DIRT NEWS
LETTENBICHLER DOMINATES IN WALES
GAJSER GONE FROM TITLE HUNT
The FIM Hard Enduro World Championship got under way at the Walters Arena in Wales and the reigning champion showed the rest a clean set of heels, if they could see them as he stormed home over two minutes clear of the field. Second in the Saturday prologue and bagging a couple of important points, come race time he started hard and fast, heading through the heats untroubled and into the sprint final, claiming the win and heading into the final day’ s main event with confidence. Mani knew a good start was going to mean a lot on the technical course and once he got the holeshot, his KTM 300 EXC Champion’ s Edition was never really threatened as he rode cleanly and typically Mani-fast, winning by 2 minutes 16 seconds ahead of Billy Bolt. Bolt, who won the prologue sits two points behind Lettenbichler’ s 22 points with Teodor Kabakchiev in third with 15 points.
Despite a stellar start to the 2025 season, Honda HRC’ s Tim Gajser‘ s title aspirations have been shot down by a shoulder injury. After crashing on April 21 in Switzerland, the shoulder didn’ t respond to physiotherapy as hoped and a further scan revealed a more serious prognosis that has meant surgery was his only realistic option. Gasjer’ s season started well, standing on the podium in each of the first six rounds, winning three of them. At one stage he had pulled out a fifty-point lead and his form was awesome. Sadly, he will be watching from the sidelines for several weeks as he resists the temptation to get back too early – the long-term goal is complete and full recovery and return in the same form he was in and see what he can do for the remainder of the season. The title is no longer a realistic goal, so look out for Gajser going for round wins once he gets back on his Honda.
KIWI RIDER 17