By Adam Simpson
FOUR days of extreme Hard Enduro kicked off in style with the 'Rocket Ride' event at the notorious Erzbergrodeo. This year’s intense, three-tiered hill climb on the Iron Giant was won by Austrian Ossi Reisinger, who fought his way to the top first.
Sunshine was replaced by rain for day two, making the course ever more challenging for the 'Iron Road Prologue', which would see 1,800 riders compete for the 500 available places and determine the starting positions for Sunday's main race.
The Rodeo culminated in the 23rd edition of the notorious 'Red Bull Hare Scramble', which saw the riders blast off from the quarry floor before heading into 25 gruelling sections, spanning over 35km of the most relentless and punishing terrain imaginable.
KTM's Jonny Walker took the HoleShot, but the Brit had the pack close on his heels. Alfredo Gomez (pictured) didn't get the best start, but it wasn't long before he had had the front runners firmly in his sights. Last year's winner Graham Jarvis ran into difficulty early on and put in a gallant effort to climb back up the pack to finish in second.
Working his way through the field, Gomez eventually overtook Walker in the Carls Dinner section, and stretched out his lead before claiming a very hard-earned victory on his KTM.
“Unbelievable. This is incredible for me. Every Hard Enduro rider wants to win this race and now I’ve done it. I’m so, so happy right now.” an ecstatic Gomez told Red Bull after the race. Next up in the 2017 Hard Enduro line-up is the Red Bull Romaniacs on the July 25.
