Although the rain continousely poured down on the big place in front of Hotel Bulevard, 18-years old Romanian stuntrider Mihai Stoichescu kept the crowd on their feet with his amazing tricks.
And then the Pro-Class hit the spectacolous obstacle track. Erich Brandauer (AUT) took the lead immediately after the start, but it didn’t last for a long time. On the second lap, it was once again Cyril Despres (FRA) who dived in first under the Red Bull arch in front of Hotel Bulevard.
One more lap and the riders had to follow the track outside of downtown Sibiu alongside the river Cibin to reach the restart in front of the old factory building at Gusterita. Martin Freinademetz and his crew worked their fingers to the bone to present a special stage of it’s own! The riders headed first into the dirt section outside the factory and had to face slippery uphills and soaked up ruts before they entered the factory yard to challenge the man made obstacles.
Imagine jumping from 15 meters high concrete reservoirs and then going up to second floor of an old factory building and jumping out of the window – it was insane action provided by Martin Freinademetz and his crew, even though the rain still poured down on the riders consistently.
Cyril Despres was the first rider to hit the factory yard with his KTM and he was also the only one to clear all obstacles. Martin Freinademetz included a so called “chicken line” for every rider, who would be afraid to go over the thrilling obstacles, and many of the competitors were appreciating the offer due to the heavy rain. Except for Cyril Despres, the French superstar even added some extra laps for the spectators and proved once again that he really loves his job being a professional dirt rider.
Cyril won the showdown race, he scored first overall at the Red Bull Romaniacs 2005 but most of all he won the hearts of all the thousands spectators who witnessed these six days of breathtaking Enduro action in the Romanian Karpates.
Second to Cyril it was Riaan Van Niekerk who entered the special stage and the sympathic South African was cheered by the fans along the track. The KTM mounted Riaan took the “chicken line” around the reservoir but then decided to take the fast way out of the factory building by jumping down to the ramp from about 10 meters. A solid performance for Riaan, who took home second place overall and 2.400,- Euros price money from his first visit at the Red Bull Romaniacs.
Third place on the podium went to South Africa as well – Darryl Curtis delivered a solid performance throughout the whole race and proved his enourmous determination and speed to everyone during these six hard days.
Final results Pro-Class, August 5th 2005
1. Cyril Despres (FRA, KTM)
2. Riaan Van Niekerk (RSA, KTM)
3. Darryl Curtis (RSA, KTM)
4. Erich Brandauer (AUT, Husaberg)
5. Thomas Günther (GER, Husaberg)
6. Peter Katai (HUN, KTM)
7. Dieter Happ (AUT, KTM)
8. Matthias Weichselmann (AUT, KTM)
9. Stefan Müller (AUT, KTM)
10. Tristan Sol (RSA, KTM)
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