Manuel Letenbichler (KTM) is just one point behind Mario Roman (Sherko), who both ride knives between their teeth at the Badlands near Calgary to put themselves in good shape for a performance at Hickspania, Spain in early October. will do. The top favorite, however, is Canadian Tristan Hart, who has the advantage in the home field and has previously won on his KTM in a TKO in the United States.

For the first time, round one of the Hard Enduro World Championships will be held in Canada and 250 top riders, about 40 of them in the Pro class, will take on the challenges of the country’s largest hard enduro event. It begins on Saturday, August 27 in the City of Calgary with the now mandatory prologue. At Olympic Plaza, 10 to 14 drivers will have to master artificial hurdles and compete not only for prize money, but also for the starting order of the main event on Sunday.

Although the Outliers is being held for the third time, it also provides new terrain for most of the championship’s top riders. A surreal landscape reminiscent of shots of the moon awaits the world elite of hard enduro sport on Sunday: Roman, Letenbichler and Hart, along with Graham Jarvis, Cody Webb, Wade Young, Teddy Blajusiak and Austrian Michael Walkner, Those who had to withhold TKO due to injury will be part of the game. The barren terrain of the Badlands is a unique place with steep climbs, technical descents and deep sand holes. The event is more of a sprint race than a race like the Xross or the Romaniacs. Like the TKO, it will be a test of physical endurance at comparatively high speeds and short distances. Mistakes should be avoided as far as possible, as there is not much room to make up for lost time in a sprint race.

The Pro class will have its own race on Sunday in a multi-lap format and will have to complete nine laps. This time live timing is not available as the track is in a remote area with no internet/cell service.

In his home race, Tristan Hart will be on as much gas as possible from the start – he’s a rider who attracted attention for the first time this season with third place at the Erzbergrodio: young, technically proficient and in impressive shape. Like in the TKO, Roman and Letenbichler will struggle to keep Canada’s momentum going over this short distance. However, a very close title fight between the two will ensure uncompromising full-throttle action. Manuel injured his heel in TKO and has been fit mainly on his mountain bike for the past two weeks. For outsiders, however, he must be reinstated to the point where he can start the race without hesitation.

Mario has consistently performed well on his Sherko this year and has consistently finished on the podium. He missed the top three only once due to a broken toe. After Ebston underwent surgery on Billy Bolt (GB, Husqvarna) and retired from the latter race, the Spaniard has a rare opportunity to challenge for the title.

After missing the season opener in Israel due to injury, Letenbichler topped his points table with three wins at Xeros in Serbia, Erzbergrodio in Austria and Ebston in Italy. A technical fault resulted in a time penalty at Romaniax and a sixth-place penalty in Romania with equally poor points. Second place in TKO behind Hart earned enough points to reduce Roman’s gap from three to one. Of course he wants to win his fourth win of the season in the outliers to have an optimized starting position against Roman in Spain.

Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna), currently third overall, will try to defend his lead over Bulgarian Teodor Kabachev.

After Red Bull misses a TKO, Michael Walkner (GASGAS) returns with Red Bull outliers.

Wade Young (Sherko) returned to racing with a fourth place in the United States and would be on his way to success in Canada as well. He won the Hero Challenge in Poland last year in similar conditions and always did well in multi-lap races.

Position after 6 out of 8 races:

1. Mario Roman (Sherko), 88 points
2. Manuel Letenbichler (KTM), 87
3. Graham Jarvis (Husqvarna), 69
4. Teodor Kabachev (KTM), 63
5. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna), 62
6. Alfredo Gomez (GasGas), 57
7.Michael Walkner (GasGas), 49
8. David Cyprian (KTM), 47
9. Wade Young (Sherko), 46
10. Dominic Olszowy (GASGAS), 37