2025 Hard Enduro Enduro World Championship
Valley’s Hard Enduro – Round One
The Valley’s Hard Enduro kicked off round one of the 2025 Hard Enduro Enduro World Championship over the weekend. The two-day event was held at Walters Arena. On Saturday, there was a points-earning prologue followed by an afternoon knockout race, and on Sunday, there was a four-lap main event.
Defending champion Manuel Lettenbichler was ready to get his title defence kicked off in the dry and dusty Welsh terrain, but Billy Bolt had other ideas, setting the pace by winning the prologue by over one second and claiming the three championship points on offer in the process. Runner-up in the prologue went to Lettenbichler who claimed two points.
That was turned around in the evening’s Knock Out style races which saw Lettenbichler advance through his heats with ease to reach the final, from which he went on to claim victory in the fast-paced, three-lap sprint after a unfortunate crash in the loose dust saw Bolt’s hopes of keeping his victory roll dashed.
Sunday saw the super-dry conditions for the main event, which meant dust clouds would be a major factor during the early part of the race and claiming the holeshot would be key to controlling the pace on lap one.
Focused on his start, Lettenbichler immediately shot into the lead on his KTM 300 EXC Champion Edition and remained unchallenged for the entirety of the four-lap race.
As the only rider to dip under 30 minutes for the lap, he charged his way around lap one to open an advantage of around one minute on his rivals. Another strong push during lap two saw him increase it to two minutes. Responding to any threats from behind, he maintained a consistent pace to secure a dominant and well-deserved victory.
Manuel Lettenbichler
“It’s been a great race. My focus was on getting the holeshot for the main event. I knew that would be key today. I managed to do that and was able to pull a good gap of maybe one minute by the end of lap one. During the second lap, I was a little unsure of where everyone else was. I felt like they were closing, so I pushed harder again. The team told me I was over two minutes clear at the end of lap two, so that was both a nice surprise and a good cushion to have. I was happy with my pace and could maintain that until the finish. Coming into a new season is always difficult to judge where things are at, so it’s quite cool to win like this. For sure, I have things I want to work on to improve, but for now I’ll enjoy this moment.”
Bolt had to work his way through traffic on lap one and raced his way into second as lap two began, however, with eventual race winner Manuel Lettenbichler far out front, Billy was unable to close the gap despite matching his pace and eventually took his Husvqvarna to runner-up.
Opting to control his advantage over third, Billy rode strongly for the remainder of the race, crossing the finish line in a dusty-but-deserved runner-up position, ahead of Sherco’s Teodor Kabakchiev in third.
Billy Bolt
“With a bad start in the main race I struggled a bit on lap one and wasn’t comfortable. The dust was quite bad and that made it difficult to settle into the pace I knew I was capable of. When we cleared lap one, Mani [Lettenbichler] was already out to a big lead. I was able to keep that gap for the majority of the race, but unfortunately the damage was done early on. Behind me, Teo [Kabakchiev] was pushing too, and at the end of the second lap he got close. I was riding the difficult parts really well but losing a little on the sections in between. For the final two laps I just tried to execute the hard parts to the best of my ability and hold my position. Overall, it was a fast four laps, and in this dust, I rode well to claim second. We have a small gap now until Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. I want to work on my pace on the medium-difficult sections to get up to that overall level I know I’m capable of. Between my SuperEnduro duties and taking some time off for injuries, I haven’t quite gelled yet outdoors. But I’m healthy and hungry now for hard enduro.”
Mario Roman was fourth, another minute in arrears.
Fifth went to Ashton Brightmore over four minutes behind Roman.
Letttenbichler only leads by two-points heading into round two at Red Bull Erzbergrodeo on May 29, with 22-points to Bolts 20, with Kabakchiev holding 15.
2025 Valleys Hard Enduro Provisional Results
| Pos | Rider | Gap |
| 1 | Manuel Lettenbichler (GER) KTM | 2:14:23.88 |
| 2 | Billy Bolt (GBR) Husq | +2:16.47 |
| 3 | Teodor Kabakchiev (BUL) Sherco | +2:50.35 |
| 4 | Mario Roman (ESP) Sherco | +3:51.97 |
| 5 | Ashton Brightmore (GBR) GASGAS | +8:04.51 |
2025 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship Standings after Round One
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Manuel Lettenbichler | 22 |
| 2 | Billy Bolt (GBR) | 20 |
| 3 | Teodor Kabakchiev | 15 |
| 4 | Mario Roman (ESP) | 13 |
| 5 | Ashton Brightmore | 11 |
