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IN THE WIND P40 GRAHAM JARVIS TOPS ALES TREM T he 2017 extreme enduro sea- son kicked off with Graham Jarvis taking the first victory of the season at Ales Trem. The Rockstar Energy Husqvarna factory rider was happy to finally conquer the event held in Ales in the south of France. He was joined on the podium by the Sherco-mounted duo of Mario Roman and Wade Young while a wrong turn ultimately cost de- fending champion Jonny Walker a shot at the overall podium. Red Bull KTM's Jonny Walker came out of the gate strong as he set out to defend his number- one plate. Meanwhile, Jarvis rode at his usual measured pace early in the race. He kept within striking distance while not rush- ing to the front right away. As the event wore on, the intensity in- creased, and true to form, Jarvis advanced through the field. On lap three, as the light began to fade, Jarvis gave chase to Walker, who was in the lead. But it all fell apart for Walker when he made a wrong turn, handing the lead over to Jarvis. Mario Roman was another contender at the front of the field, but the Sherco rider went on to make a mistake of his own that cost him a shot at the lead. Jarvis put his experience to good use and managed to remain mistake-free, even under the cover of darkness as he maintained the lead all the way to the checkered flag. "That was such a tough race," Jarvis said. "It's great to finally pick up a win here at Ales Trem, but that has to be one of the hardest days of racing I've done for a long, long time. The first two laps were long and demand- ing but it was the extreme stuff that they put in on the third lap that was the deal breaker. There were two or three places where we had to get off and push. At one point I wasn't sure if we were going to get to the finish." Walker agreed, saying, "On the third lap, it really started to get interesting. I started to push a little harder and Graham and myself opened up a little gap out front. I felt good but as I passed through a checkpoint I made a very small mistake losing no more than 10 or 15 seconds. As I was pushing to catch back up to Graham I missed a track marker. I accidentally followed the track used during the sec- ond lap. At the next checkpoint I was told I was out, so I sat there for a while. Eventually I followed the trail back to where I missed the arrows and got back on the right trail. I was a long way be- hind the other riders but at least I managed to finish. "It's great to be back compet- ing in an extreme enduro, but a little frustrating that I wasn't able to challenge for the win." CN Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Graham Jarvis took his first-ever win at Ales Trem to kick off the 2017 extreme enduro season. PHOTOGRAPHY BY HUSQVARNA MOTORCYCLES/FUTURE7MEDIA