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Day One bit back. A minor technical hiccup with a racespecific part cost him dearly, dropping him to fifth. But from there, the comeback was clinical. Three consecutive stage wins followed, a white-hot streak that brought him within striking distance of the lead. When the dust finally settled, he had clawed back nearly all the lost time, finishing second overall, a mere three minutes and 43 seconds shy of the win.
“ I had no problems at all with the Tiger 900 Rally Pro after that first day,” said Walker.“ The bike handled everything really well, even in the roughest stuff. Honestly, it was a blast. It’ s not every day you get to throw a 900cc adventure bike through Romaniacs terrain and come out smiling.”
While Walker was rallying hard in Ultimate, Sam Sunderland was writing his own story in the Adventure Lite class. The two-time Dakar winner made it clear from the get-go; he hadn’ t come to warm up. Winning the citybased Prologue with typical poise, Sunderland followed it with four straight stage victories, delivering a perfect sweep and a commanding win by over four hours.
Sunderland’ s appearance at Romaniacs was more than a competitive return; it was the starting pistol for his next audacious challenge: an attempt to break the motorcycle world circumnavigation record. In the coming weeks, he’ ll set off to cross five continents and more than 15 countries, covering over 18,000 miles on a Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer. And if Romaniacs was any indication, he’ s more than ready.
“ I even had time to enjoy the views today,” Sunderland joked at the finish.“ That tells you a lot. The Tiger was incredible all week. For a bike that’ s basically stock, in this kind of terrain, to perform like that, it’ s honestly impressive.”
For Triumph, this wasn’ t just about results. It was a
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