{"id":40796,"date":"2018-06-02T21:30:05","date_gmt":"2018-06-02T18:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enduro.nl\/?p=40796"},"modified":"2018-06-02T21:30:05","modified_gmt":"2018-06-02T18:30:05","slug":"josep-garcia-sets-the-pace-at-erzbergrodeos-blaklader-iron-road-prolog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/40796\/josep-garcia-sets-the-pace-at-erzbergrodeos-blaklader-iron-road-prolog\/","title":{"rendered":"Josep Garcia Sets The Pace At Erzbergrodeo\u2019s Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eisenerz, Austria – June 1, 2018 \u2014<\/strong>\u00a0Spain\u2019s Josep Garcia (KTM) has established \"garcia-erzberg\"<\/a>himself as the rider to beat in this year\u2019s Erzbergrodeo Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog, setting the fastest time during Friday\u2019s opening qualification run.<\/p>\n

Turning up the heat at round two of the World Enduro Super Series in Austria, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing\u2019s Garcia set a blisteringly fast qualification time to provisionally top the standings ahead of the 1530 competitors entered. Making his debut ride at the iconic Erzbergrodeo the reigning Enduro 2 World Champion wasted no time in making his presence felt by edging out 2018 Dakar Rally champion Matthias Walkner (KTM – AUT) with two-time SuperEnduro World Champion Colton Haaker (Husqvarna – USA) placing third.<\/p>\n

With qualification starting early at 08.00 hours, clear and sunny skies greeted the 1530-strong entry, all eager to blast their way up the infamous Iron Giant. Returning to action having missed the WESS opener in Portugal due to a knee injury, 2017 Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble winner Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna – Spain) led the field away. Quickly followed by three-time winner Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna – GB) and reigning SuperEnduro World Champion Cody Webb (KTM – USA) the pace was fast and frantic from the off.<\/p>\n

However, when the times were tallied up, it was Garcia who finished on top, beating home favourite Walkner on his KTM 450 Rally bike for Friday\u2019s win by just over one second. Two seconds further back, Haaker stopped the clocks for a top three time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maintaining a good run of form during the 24th edition of the Erzbergrodeo, Mitas Rocket Ride winner Ossi Reisinger (Husqvarna) was fourth and with fellow countryman Walter Feichtinger (KTM) fifth, it ensured three Austrian\u2019s filled the top five positions in qualification.<\/p>\n

With the fastest 50 earning a front row start for Sunday\u2019s Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble, the main WESS contenders in this year\u2019s race to become the ULTIMATE ENDURO CHAMPION have all provisionally made the cut.<\/p>\n

Runner-up at round one, KTM\u2019s Jonny Walker (GB) finished sixth, Travis Teasdale (Beta – RSA) seventh and Poland\u2019s Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) eighth. Third at WESS round one, Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) provisionally holds 13th behind Paul Bolton (KTM – GB), Webb, Wade Young (Sherco – RSA) and Estonia\u2019s Rannar Uusna (KTM).<\/p>\n

Reserving himself a provisional front row for Sunday\u2019s main race, championship leader Billy Bolt (Husqvarna – GB) is 15th, with team-mate Jarvis two positions further back in 17th. Aiming to make history as the first competitor on an electric-powered motorcycle to finish the Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble, Alta Motors\u2019 Ty Tremaine (USA) is off to a promising start in 43rd.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Josep Garcia (KTM – ESP):<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m so surprised to set the fastest time in today\u2019s prologue. As it\u2019s my first time here\u00a0I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed my run up the Iron Giant. It was a crazy feeling to ride with such speed for so long. Hopefully I can hold onto my lead and start Sunday\u2019s race with the number one plate on my bike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthias Walkner (KTM – AUT)<\/strong>: \u201cThe prologue was a lot of fun today. There were lots of long straights and long sweeping corners to really show what my 450 Rally bike could do. I had hoped to be fastest, I gave it my best shot, but Josep just beat me to it. I\u2019ll try again tomorrow to take the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colton Haaker (Husqvarna – USA):<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cThis is my third year at the Erzbergrodeo and that\u2019s my best qualification run so far, so I\u2019m more than pleased with that. I\u2019m happy just to secure a front row start but it is also nice to be a top three finisher today of over 1500 riders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Erzbergrodeo continues with day two of qualification on Saturday, June 2, where competitors will get a second opportunity to try and claim one of the 500 places available for Sunday\u2019s Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble.<\/p>\n

Watch the Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble live and exclusive on Red Bull TV and ServusTV Sunday June 3 at 14.00CEST<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Results \u2013 Erzbergrodeo, Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog, Friday, June 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Josep Garcia (KTM) 10:11.02; 2. Matthias Walkner (KTM) 10:12.58; 3. Colton Haaker (Husqvarna) 10:14.88; 4. Ossi Reisinger (Husqvarna) 10:20.27; 5. Walter Feichtinger (KTM) 10:24.10; 6. Jonny Walker (KTM) 10:25.60; 7. Travis Teasdale (Beta) 10:25.57; 8. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 10:26.81; 9. Paul Bolton (KTM) 10:27.69; 10. Cody Webb (KTM) 10:29.93\u2026<\/p>\n

Full Erzbergrodeo Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog\u00a0results\u00a0here<\/a><\/p>\n

Erzbergrodeo Schedule<\/strong>
\nMay 31: Mitas Rocket Ride
\nJune 1: Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog\u00a0\u2014 from 08.00hrs
\nJune 2: Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog\u00a0\u2014 from 08.00hrs
\nJune 3: Erzbergrodeo Red Bull Hare Scramble \u2014 14.30-18.30hrs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eisenerz, Austria – June 1, 2018 \u2014\u00a0Spain\u2019s Josep Garcia (KTM) has established himself as the rider to beat in this year\u2019s Erzbergrodeo Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog, setting the fastest time during Friday\u2019s opening qualification run. Turning up the heat at round two of the World Enduro Super Series in Austria, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing\u2019s…<\/p>\n

Lees meer “Josep Garcia Sets The Pace At Erzbergrodeo\u2019s Blakl\u00e4der Iron Road Prolog”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-persberichten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40796\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enduro.nl\/wordpress-enduronlnewsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}