Sibiu, Romania, 28 July, 2018 – Wade Young just became the youngest ever winner of the Red Bull Romaniacs. Here is the story: Tensions were high as the competitors lined up in the grassy meadows at the foot of the hills just outside Sibiu. Skies were favourable. As an act of generosity Martin Freinademetz had granted an extra half an hour of sleep to the competitors, a sign of recognition of the unbelievable strain the competitors had been under during the last four days.

After a night of heavy contemplation Wade Young, Manuel Lettenbichler and Jonny Walker knew what they had to do to conquer this day and be the overall champion. Jonny had fire in his veins and charged full throttle out the start - knowing that it was 30 mins in the overall ranking that separated him from the title this year. Even though Walker rode an unbelievable race on Offroad Day 4 and made up some time, he was not able to beat the “young guns”. Jonny Walker secured himself a third place - on the podium!

On this final race day of the 2018 Red Bull Romaniacs - Manuel Lettenbichler rode the race of his life - blowing everything out of the water. It was similar to last years Offroad Day 4, which had earned him a fourth place in 2017. Today he had started the day with a 4 mins disadvantage behind Wade Young in the overall race progress - with the ultimate win in his sights. And Manuel Lettenbichler delivered again, as he did throughout this entire race: He won the day and only missed the title by a mere two minutes, ending up with a second place on the podium! His absolutely best result so far. 

Wade Young seemed to be holding back a little during the morning while Letti was charging out of the gates on fire. After the second to last checkpoint Young let it rip and charged forward, regaining time he had lost to Lettenbichler during the morning. His strategy appears to have been to conserve energy in the morning and then go for a final spurt, which granted him the title: the winner of the 2018 Red Bull Romaniacs - Epic Edition 15. In fact, he is now the youngest ever winner of the Red Bull Romaniacs.

The competitors determination and skill was demonstrated throughout the day, for example Wade and Manuel rode between 2 checkpoints in exactly the same time to the SECOND! Also, Mario Roman and Billy Bolt: Roman, showing no mercy to his injury, was riding the exact same time to the minute as Billy Bolt from the start up until checkpoint 8. This level of competition to the second and to the minute has never been seen before. Despite the craziness of the race and the unbelievable level of strain competitors and bikes have to go through, it again shows, how much the performance level in this sport has grown. For example, in 2009 Letti senior needed 35 mins for passing through the section “Long Walk”, in 2017 Letti junior passed the same section in just 7 mins. In 2004, the section “20 helpers” was named after the fact that 20 people were needed to assist the competitors to cross it - no helpers are needed for the same section in 2018. And the Red Bull Romaniacs keep adding “crazy” to the mix: new sections were introduced this year, that are currently setting the bar and that are considered close to impossible to ride. One of them is the section  “Babysitter”, a steep wall (up) on roots and rocks. In a few years, the top guns can be expected to just be cruising through there. 

Martin Freinademetz: “We had a great “Enduro Fest”. We were “straight in the face” of the world`s best Hard Enduro competitors. I am deeply impressed by how they took it and the stamina, that brought everyone through the last days. I am also extremely proud of my team that made this event happen - with a full year of preparations and hardly any sleep during the last week. I think it was worth it - “thank you” everyone!! We had planned for Offroad Day 1 to be a bit of an onslaught, to bring everyone into the “red zone”. After that we had kept them racing at that level, which was far outside of their comfort zone. Each day we carefully modulated the track, depending on weather conditions and exhaustion levels of the competitors. As with any race organisation, each year there is room for improvement and lessons are learnt. We will continue to develop excellent race concepts, timekeeping, rules/regulations and the world's best Enduro tracks for each class.”

There were many occasions when we saw spectator participation in this years rally, a sign of the growing passion for the sport of hard enduro. The number of Romanian fans is always encouraging as well as international visitors who travel to Sibiu specifically to follow the race. International viewers are also represented by the high number of social media, website and live views, numbers that have grown significantly over recent years. 

Today Josep Garcia (# 20) had lost his front brake. After having managed to negotiate the section “Ziggy Zaggy”, he was in search for a KTM bike from the spectators, it was a German spectator who donated his front brake to the Gold class competitor so he could continue on his way. 

Wade Young: “I just can’t believe it, I’m so happy. I’m speechless, it’s just so good. I didn’t give up once all day. I knew I had to give it my everything and I was going to go until I was sick, I was breaking boundaries all day. Mani got 3 gaps on me during the race and I closed them down everytime, everytime he got ahead I would “motocross” my way back up to him. This means so much to me, I’m happy!”

Manuel Lettenbichler: 

“It was for sure one of the hardest races I have ever ridden so I am super pumped to get 2nd. Wade was really on it so, so good for him. My bike setting was good and I felt very comfortable during the race with my body and was trying to ride as smooth as I can. It’s nice that the 4 days are over and now it’s time for a beer!”

Jonny Walker: “Today was good. I pushed hard this morning when it was fast. Wade and Mani are really awesome so fair play to them. Mani was straight lining everything where I was zig zagging, big congratulations to them both. This morning was fast and the afternoon had these never ending hills, I kept thinking I was at the top but it would keep going up. Crazy end at Gusterita with all the new steps. Red Bull Romaniacs is the hardest rally in the WESS series with the four really long days so I’m happy to have got through it”

Results: https://www.redbullromaniacs.com/results/

Red Bull TV:

https://www.redbull.tv/live/AP-1VG4N15FS2111/red-bull-romaniacs

https://www.redbull.tv/wess

Get the full action on Red Bull TV, online and mobile via Android, iOS and Windows Phone and on selected partners’ platforms such as Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV (US), Kindle Fire, Xbox 360, Chromecast and as a pre-installed channel on Samsung Smart TVs (2011+) in 194 countries. 

Professional photo-service: high resolution photos from each competitors can be ordered online on www.redbullromaniacs.com (for personal and media use only, no advertising).

About:

Red Bull Romaniacs, the toughest Hard-Enduro rallye on earth.

The Red Bull Romaniacs Extreme Enduro Rallye was created in 2004 by founder Martin Freinademetz. Over the past years it has evolved to the world`s toughest Hard Enduro Rallye. The Red Bull Romaniacs takes place every year and attracts competitors from about 50 countries. 

The race is spread over five days, the first being the inner-city prologue in front of thousands of enthusiastic fans. The four “Offroad race days” lead the competitors on some of the world`s most beautiful Enduro trails in the region around Sibiu, Romania (Southern Carpathian Mountains). The breathtaking wilderness, the Romanian hospitality and the unbelievable challenges make the 600km race an unforgettable, lifelong memory for all participants. 

The Red Bull Romaniacs are organized under the patronage of the Romanian National Tourism Authority.

Air7 - Volker Jacob
Red Bull Romaniacs Communications & Press

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