TRAVERSE Issue 14 - October 2019 | Page 82

Pic: Mihai Stetcu as quickly as possible. Anxiously waiting for Gomez to arrive, the KTM rider kept one eye on the clock and one on his rival as the seconds ticked by. The nerves soon turned to joy and with Lettenbichler declared the winner, the celebrations could begin. For Gomez it was a case of close, but not close enough. Des- pite giving his best effort on arguably the toughest day of this year’s race it was not to be and he had to settle for the runnerup result. Putting hopes of another victory in this year’s championship on hold. Graham Jarvis from Great Britain ended his week on the third step of the po- dium, after fighting his way through to overtake Walker and hold off a fast charging Taddy Blazusiak. “I’m over the moon right now, I really can’t believe it," Lettenbichler grinned after the race results were annou- nced. "This race is really something special and to win here feels amazing. The event is so long and so hard and anything can happen, so I’m so pumped to take the win," ten years ago Lettenbichler's father won the very same event. "It’s been an incredible five days and so gnarly, espe- cially with all the rain we’ve had ... the Lettenbichlers are definitely going to celebrate tonight!” With the top three proving themselves the main Pic: Predrag Vuckovic NEWS MAGAZINE TRAVERSE 82 82