Romaniacs: Mani Lettenbichler wins Offroad Day 1 in a race of his own

Red Bull Romaniacs Offroad Day 1 was a one man show for Mani Lettenbichler (DEU, KTM) who conquered the technical tracks with seemingly not much effort. He had the fastest times through the LEATT LIVEmaniacs, showing no signs of knee complaints and making light work of this stage. Mani used his Romaniacs experience and his ability to select good lines through the technical rocky, steep sections and pushed hard to prove himself as a master of both his bike and the mountains. Getting into his own rhythm, avoiding making mistakes and being out alone in the front was all he needed to prove that today he was racing in a league of his own in the Carpathians. 

Red Bull Romaniacs press release by Susan Mould

However, it was far from a walk in the park for even Mani: “I think it was the toughest Red Bull Romaniacs day that I have ever completed. I rode so hard, it was so intense , “Bed Time” nearly killed us, it was almost impossible to ride. I’m pretty stoked with my riding and I’m going to have some good rest. I’m quite excited to finish now”

Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco) had a spectacular day coming in second place. Mario prefers the more technical, longer days, which today definitely was, he was able to execute some good line selections and keep his speed throughout. It was a close call between Mario and Wade Young (ZAF) who were battling back and forth after the Service Point until Mario managed to break away. Wade came in third after what was one of his toughest days ever.

Mario Roman: “Twenty minutes from the start my brake blew and I lost all the fluid so I couldn’t use it anymore. I had to ride as steady, carefully and smoothly as I could after that. I was still able to make some good time. At the Service Point I changed it and rode well after that. I had some battles with Wade in the afternoon. I am happy with my performance today but i have to say the track managers made a very tough day, maybe the toughest or second toughest I have ever done at Romaniacs so the level is increasing every year, congratulations, good work!”

Wade: “I think Martin wants to hear that he broke us! I’m glad I made it to the finish, it was a really tough day, yeah really tough!”

LEATT LIVEmaniacs, stage 1 was in the early morning which had already started out pretty gruelling for the Gold competitors who also needed to preserve some energy for the rest of the day ahead. With still relatively fresh tires the section K2 and Brother of K2 did not present too many problems and the three laps were completed faster than estimated. 

Fastest lap times:
Mani – 3m14s 
Mario Roman (ESP, Sherco) – 3m35s 
Mitch Brightmore (GBR) 3m49s, 
All completing their first lap the fastest. 

Offroad Day 1 unleashed competitors onto some of the hardest tracks of the Limitless edition and in most of the Gold competitors opinions of the entire event to date. With no time to acclimatise or warm up the Gold Class were thrown into a stream of technical signature sections including Irish coffee, Hi5, Cambodia and Vietnam before reaching K2 and Brother of K2 the LEATT LIVEmaniacs section, followed by Beer Bar, No Sex and Gallindo which would bring them into the Service Point. There were also some special man-made “Limitless” surprises thrown in as well as some natural ones; a heavy rain storm descended upon the Gold competitors around the Check Point 15 as they were heading into “Pandora” and ”Bedtime alarm” which made up some of the hardest sections of the day. With nightmares of last year’s torrential storm competitors feared what lay ahead, with the heavy rain these sections became “killers” where the struggle became real.

Man-made was the “Flying Fox” zipline which added a special meaning to the word steep, it was finally too steep for Martin Freinademetz to send competitors down so he opted for a “motorcycle zipline” leaving the competitors to scramble down a steep face to reach the level ground again. This unique highlight was less appealing because of the rain but still, it is only the second motorcycle zipline ever in hard enduro, the first being in the 2004 edition of Romaniacs.

For the Silver Class who faced 125 km it was a solid Romaniacs introduction. The morning started out with some tough and demanding tracks and later there was more chance to open up the throttle on some faster rally style tracks. 

Silver Class Results:
First – Patrick Riegler (AUT)
Second – Chris Birch (NZL)
Third –  Kornel Ott (HUN)

Pol Tarres (AND) finished on his Ténére 700 in position 38 clearing the huge river jump at the finish line.
Sandra Gomez (ESP), who was the first female to finish in Gold Class at Romaniacs now competing in Silver, finished in position 36 and Kirsten Landman (ZAF) finished in position 103.

The 147 km of Bronze Class tracks were dominated by the Ténére 700 piloted by Kevin Gallas (DEU) who blew through any of the toughest sections with ease and had fluidity through the long, flowy sections. For the Bronze competitors today was an easing into Romaniacs day, hopefully not to be fooled as rest assured tougher is yet to come. 

Bronze Class Results:
First –  Kevin Gallas (DEU)
Second –  Josh Kirby (GBR)
Third –  Ethan Jameson (NZL)

Iron Class acclimatised with 120 km combining flowy and technical style tracks of variable conditions from dry to not so dry in parts, competitors had a taste of the up and downhills and of rally style enduro.

Iron Class Results:
First –  Peter Wuth (AUT)
Second –  Mark Whyte (NZL)
Third –  Alexis Pantelides (CYP)

Atom Class covered 111 km today, sharing tracks with the Iron Class partly and enjoying a “relaxing” Romaniacs day. Offroad Day 1 was a calm introduction to the Carpathian Mountains.

Atom Class Results:
First – Alexander Petroiu (CAN) 
Second – Dmitriy Reznitskiy (KAZ)
Third –  Valentin Ganea (ROU)