Jarvis clinches a second consecutive victory at record breaking Red Bull Sea to Sky 2012
October 21, 2012
S2S 2012 Podium FI
Flite-Husaberg’s Graham Jarvis from the UK once again dominated the main event at the most enjoyable extreme enduro race, Red Bull Sea to Sky in Kemer, Turkey. The British domination on the podium was completed by runner-up Jonny Walker, who crossed the finish line on his KTM 5 minutes behind Jarvis and Paul Bolton (KTM) coming in third with a 14 minutes gap on Jarvis.
136 riders from 20 countries gathered at beach of Kemer at 10:00AM today for the Olympos Mountain Race to battle for glory at the unique Sea to Sky Olympos Mountain race. Starting in rows of 10 riders as defined be the results of yesterdays Forest race the track opened with an 8 km long river bed that got more technical and challenging along the way.
The international top stars of the growing Extreme Enduro scene kicked in with an insane speed right from the beginning: Graham Jarvis was trying to pull away on his Husaberg when it got more and more technical after the river bed but his young rival Jonny Walker was able to keep up the massive speed of Jarvis, closely followed by Andreas “Letti” Lettenbichler (GER, Husqvarna), Paul Bolton and Xavi Galindo (ESP, Husaberg).
Letti was in third place until about one kilometer before the finish when the chain snapped so he had to repair it. Paul Bolton took advantage of this and passed his friend to secure a great third place.
After 2 hours and 16 minutes Jarvis arrived at the Red Bull finish arch on top of the mountain, that’s what Graham had to say: “The track was a bit longer than last year, everything was ridable but Jonny was putting me under a lot of pressure and pushed me to my very limits. Some parts of the track I really enjoyed, especially the ones where it was really flowing through the trees. They got the track just about right, brilliant job by the track designers!”
Jonny Walker, despite being at young age of 21, showed great sportsmanship when talking about the race and his rival Jarvis: “The track was awesome, they really did a great job with the track this year. I pushed early on to get closer to Graham. I was close behind him for most of the time, that was the plan and I think this worried him a bit. Getting closer to the finish I made too many mistakes and Graham was constant, he was always moving. Clearly, he did a good race. But I’m happy with the result.”
Germany’s Philipp Scholz (KTM) showed an outstanding performance by coming in on a sixth place after Xavi Galindo. Remarkable since Philipp started riding enduro only a year ago after being a trials rider.
Sea to Sky is all about enjoying a truly challenging ride in beautiful terrain at the Turkish Riviera. Bronze, Silver and Gold Medals have been given away as rewarding souvenirs for those riders who made it to the defined checkpoints:
40 out of 130 starters were brave and ambitious enough to walk away with a Bronze Medal by reaching the forest after the long riverbed.
26 riders demonstrated exceptional skills, made it passed the tree line and received a well deserved Silver Medal.
25 heroes of Extreme Enduro made it to the peak of the Olympos Mountain at an altitude of 2,365m within the limit of 6 hours to take away a Gold medal.
Stefan Zwerenz, one of the 25 Gold finishers, spoke for the vast majority of the competitors after the race on top of the Olympos Mountain when he said: “I don’t think a race can get any better than Red Bull Sea to Sky. You don’t have to rely on someone else to help you, all sections are ridable. It all depends on yourself, if you bring the skills and the endurance you will make it to the finish. That’s the way it should be.”
Top 10 Results – Olympos Mountain Race
Graham Jarvis (GBR HUSABERG) 2 hours 16 minutes
Jonny Walker (GBR KTM) 2:21
Paul Bolton (GBR KTM) 2:30
Andreas Lettenbichler (GER HUSQVARNA) 2:33
Xavier Galindo (ESP HUSABERG) 2:34
Philipp Scholz (GER KTM) 2:51
Lars Enöckl (AUT KTM) 2:59
Neumayr Harry (AUT KTM) 3:00
Forster Gerhard (GER HUSQVARNA) 3:01
Rene Dietrich (GER KTM) 3:09
Here’s the link to the complete results.