Britain’s Joe Deakin ventured into the unknown and the Red Bull Romaniacs a couple of weeks back and came home with a finishers medal and third place in the Silver class.
Feature Image courtesy of iRideWESS – Future7Media
We caught up with him on his return to see how it all went from his angle…
Dirt Hub: Hey Joe, so how long have you been planning to ride in the Romaniacs?
Joe: I have wanted to ride it for the last 2 years, so when the opportunity came this year to ride it, when there hasn’t been a lot of riding this year I took it.
DH: Are you looking to do other WESS rounds?
Joe: I should get to a couple of future WESS rounds, I’m definitely doing Erzberg next year.
DH: Before you seemed to be mainly a conventional Enduro rider, did doing the Edge extremes get you into the genre?
Joe: The Edge extremes are good, but no, I started doing extremes in 2018, I rode the British extreme championship and Sea to Sky.
DH: How has the British Extreme Championship been for you?
Joe: In 2018 I won the Expert championship and this year I came 3rd in the Pro class
DH: How did the Romaniacs compare with the British rounds?
Joe: Their terrain is so much steeper and the hills go on for so much longer, the days are longer and generally more exhausting.
DH: Was it tougher than what you expected?
Joe: Yeah, I knew it was going to be hard, but it was worse than I expected.
DH: Did you feel prepared for it or would you change anything on how you trained for it if you did it again?
Joe: If I did it again, I would have some time off work and ride 4 long days in a row to copy the race. It was tough to ride that terrain for that many days in a row.
DH: How easy was it to get over there with the Covid restrictions and did that change your experience?
Joe: We flew over so that wasn’t really any different, but over there you have to wear a mask even outside, so it wasn’t nice being in a mask constantly.
DH: How did the event go for you?
Joe: The event went well, was a tough challenge and I was happy to finish.
DH: What was the toughest bit and what did you enjoy the most?
Joe: Day 3 was the hardest part, it had rained all night and it was the hardest day they had set, it was also the longest day, so that was the hardest day to get through.
DH: You finished third in the Silver class you must have been pleased with that?
Joe: Yeah I was very pleased, I won the qualifying and wanted to win silver class, but I hit a fallen tree early into the first day and really hurt my leg. After that, it became just about getting to the finish for me as I was in a lot of pain for the whole event, so when I managed to stay on the podium I was really happy.
DH: Are you looking to race in it again?
Joe: I will definitely race it again and do gold, I don’t know when I will do that though.
DH: What plans do you have for 2021?
Joe: I am going to compete in…
British extreme championship
Edge extreme championship
Erzberg
Sea to Sky
Portugal trip with redline racing
If I can get to Romania again then I would like to do that also.
DH: What sponsors would you like to thank for their support?
Joe: I would like to thank
Steer Commercials
Redline Racing
Ace Suspension
My Family
Edge Offroad for their past support
