Minus 400 results: Mario Roman wins HEWC round 1

Main event results from the Minus 400 Hard Enduro World Championship round in Israel – Mario Roman takes overall victory ahead of Billy Bolt and Graham Jarvis in brutal desert conditions.

Mario Roman fought off the attentions of Billy Bolt in the gruelling Minus 400 main event to claim the first Hard Enduro World Championship round win of the season.

Minus 400 main race in a nutshell:

• The pair battled in the first two hours along with Wade Young but after the service area, at the hardest sections of the course, the Sherco factory rider showed his winter training programme and pulled away.
• The final key sections were decisive in the outcome with a technical boulder garden, made even harder by the furnace-like heat baking the rocks, the point at which Roman made his move. Taking less time through this section, Mario put a gap into his rivals and went on to claim the victory in a total time of 3:48.24, seven minutes clear.
• “Ah man, it’s amazing to get this win.” Said Mario. “What a start to the season! I feel like it’s a long time coming since my last big victory. Overall, the race has been very good for its first edition. The entire three days were tough with the terrain and the heat. Today was a battle. I started fourth and focused on my own pace. In the technical terrain I caught up to them and after service I pushed on again. In the final key sections I made my move and took the win.”

Check the winning style...

• Bolt finished second and says the short turn around between SuperEnduro and Hard Enduro seasons was a factor, “It’s been a physical start to the season for sure.” Says Billy. “After a full SuperEnduro season I was a little underprepared coming here. Considering how little time I’ve spent on the two-stroke prior to Israel I’m happy with second. At the service point I could see Mario and Wade’s tyres were in better condition, so I knew I just needed to hang on to the finish to secure a podium result.”
• Proving once again that when the going gets tough, Graham Jarvis gets going the veteran finished in third place just over two minutes behind his Husqvarna ‘teammate’. This was Graham’s first race back since injuring himself at the 2021 Romaniacs so a big result, “It feels brilliant to be back racing and even better to finish on the podium.” Graham explained."It’s been a long road to recovery to get to this point. The initial part of today’s race was fast and I wasn’t comfortable to go with the top guys straight away - I’m still thinking about my knee. But after the service point I settled in and started to make progress. The rock section at the end was the decider and I made places there for third.”
• Alfredo Gomez was dogged as ever in taking fourth overall having got the better of day two prologue winner Wade Young who it turned out had missed a section of the track.
• Roman, Bolt, Jarvis, Gomez and Young were the only riders to reach check point nine on the tyre-eating course.  

Minus 400 main race results (top 30):

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Nir Amos