Adventure-Spec rider Graham Jarvis had a score to settle with Hell's Peak, where 12 months before he'd snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. With 200 metres to go to the finish Dougie Lampkin had passed him to win with assistance from the enormous Hell's Gate crowd.
Hell's Gate is a one-day event of epic proportions. The riders start before sunrise for the qualifying enduro, a 'mere' six hours of highly technical enduro going including 40 minutes of flat-out special test racing. Graham started the event perfectly winning 3 of the 4 special tests making him top qualifier for the afternoon's main event.
After a brief rest and a bite to eat Graham was fresh and ready for the main race. Scheduled to be six laps of the course taking about an hour each, it would be no walk in the park.
The start didnt go quite to plan as Graham's bike failed to fire first kick leaving him the tough task of passing less able riders. This proved little challenge and at the first spectator point he held a 3 minute lead.
With the course proving utter torture for most competitors the field dwindled quickly as riders were pulled out if they fell more than 30 minutes behind the leader. With only 5 riders remaining the organisers declared the fourth lap would be the last. The lights went on as the remaining riders rode into the darkness.
Upon the decision being taken to shorten the race graham picked up his pace to an even more devastating level, stretching his lead over Dougie Lampkin out to an almost unbelievable 25 minutes. As Graham reached the bottom of the fearsome and unrideable Hell's Peak at 7pm, victory was within his grasp. Graham pushed even harder using his trials skills to ride to within ten metres of the top. As the crowd attached ropes to pull him up the last few metres, Graham hung onto the bars to finally achieve an emphatic maiden victory at Hell's Gate!
The months of hard training over the winter with his Italian team, Husaberg Flite Extreme, has really paid off and Graham is in outstanding form. With The Tough One and Erzberg coming up the other stars of the Extreme Enduro world must be getting worried.
Watch out, The Silent Assasin is coming!
