To Hell and back

Proving himself once again to be the world's #1 extreme enduro racer Graham Jarvis rode his Flite Husaberg to a deserved victory at the ninth running of the Hell's Gate Extreme Enduro in Italy, securing his second consecutive win at the prestigious event.

 

Starting as favourite, having been victorious 12 months earlier, Graham, who returned to Europe just days before the event following his victory in the Kings Of The Motos event in the States, looked both fast and confident as he tackled the morning's qualifying race. Despite coming up just one position short of topping the time card style enduro he ensured himself an all-important front row starting position for the main event, going on to secure a deserved victory.

 

Despite drier and warmer than normal conditions the morning's qualifying race proved as challenging as always. While nearly all of the expected top runners made it through to the main event by qualifying inside the top 30 there was one notable exception – Spain's Alfredo Gomez. Unknowingly clocking in five minutes early at a time control, the trials turned enduro racer lost a further five minutes and missed making the grade by just four places.

 

There were no such troubles for the majority of the British competitors. Jonny Walker claimed a convincing win topping three of the four special tests and placing some 41 seconds ahead of Jarvis.

 

Third went to Italian Alessandro Botturi, who having raced this year's Dakar Rally was returning to enduro competition for the first time. US Beta mounted racer Cody Webb secured fourth in the morning race to take the final front row starting spot in the main event while Dougie Lampkin placed fifth.

 

Paul Bolton was next up in eighth, just over four minutes behind Walker's winning time of close to 42 minutes. Despite a solid qualifying performance Paul's day ended early as a damaged front brake put him out of the main event early on. Not willing to risk continuing without adequate stopping power he was forced to watch from the sidelines.

 

The Hemingway brothers, Ben and Dan, qualified in 17th and 18th respectively with Jack Lee also making the grade first time out at Hell's Gate in 22nd. Finally, Sherco mounted Kiaran Hankin was another Brit to complete the morning's qualifying event, but in placing 45th failed to pass through into the main event. In total, 55 competitors made it to the end of the morning race.

 

There was never any doubt that British riders wouldn't feature near the front of the field during the main Hell's Gate race. Firing into an early lead was morning race winner Jonny Walker, followed by the experienced Jarvis. Managing to hold his place at the front for half the opening lap, Jonny lost ground on Jarvis when he momentarily stalled his bike shortly after the notorious ‘cascata' section.

 

 

 

Hell's Gate: 1 Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) five laps, 2 Jonny Walker (KTM) + 4.02 minutes, 3 Xavi Gallindo (Husaberg) + 16.23 minutes, 4 Cody Webb (Beta) + 21.50 minutes, 5 Andreas Lettenbichler (Husqvarna) + 23.24 minutes.

Qualifying Race: 1 Jonny Walker (KTM) 41.50:15, 2 Graham Jarvis (Husaberg) 42.31:57, 3 Alessandro Botturi (KTM) 43.36:69, 4 Cody Webb (Beta) 43.41:13, 5 Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas) 44.33:88, 6 Andreas Lettenbichler (Husqvarna) 44.37:44, 7 Xavi Gallindo (Husaberg) 44.39:12, 8 Paul Bolton (KTM) 45.58:08, 9 Piero Sembinini (Beta) 46.21:31, 10 Maurizio Lenzi (KTM) 47.39:44, 11 Diego Nicoletti (Beta) 48.00:26, 12 Maurizio Gerini (Beta) 48.10:54, 13 Alex van den Broek (KTM) 48.17:53, 14 Lars Enockl (KTM) 48.29:98, 15 Daniele Telini (Beta) 48.37:75, 16 Ben Hemmingway (KTM) 49.06:87, 17 Dan Hemmingway (KTM) 50.10:18, 18 Gianluca Martini (Beta) 52.30:09, 19 Michele Bosi (KTM) 53.08:49, 20 Erich Brandauer (Husaberg) 53.32:20. 22 Jack Lee (Gas Gas) 53.41:66, 45 Kiaran Hankin (Sherco) 1.09:10.10.