Chris Birch's First Victory at

Red Bull Romaniacs

1           
BIRCH Chris (NZL, KTM)           
28:17:31 hours

2            
JARVIS Graham (UK, Sherco)           
28:46:12

3            
LETTENBICHLER Andreas (GER,BMW)           
29:18:29

4            
BOLTON Paul (UK, KTM)           
29:52:12

5            
GUTZEIT Jade (RSA, KTM)           
30:21:32

6            
SEYDOUX Lionel (CH, KTM)           
33:21:58

7            
FORSTER Gerhard (GER,BMW)           
35:47:18

8            
CURTIS Darryl (RSA, KTM)           
40:06:41

9            
GYENES Emanuel (ROM, KTM)           
42:10:59

10            
BRANDAUER Erich (AUT, Husaberg)           
42:36:54

KTM’s Chris Birch (NZL) clinches his first Red Bull Romaniacs victory!
           
The fourth and last offroad stage of the Red Bull Romaniacs 2010 offered exciting action once again and top-level Enduro racing right from the start. Graham Jarvis started his hunt for the prestigious win and gave it all on the last 126 km of extremely selective terrain. Jarvis was accompanied by German Andreas Lettenbichler (BMW) and fellow Brit Paul Bolton (KTM), both of whom still had a slight chance to gain the victory.

Birch makes no mistakes
New Zealand's Chris Birch started his day with a 23-minute margin on Graham Jarvis. Even though this pillow should have been comfortable enough, Birch charged hard from the very beginning and made 6 more minutes on his nearest rival.
The 29-year old confirmed again his position as one of the world’s most talented Extreme-Enduro rider and was all smiles at the finish line. "Considering all my technical woes during the past few days, I really didn’t even think that I would finish the race – let alone win it. I’m really happy.", said the extatic Kiwi.

Graham Jarvis fights back for podium
The British Trials expert already buried his ambitions for winning the Romaniacs after his major engine troubles on the second offroad-stage. But Graham unfolded his characteristic "Never give up" attitude and started his race from scratch on day 3. Jarvis successfully fought back to the top of the field and missed the top spot on the podium by a mere 29 minutes. "Chris did an amazing job today and was racing in his very own class. I’m very happy with my second place finish, considering that my race was actually already over.", said Jarvis about his race in the Romaniacs 2010.

Lettenbichler finishes a respectable third
With his 2009 victory in the bag, the German BMW factory rider came back to Romania more than motivated. Lettenbichler's enthusiasm was dampened on the first day out in the wilderness, when he crashed hard and cracked some of his ribs. "Letti" needed all of his immense willpower to continue racing under increasing pain. In the end, Lettenbichler finished a little more than one hour behind Birch on third place. "There was definitely no chance for me to push harder. The conditions this year were more than extreme due to the heavy downpours and my body kept hurting more and more each day. Therefore I’m absolutely satisfied with my podium finish.", says Lettenbichler.

Red Bull Romaniacs: the world’s toughest Enduro-Rally
The Red Bull Romaniacs 2010 solidified its reputation as the toughest Enduro Rally in the world once again – less than half of the original 165 competitors finished the race after 5 hardcore riding days through the Romanian Karpates. In the Pro-Class, only 10 riders from 7 nations out of 21 crossed the finish line at the medieval centre of Sibiu.

Romaniacs-mastermind Martin Freinademetz put together a breathtaking menu of endless uphills, eye-opening downhills, rocky sections and deep Romanian forests. The heavy rains added some extra spice to what all riders regarded as the toughest Red Bull Romaniacs of all time.