The Sky's the limit
By TMX Archives on 4th Oct 13
Denying defending champion Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) the chance of a hat trick of Red Bull Sea to Sky wins, Jonny Walker claimed a start to finish win in the main event - the Mountain Race - for KTM.
With the Red Bull Sea to Sky expanding to three days for 2013, Walker made his winning intentions known by dominating the Friday Beach Race. Fastest in the deep, sandy track situated on the beach in the heart of the Kemer tourist resort, Walker raced to a comfortable win followed by Husaberg duo Alfredo Gomez and Xavi Galindo.
Saturday's Forest Race then determined the starting order for Sunday's Mountain Race. Walker, as the first competitor to be flagged away, completed the 40km long course over one-minute faster than his nearest rivals.
With Husqvarna's Andreas Lettenbichler finishing second, Jarvis – feeling much more comfortable in the rocky terrain - moved up the pecking order to finish third.
With the Mountain Race starting order confirmed, the stage was set for a showdown between defending champion Jarvis and the young pretender, Walker.
"I knew if I wanted to stand a chance of beating Graham I'd have to bring the fight to him,” said Walker. "My plan was to holeshot and hit the first few sections hard. I knew the dust would be an issue for those following me so that's what I did and with a clear track I was able to gain some valuable time on everyone.”
With Jarvis caught in traffic, the Husaberg rider was forced to slow his pace as Walker escaped. At the halfway point the KTM rider had stretched his lead to almost four minutes over Jarvis, who had forced his way into second. And with the toughest section – Dark Canyon – still yet to come, Jarvis set about closing the gap to his rival.
"My start just wasn't good enough,” confessed Jarvis. "I got caught out by the dust and underestimated Jonny's pace. By the time I got into second he was already four minutes ahead. But I knew Dark Canyon was coming and that was my best shot at winning.”
Closing to within striking distance of Walker, Jarvis momentarily found a way past the KTM rider but a wrong line choice at the next hill climb allowed Walker into the lead once more. With the final mountain mile left to face, he cracked on and opened a gap over Jarvis to win by the narrowest of margins.
"It got so close at the very end,” confirmed Walker. "We were both exhausted but neither of us would give up. When I got into the lead again I gave it everything I had. At times he almost passed me but I just had the edge. It's been an awesome race, I'm so happy to have won.”
Said Graham, "It's tough to see my winning streak come to an end,” admitted Jarvis. "I'm happy with how I rode. It's hard to win every race every time. Jonny rode great today and I really enjoyed the battle – I haven't had a race like that for quite a while.”
Behind the fight for the win, Spain's Alfredo Gomez claimed third. Unable to match the pace of the leaders, Gomez and Lettenbichler initially battled for the final step of the podium with Gomez securing his third consecutive podium in Hard Enduro.
For the second year in a row, Lettenbichler was denied a top three result. Dislodging his carburettor on a branch, the Husqvarna rider was forced to stop and make repairs. He eventually placed fourth.
Unable to repeat his podium result of 2012, Paul Bolton (Husaberg) snatched sixth place from fellow Brit Dougie Lampkin in the final moments of the race.
Running into trouble within 15 minutes of finishing, Lampkin ripped the coolant hose off his Gas Gas. Soldiering on he reached sight of the finish line on the summit of the Olympus Mountain before his bike stopped. Pushing his way to the finish, Bolton rode past to take sixth.
"I couldn't believe my luck when I saw Dougie pushing his bike,” said Bolton. "It's been a tough race – the pace this year was very fast and I made too many mistakes. I fell off once too often in Dark Canyon and used up too much energy to get going.”
Relieved to have finished but gutted to miss out on a possible top five result, Lampkin eventually pushed his bike across the finish line to take seventh.
"I wasn't running a cooling fan and my bike started overheating early on,” explained Lampkin. "After Dark Canyon the coolant hoses came off and it was a bit of a mission to keep going. Somehow I managed to get within sight of the finish before it stopped. I'm relieved to have finished but a bit frustrated because I was enjoying the race.”
Reaching the finish line within the allotted six-hour race time, Andrew Noakley (Husaberg) was credited with 28th position. Crashing on the first riverbed, the young Brit badly sprained his ankle but refused to quit. Battling on, he reached the penultimate checkpoint before his chain snapped.
Needing almost two hours to unravel it, he eventually got going.
"I qualified on the front row but then crashed in the first river bed. I couldn't see in the dust and hit a rock,” commented Noakley. "At first I thought my ankle was broken but I wanted to ride on and see how far I would get.
I almost finished and then my chain came off on the side of the mountain. I had to dismantle the swinging arm to fix it. I thought my race was over but somehow I got going again and finished within the six hour mark.”
