Graham Jarvis gediskwalificeerd omdat hij twee pylonnen gemist had door slecht zicht. Hij reed vlak daarvoor in op iemand die gevallen was en zelf ook daardoor zijn pols bezeerd. Heeft veel rijders ingehaald en is als eerste geeindigd, maar helaas...
Husaberg's Graham Jarvis has disappointingly failed in his quest to claim victory at the Erzberg Rodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble. One of the pre-event favourites for the top spot, Graham was disqualified from the event having followed an incorrect section of course along with German Andreas Lettenbichler, who was also disqualified. Crossing the finish line nearly five minutes clear of closest rivals, Jarvis' hopes of finally claiming his first victory at the Iron Giant were quickly dashed as he was informed of the situation at the end of the gruelling race. Missing a section of the course, but no check points, during the early stages of the race left race organisers with no option but to exclude him.
After a fast start, Jarvis immediately ran into troubles on the first climb that saw riders exit the quarry floor. Crashing into a fallen rider Graham became involved in a multi-rider pile up no more than 200 meters from the start, while the leaders opened up an immediate lead over the Brit. Injuring his wrist in the crash, Jarvis quickly set about catching up to the early pace setters. Steadily working his way through traffic, the Husaberg rider was among the top five when the costly error occurred.
“Someone fell off in front of me at the start and I crashed into them before someone crashed into me, so I was lucky to escape unscathed from that,” recalled Graham at the end of the grueling race. “I don't know exactly but I think it was up the to p of the prologue section of the course that I missed out on a bit of the track. It was only about two corners so it wasn't exactly a lot. Unfortunately, it's happened and there's nothing I can do to fix it now.”
With low cloud covering many sections of the upper half of the mountain, Jarvis simply failed to see the track markings and unknowingly veered off course. Focused on reaching the leaders, he worked his way into second position at checkpoint 13 – Karl's Diner. Finding a fast line though the treacherous section of the course, he was able to significantly reduce race leader Jonny Walker’s advantage. Then catching Walker during a forestry climb during the following checkpoint, Jarvis took the lead. Pushing hard to build an advantage he arrived at the finish in front. However, he was then informed of his error and denied his chance of victory.
“I didn't know that I had been excluded until the end so I kept racing the whole way,” confirmed a disappointed Graham. “Coming into Karl's Diner I was up to second and I managed to close the gap considerably on Jonny Walker. Not long after that I was in the lead and I just rode hard to the finish. After working so hard to recover from my crash I was gutted to have lost the race but looking at the positives I’m really pleased with how I rode,” continued Graham. “I know my riding is good and I'll head to the Red Bull Romanics determined to make amends for this mistake.”
