By Billy Rainford
I got to spend the weekend in Alberta to check out the 8th round of the 2022 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship at the Red Bull Outliers. The main race was on Sunday in the Badlands 45 minutes outside of Brooks, but they put on a nice display at Olympic Plaza in downtown Calgary on Saturday.
Saturday acted as a qualifier for Sunday but its main purpose was to showcase the sport and get people to check it all out in the middle of the city. It definitely worked, as lots and lots of curious city dwellers and tourists packed the sunken auditorium to watch some of the world’s best two-wheel riders do battle over some tricky obstacles.
Unfortunately, the very heavy rain and wind showed up after the first heats were finished and the main events actually had to be cancelled once it was seen that riders couldn’t get over the very first section in the conditions.
All was not lost, though, as the spectators got to see everyone ride at least once before they shut it all down. They got to see Canadian two-wheel superstar #84 Trystan Hart take a very convincing win in his Pro heat. That itself was going to be enough to keep people watching, but it wasn’t to be.
As organizer Shane Cuthbertson said at the Sunday riders meeting, “The weather gods just don’t want me to hold an event in Calgary.” The temperature dropped and we all knew it wasn’t going to be long before we were all running for cover.
When the rain finally showed up, it brought wind, lightning, and some hail along with it. They tried to hold a couple more races but riders weren’t able to make it over the now wet wooden obstacles and then the inevitable happened and the races were canceled.
I’ll do a full repot on my time here in Alberta, so I won’t get into details here now, but I will show you a couple shots from Sunday.
Provisional Results: Round 7 – Red Bull Outliers
1 Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM)
2 Trystan Hart (KTM)
3 Mario Roman (Sherco)
4 Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna)
5 Taddy Blazusiak (GASGAS)
Provisional Championship Standings (After round 7)
1 Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM) 107 Points
2 Mario Roman (Sherco) 103 Points
3 Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna) 82 Points
4 Teodor Kabakchiev (KTM) 72 Points
5 Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 62 Points
6 Alfredo Gomez (GASGAS) 57 Points
7 Michael Walkner (GASGAS) 57 Points
8 David Cyprian (KTM) 57 Points
9 Trystan Hart (KTM) 50 Points
10 Wade Young (Sherco) 46 Points
Canada at World Junior Motocross Championships
We had 3 riders at the 2022 World Junior Motocross Championships in Finland over the weekend. Dustin Burbridge, Jayden Riley, and Brennan Schofield represented the team that went over with Carl Bastedo and Zeb Dennis.
Unfortunately, none of our guys were able to make it into the main motos, but I’m sure they learned an awful lot about how hard they’ll need to work if they want to get to the next level.
Carl Bastedo summed it up like this:
“We laid an egg. To win we need 5 sec in the 85cc class and 10 sec in 125. Didn’t qualify for todays finals. We all learned a lot, I have to handle different than the MXON where the guys have their act together. Thought we’d be decent in the sand and rough, rough conditions but the Euros have it nailed. We enjoyed the experience and will come out swinging in 2023.“
Chin up, guys. Chalk it up to experience and learn from it.
Team Canada at the 2022 ISDE
Team Canada ISDE is over in France to compete in the 2022 event. We sent over two strong teams but the bad news is that Tyler Medaglia will not be able to ride the event due to his hand injury being worse than originally thought. It’s a tough blow for him and the team.
If you want to follow along with their progress, check out their Facebook page where they’ll be updating it regularly.
“Morning started out great.. unfortunately we had some issues with the women. Bottle necks on the trail holding them up. Hopefully they will get it sorted!“
Good luck this week, team.
You can sign up for FREE and watch the event LIVE this year:
450 Title Down to 1 Point with 1 Round Remaining
So it all comes down to Fox Raceway this weekend. There are reasons to cheer for both Chase Sexton and Eli Tomac. Who are you rooting for and why?
I hope that got you through another cup this morning. It’s time for me to head over to the airport for the trip home to Ontario. Thanks to everyone who made this Hard Enduro adventure possible. I shot a lot of video and will get to editing that as soon as I can. Have a great week.
Next on the schedule is the Gopher Dunes Supercross Labour Day Weekend. See you there!
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