competi-
tive one I've ever done. It literally
went down to the final 50 meters
for the win.
"I'm not unhappy to finish sec-
ond in such a strong group of
riders, but hopefully next year I'll
get back on the top step of the
podium again."
Jarvis' Bel-Ray Husqvarna
teammate Alfredo Gomez
rounded out the overall podium
in third. Gomez spent the first
two days of competition finding
his footing in the Carpathian
Mountains, but began to excel
on day three. After KTM's Wade
Young drowned his engine in
a river crossing, dropping him
from third overall, Gomez inher-
ited the point and held it to the
finish. CN
Graham Jarvis skillfully traverses
the balance beam section in the
final few stretches of the race. Jarvis
topped the stage, but had to settle
for second overall.
Bel-Ray Husqvarna's Alfredo Gomez
on his way to a third-place finish.
