red bull romaniacs
06.07.2020

October date set for Red Bull Romaniacs

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Marking the final round of the 2020 WESS Enduro World Championship, the Red Bull Romaniacs will now take place on October 27-31.

Seeing a revised calendar to the series due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year will feature four rounds – beginning with Hawkstone Park Cross Country on September 19-20 before finishing with the Red Bull Romaniacs six weeks later.

After Hawkstone Park, Extreme XL Lagares and Hixpania, the Red Bull Romaniacs will be the fourth and final stop of the WESS Enduro World Championship and the end of a very short Hard Enduro racing season. With the new date in October, the event will present itself in a completely new atmosphere and take the Hard Enduro athletes to new extremes. Most participants know the Red Bull Romaniacs playgrounds in scorching heat, interrupted only by the frequent summer thunderstorms. Few competitors have raced the Red Bull Romaniacs in the beautiful, golden autumn of the Carpathians: only the first edition in 2004 took place in late October. For insiders this is the most beautiful time to ride in Romania.

However, the decision to postpone the race from its original date in July to October was a tough one. Despite huge uncertainties and rapid changes of the situation during the Corona crisis, the team around founder Martin Freinademetz had kept their eyes on the July date – always believing that there was a chance for “normality” to return in time and that this was the best option for registered competitors, who had already booked their international travel. Unfortunately, travel restrictions have been lifted too slowly for an event date in summer – and some of the main countries would not be able to travel to and from Romania. With an event date in October, not only will the general situation have a chance to normalize more, but international travel will also hopefully be less restricted.

To adjust the event to the “Corona” circumstances, a variety of changes to the format of the event have been implemented to protect the health of the public, the participants and the organizing team. The biggest change is the elimination of spectator opportunities. The City Prologue, usually visited by thousands of spectators, will not be part of the event concept in 2020. Instead, an off-road qualifying session for the first day of the event has been added. This “Time Trial Qualification” presents the Gold, Silver, Bronze, Iron and Atom classes an individual ca. 20km racetrack, suiting their skill level. The results will define the starting order for Offroad Day 1.

Further, Covid-19 specific measures will be taken to limit physical interactions within the team and the competitors when they are not in the mountains. The work areas in the paddock, headquarter and service parks will be rearranged at much greater distances, and the interaction with the organizers during the administrative and technical checks will be done with social distancing measures implemented. The daily riders briefing will be done online. All current safety event-regulations to prevent infections and the spread of the Covid-19 will be met and implemented. Regulations and measures to avoid Covid-19 infections are mandatory for all event participants. More info: www.redbullromaniacs.com/information/covid19/

Martin Freinademetz: “Throughout the crisis, we kept our focus on preparing the race, never knowing if we would be able to pull it off or not. We fought our battles behind the scenes and kept preparing our event. 1000km of race track are scouted and prepared and the staff are on standby – ready to go. I am glad we had good nerves and I am excited that we still get to race in this difficult year. We raced the Red Bull Romaniacs in October before (in 2004) and the Vertical Madness Edition will be an interesting contrast to our usual hot-summer atmosphere. In fact, Romania is much more beautiful in fall!”

The online competitor registration is open now: all previously made reservations remain valid and new starting places are available for all classes. Go to www.redbullromaniacs.com to sign up now!

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Gearing up for an exciting season of racing, the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship is set to enjoy unique, distinctive, and vastly challenging races. All events are open to amateur and professionals alike. Participants compete in different categories based on their skill level and experience.