Hard Enduro World Championship, Forza Orza: Lettenbichler overcomes a setback to win

Over ten laps and more than two hours, the German was, as usual, the one to beat, but he still had to get over a scare: on a technical uphill section, Manuel Lettenbichler stalled his KTM and was initially unable to get it running again. It was only the vociferous support of the spectators and instructions from his mechanic that helped – Letti managed to restart it on the descent and carried on as if nothing had happened. In the end, after 2:20:41 hours, he still held a comfortable lead of 3:36 minutes over the 23-year-old Briton Mitch Brightmore.

Mitch could have capitalised on that scare, but the GASGAS rider was unable to close the gap even after the leader’s slip-up. Behind them, his brother Ashton Brightmore, three years his junior, completed the podium in third place, underlining the X-Grip duo’s strong week and excellent form. However, it was local hero Eddie Karlsson who drew the loudest cheers: the Swede finished fourth on his electric Stark in front of his home crowd.

Mitch Brightmore bestätigte seine Form beim Forza Orza

Foto: HEWC/Macphtos

Billy Bolt, on the other hand, had a bad day. The Husqvarna works rider, who had won Friday’s sprint, uncharacteristically crashed his bike twice and lost valuable time – in the end, he managed fifth place, just ahead of Mario Román (Husqvarna). The riders finishing behind the Spaniard Román had at least one lap fewer on the clock. Matthew Green and Thomas Scales were locked in a thrilling battle for places in the top 10.

In the overall standings, Lettenbichler extended his lead to 15 points over Mitch Brightmore (117:102). The battle for third place promises to be a nail-biter: Ashton Brightmore has closed the gap to just a single point behind Teodor Kabakchiev, who failed to secure a top result in Sweden. The Hard Enduro World Championship continues from 4 to 6 September with the Abestone Hard Enduro in Abetone, Italy – followed by three further rounds: Roof of Africa, Sea to Sky and the Hixpania finale.

Manuel Lettenbichler: “That was a tough race. There was a lot of traffic whilst lapping, which was a bit annoying. To get past, I had to choose a line that was a bit of a gamble. That’s when I lost the rear end of the KTM. Later on, the engine wouldn’t start and I had to push it downhill to get it going. That happened again a bit later and I was worried that Mitch would catch up with me. But we still managed to finish first. What a race.”

Lokalmatador Eddie Karlsson auf der Stark

Foto: HEWC/Macphtos

Main race results, Forza Orza (Top 10):

World Championship overall standings after Round 4 (Top 10):