Challenge Accepted: 2021 Hero Challenge Full Race Recap

is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] heroes are born not made confident courageous and inspiring they are cut from a different cloth made from a different mold armed with great strength and ability destined to become legends ready to accomplish the extraordinary it's quiet and peaceful in southern poland but that's all about to change dusty forest trails not far from the picturesque city of krakow will soon be home to a hurricane of hard enduro heroics we're here for another competition that's new to the fim hard enduro world championship it's the sensational second edition of hero challenge saturday morning we're going to have a qualifying run round a slightly smaller lap than what we're going to race on sunday but you're going to do two runs the best one's going to count as you qualify in time the top 27 goes to the evening qualifiers which is a super enduro knockout race that gets you a position at the start for sunday sunday main event we will race for three hours so there's two motocross tracks one hard pack one sand and then there's a lot of woods and a lot of man-made rock gardens and logs and stuff like that so it's a kind of enduro crossing but really fast i think it's going to be such a fast race i've walked already the trek there's definitely way more riders who can be pedaling up in the front the roster of top riders are amped up heading into the series home stretch so far this season has been dominated by two athletes manual letting bickler and billy bolt lettin bigler has landed on every single podium but bolt has more wins taking first place at red bull tko put the brit just one point behind the german and both have a decent lead on the rest of the field wade young mario roman and johnny walker in third fourth and fifth respectively have serious work to do if they want to challenge for top fin points this season it's going to be really fast especially in the two stroke coming off an injury and sitting in sixth overall teddy bladzuziak is looking to make his mark on home soil i've been off the bike since dko so i've done uh one day on the bike yesterday to test the bike here in uh in poland it's always cool you know to come back here i would love to be you know 100 you know fit but i'm gonna try and give it everything that i have [Music] now let's check in with race reporter paul bolton for a taste of what the hard enduro heroes have in store at hero challenge around the first turn [Music] just been watered so there might be some little slippy patches there he is the world famous matt that green couple of doubles now there we go [Music] choppy rolling didn't want to go through that big puddle back into tight twisty stuff [Music] now we're into the field looks like we've got some boys out [Music] now we're into probably the hardest part as it not impossible mega tricky use a lot of energy [Applause] oh yeah like that and just like that you put your front wheel in a hole and now we're going back down and we're into the rock section i can tell you something guys this rock section is pretty brutal [Music] [Applause] [Music] and that is a lap hope you enjoyed it so what we've got here in poland is a fast motocross track some parts has deep sand the other parts are hard packed it's going to be quite hard to find a good suspension set up and then in the forest tight twisty single trail some more fields that aren't so tricky but they could get some traffic and then in there there's some big long rock sections pace of the race is going to be high and it's going to be very physical because they're going to be flipping from high speed to low speed technical stuff [Music] riders hang with the fans as organizers attempt to reduce the dust on the track the party's about to get started with some fun fast racing in the day one morning prologue where the boys leave in 10 second intervals and have two chances to get the best time [Music] i feel like we haven't raced for so long so i'm super excited to get going today i feel like the last few weeks for me has been really good training-wise so yeah i'm excited the track looks good and can't wait to get going leading the pack which is hopefully pretty good with the dust but it's only 10 seconds and i have philly behind me and he's definitely pretty good in stuff like this in lap one manny letton bickler and billy bolt are the first to kick up some dust on the enduro cross [Music] looks like course might have closed a little bit of time on manny double doubles manny maneuvers slowly through the rocks as billy bolt blows right by him further back johnny walker slides through the sand and airborne over the obstacles it's wade young well local hero polish pro dominic ozlowski is holding his own against the hard enduro heavyweights but it's billy bowles sending it through the finish with a whip and the best time in lap one followed by walker young ozlowski and letting bickler time to take it up a notch in lap two all the riders are going full gas for a better result letting bickler is flashing fast young is looking spry and bolts got that lightning quick speed but it's home turf titan dominic kozlowski pinning it with the best time of the morning followed by bolt young letton bickler and walker yeah i feel good i was um i surprised how rough the truck got to be honest and you know it's got a there's a hobby race going on tomorrow morning before we go out there so i think it's going to be a long hard three hours the the track's not too difficult from a technical point of view but i think it's gonna be it's gonna be a physical three hours that's for sure as the sun goes down 27 riders get ready for the super final this is a knockout style competition it starts with nine races with two to three riders per race in each one the last competitor gets eliminated the pack gets whittled away until we're left with four riders who will fight it out for the finish [Music] nicer good good good night charming look at all the people guys check this out surrounded by a sea of exhilarated spectators under a flood of disco lights the first two riders launch in poland's dominic oslowski and finnish rider auntie henainen is first into the rock garden and the first to enter an abandoned factory [Music] emerging from the darkness is the polish pro and despite stumbling in the last stretch he still wins as heat each group follows through the speedy super enduro track in suit teddy is aggressive as always from super engineer dave as the evening progresses the slow poor unlucky are getting knocked off one after the other [Music] but not these eight these are the fastest athletes of the evening so far [Music] [Applause] in the semifinals gomez crushes the course and beats out lazuziak in the first group [Music] but bolt gets the advantage takes the win [Music] [Applause] so it's these fantastic four headed into the final [Music] off the start gomez gets the whole shot the fearsome foursome battle over the track they enter the factory handling the course with ease which makes sense each athlete is a super enduro world champion bolt is the 2020 winner lazuziac took the title six times and manny is a former world juniors winner the four hard enduro horsemen gallop across the final obstacles but it's the high-flying spanish superstar alfredo gomez with the super final win really happy for my for my win and then for the organizer also who could make this very happy your lips you can see like the endo community is big in poland and yeah it's definitely always nice to come here the starting order is now set for the extreme cross country race day two final here at hero challenge ah lovely lovely that they prepped the trek it's going to be primed tomorrow this track it's obviously it's not easy it's a lot faster than normal because we usually have just obstacle after obstacle whereas this we've got a lot faster stuff somewhere across the sections you know then we've got some hard enduro in it we've got some super enduro in it we've got some single tracks in it a little bit of everything to be three hours on the bike is super tough for the mine especially more than the physical part maybe after one and a half hour everybody is destroyed because the rhythm and the pace is gonna be so high but you have to keep accelerating as much as possible the intensity of the race is completely different hard and neuro we go more on the technical side here it goes more on the fast side so it's a completely different preparation the setup is for sure different harder suspension more like of aggressive setup for the bike in general for engine wise just to give it more power out of the corners and we went a little bit faster with the gearings put some harder tires on just to just to keep it fresh for like three hours of racing in a kind of a sandy shirt some people who ride motocross would maybe think that a four-stroke would be a good choice of flight you're staying on a two-stroke like most of the guys can you explain why yeah usually i would be i'd be jumping on the four-stroke straight away i i really enjoy riding four strokes and ride a motocross on four-stroke and to be honest it's i was surprised but i was faster on my two-stroke than i was on the four-stroke so at the end of the day you can't really argue with the clock it'll be a tough price because the speed everyone will be playing speed but you have to keep accelerating as much as possible good morning everybody it's sunday it's race day this is the moment we've all been waiting for this race is gonna really grind them down overall we've got seven laps to complete the hero challenge there's gonna be a little bit of fuel strategy i think they're gonna do three laps check how much they've used and then possibly do four to the finish line but let's see we're not really sure how long the laps gonna take i think we're probably gonna do an early pit stop the first time and just kind of gauge how much fuel we use and then decide whether to do one more or two more i've decided to put a bigger tank on for this race because it's three hours i think i can just do it in one stop so i'm gonna stop on uh lap three because it's a seven lap race so lap three see how much fuel we've actually used and then hopefully we can just go to the finish from there this is the most unique looking staggered grid setup in the series this year day one super final winner alfredo gomez will lead taddy bletzuziak manny lettenbichler billy bolt and the rest of the pack through a seven-lap three-hour extreme cross-country extravaganza time to grip it and rip it first across the finish line takes the hero challenge title they explode from the gate like a stampede of wild animals with lenten migler taking the lead billy is right behind him showing why they've been dominant forces in the series this year [Music] then it's poland's own dominic ozlowski riding in third lettin bigler maintains his lead in the forest enduro section but his closest competition finds better lines over the boulders so now he's billy with dominic kozlowski in second and manny in third wade young coming through now from a 10th place start wade young has found an early rhythm shooting his way through the ranks in the fourth less than a minute back it's johnny walker travis teasdale alfredo gomez and mario roman [Music] but as riders complete the first lap there's no sign of polish hero teddy blazuziak he's made a tough decision to bow out of the race due to an existing shoulder injury further back the experts and hobby riders are fighting and flying through the care course i make a wrong room for me [Music] take a walk in my shoes [Music] [Music] as the race progresses bolt and lettenbachler continue to hold first and second through the enduro cross section manny coming through the enduro cross nicely doubled it's a hard-fought push through the rocky woods before a necessary pit stop strategy is key in a race like this making a pit stop at the wrong time could mean losing position or worse a place on the podium his first back on the track he's full out through the sandy straight away letting bickler's in pursuit and so is a new threat wait jung for three the wage float really [Music] [Applause] i like it a little strategy going on the south african continues to put pressure on the front runners over the obstacles big fight now weighs close right in on money he's going to want to make a pass on him now because he knows that he's still got a fuel yep so wade's got through but manny's probably let him buy because he knows he's got a fuel next time so wade needs to pull a good pit stop on him now and really push this one and push it he does over an hour into the race young grinds it up the reddit for a single track with bolt in his sights he makes an aggressive pass and guns it down the narrow trails just behind him bolt skims the rollers as they complete the third lap so wade's coming in for fuel he's already taken his fuel cap off let's see how close this is he's got the quick fuel in already there's billy and he has weighed willy billy's gonna go through but it looks like he's gonna stay into second he's already ready to go this is a perfect example of the risk of refueling bolt is now back in the lead [Music] further back johnny walker is sitting comfortably in fifth but a fuel stop also affects his position mario roman uses it to his advantage and overtakes the brit ahead of them ozlowski is holding steady in fourth [Music] up front bolt floats past the side grass in first with young breathing down his neck but as they disappear into the trees a change is made here we go lap four and he's wayne young and that is so billy has to fuel again this lap billy looks like he's a better line billy's just got past wade let's see what happens now [Music] wayne going in front again mega battle here this is flipping awesome guys oh he's gone past thought the black markers got him oh massive fight on philly's lost the front and by losing the front boltz left it wide open for young to let loose nearly three hours into the race he's put over three minutes between himself and the brick absolutely tearing this truffle nice inside there there's still a slim chance bolt can close the gap but he'll need to be ultra fast with his final lap hit stop not only that many letting bickler is only seconds behind him adding extra pressure [Music] who will come out on top [Music] [Music] at the finish line fans await the exciting outcome and it's sureco dynamo wade young sending it off the kicker taking top spot at hero challenge nearly four minutes later billy bolt soars through in seconds and manny litton bickler tears it up in third [Music] i took a bit of a gamble um with not filling on the when everyone else fueled so i didn't have the best starts i was a bit back but i knew my place was kind of good i'm actually pretty surprised my speed myself but um i had an awesome day out there i'm so happy a big thanks to the team as well for that it was hard it was uh it's just such a there's such a difference between you know cruising at a pretty good pace and then pushing at like maximum pace the difference of kind of how the bike responds and how close to the edge you are is so big and um i just couldn't couldn't get close enough to the edge today it was so tiring like i was so stoked about my whole shot and felt pretty good until like the fifth lap or something like this and then you definitely could feel or is super intense for the body and definitely tiring but only one point behind now in a championship so one point is nothing like we saw today and i'm trying to get it back next time here are the hero challenge final results it's wade young in first billy bolton second and manny letton bickler in third dominic azlowski takes fourth place on home soil before the race letting michler was only one point ahead of bolt in the overall standings now it's the other way around boltz jumped into first with 70 points manny has 69 and young sits in third with 60. roman is 12 points back and forth can he close that gap as we head to his home country of spain for the penultimate race of the season it's the mind-blowing medieval medieval-themed hickspania heart enduro till then i'm troy mantering saying keep the rubber side down [Music] is [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Red Bull Motorsports

Views: 34,527

Rating: 4.9524517 out of 5

Keywords: red bull, red bull motorsports, motorsports, motorsports videos, redbull, red bull hard enduro, red bull enduro, hero challenge, fim hard enduro world championship 2021, manuel lettenbichler, jonny walker, billy bolt, hard enduro 2021, hard enduro highlights, hard enduro race, hard enduro, taddy blazusiak, hard enduro world championship, fim, fim hard enduro world championship, hard enduro skills, enduro life, dirt bike, ktm, hard enduro race 2021, enduro racing, enduro race

Id: OkYpD-cECzg

Length: 26min 22sec (1582 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 25 2021