On The Pegs July 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 7 | Page 73
On The Pegs
Vol. 3 Issue 7 - July 2018
P 73
Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Graham
Jarvis (GB) has claimed victory at round two of the
World Enduro Super Series – the Erzbergrodeo Red
Bull Hare Scramble. In what was a dramatic, action-
packed and unpredictable race, Jarvis put on a late
race charge to take the win by just 41 seconds from
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jonny Walker (GB) with
early pace setter Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM – GER)
finishing third.
Under sunny skies and hot temperatures, the 24th
edition of the Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble
saw the 500 qualified riders blast off the start line at
14.30 hours. With all the main contenders in this year’s
WESS securing a front row start during qualification,
it was Taddy Blazusiak (KTM - Poland) who made his
move early, taking the lead. But with Walker hot on his
heels, plus WESS round one winner Bill Bolt (Husqvar-
na - GB) and Lettenbichler right in contention, any
hopes of breaking away from the chasing field were
quickly ended.
During one of the early technical woodland sec-
tions, the young guns of Lettenbichler and Bolt moved
past both Blazusiak and Walker to take up the lead. At
Checkpoint 15 of 25, Lettenbichler and Bolt had built
up a lead of one-minute over Walker while Sherco
Factory Racing’s Wade Young overtook Blazusiak for
fourth. However, with Checkpoint 19 forming the
formidable Carl’s Dinner boulder garden, the race was
anything but over. After a bad start, Jarvis was begin-
ning to cut his way through the pack and was closing
on the leaders.
At Checkpoint 21 - Green Hell - the race took an-
other dramatic twist as both Lettenbichler and Bolt
became stuck on the near-vertical woodland climb.
Jarvis, now in third, heroically pushed his way past the
stricken duo to the top and took the race lead. Walker,
following suit, tried to apply pressure to the Husqvarna
rider during the final two signature sections Dynamite
and Lazy Noon but Jarvis kept his cool to cross the fin-
ish line in an astonishing time of two hours, five min-
utes and 59 seconds.
PHOTOS COURTESY FUTURE7MEDIA