Graham Jarvis & the City Scramble

Auckland

It is no longer news that multi world champion Graham Jarvis was in NZ briefly and that he won the 2012  April 1^st Red Bull City Scramble, impressing the crowds as he did so.

Huge creds must go to Graham for his win but also for the valued help and input he gave during the two training days that were organized, especially since he must have been rather tired.  Leaving England on a Wednesday, arriving in NZ on a Friday, doing back to back coaching sessions on a Saturday and Sunday, filming & photo shoots in the Coromandel during the week and then competing in the City Scramble give a clear indication of the reserves of stamina that he must have and that have made him the extreme enduro champion that he is.

The Day One training was for trials riders. It was rain-free and held on the “Hobbit” farm in the Putuaruru/ Te Awamutu area where part of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. The landscape consisted of big, dry rocks and the riders – varying in age from 12 to 60+ - were coached into manipulating around and over these obstacles.

The consensus : “a fantastic day”, “ something special to be working with a world champion”, “inspiring”, “well worth it” and the feedback for the Day Two training for enduro riders, held at Tar Hill near Tokoroa, was equally positive.

The Red Bull City Scramble itself was an international event. It was mind-blowing for those watching and a huge test of skills and endurance for the riders.  “It’s physical and intense. It’s hard on us but it’s hard on the bikes too”, says Reece  Burgess (pictured on the left) who took out his mate Phil Singleton in one of the heats – please note, not on purpose.

“Enduro cross is a discipline in its own right – you need to practice specifically for it !” 

Several local riders competed in the event. Out of the close to 80 riders, Jim Lowe-Pattie (pictured on the left) qualified 14^th, Reece Burgess 17^th, Phil Shilton 28^th, Phil Singleton 40^th, Taylor Grey 47^th and Dion Sheely 50^th. 

The top 4 from each race progressed through to the next round. Reece got through to the quarter finals while Jim advanced to the semi finals and then was in the extra repechage race to select the last 2 finalists.  Unfortunately, he missed out.  Chris Power, who had DNFed in his semi final, made it through and was one of the 6 New Zealanders contesting the final.

Final Results:
1st Graham Jarvis (UK)
2nd Paul Bolton (UK)
3rd Chris Birch (NZ)
4th Andreas Lettenbichler (GER)
5th Jake Whitaker (NZ)
6th Mitchell Nield (NZ)
7th Chris Power (NZ)
8th Warren Laugesen (NZ)
9th Scott Bouverie (SA)
10th Karl Power (NZ)

For full results click here.  For photos click here and here..

If you haven’t already seen the race highlights, click here. 

Click here for behind the scenes info.  

The Red Bull  report on the event (www.redbull.co.nz)was as follows:

On Sunday April 1st hundreds of tonnes of rocks, dirt, logs, concrete and tyres transformed the idyllic setting of T Pier in Westhaven into an Enduro-cross track of epic proportions. Over 10,000 spectators watched 80 riders battle it out for the City Scramble title. In the end it was Husaberg rider Graham Jarvis (UK) who reigned supreme and took home the $5000 cash prize.

“Paul Bolton just kept pushing and pushing on those last few laps and I was holding on for that chequered flag. It was a tough race and hard not to make mistakes, but the course is great, you just have to give it everything as soon as you are out of that gate” said Jarvis.

Paul Bolton (UK) was one to watch throughout the day, he constantly placed in the top 3 of each of his heats and semis and eventually fought his way to second place on the podium.

“I tried to play it cool, I’m really happy with the result. It was a worthwhile trip down here, it’s a great event” said Bolton.
Course designer and New Zealand Enduro champion, Chris Birch, had a bad run out of the starting gate placing him 7th in the final field of 10. He fought hard lap by lap and slowly overtook a tight field to take the final place on the podium.

“The bad start really killed me, by the time I fought my way past the guys from 7th the top two had checked out. I tried a couple of stunts to catch up to the guys, I jumped off one of the containers and re-injured my dodgy knee, but got on the podium at least! The support I had from the crowd was un real, it was really motivating you could hear everyone cheering 100%. The day went perfect, everyone had a good time and that was the main goal” said Birch.

The sport of Enduro often distances itself from spectators by the remote locations of its competitions. This couldn’t be further from the truth for Red Bull City Scramble. Every natural obstacle a rider is likely to encounter in the forest and mountains of a typical Enduro track is replicated with manmade features that push both rider and machine to the limits, thrilling the tightly packed course crowds.

“The section where you go over the rock gardens and the big road barriers is the hardest, they blow your arms out and it takes a long time to recover” said Birch.

A first for Red Bull City Scramble was the new water feature where riders had to traverse a 10 metre long ladder bridge that was partially submerged in the Waitamata Harbour. Two riders misjudged the corner coming into the bridge, which sent their bikes flying into the sea. These mishaps were crowd favourites and earned Quade Young the Red Bull City Scramble ‘Bugger’ award.

The repeat success of Red Bull City Scramble helps to push the local NZ Enduro scene to new heights. Every one of the 10,000 people that visited Red Bull City Scramble walked away with a smile and a new respect for the sport of Enduro.