One of the most mythical and important events of the international Hard Enduro, Red Bull Erzbergrodeo, started at the end of the week in Eisenerz (Austria); event scoring as the second round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship.
The first race and qualifying session took place on Thursday, with the Rocket Ride, through four very steep climbs and under variable weather conditions. In this race Dominik Olszowy excelled driving the MR 300 PRO, who would get a very good second position, while Will Hoare got the 14th place and Alfredo Gomez the 39th. Precisely, Alfredo, who is in the process of developing a new engine for the future MR, took advantage of this demanding race to check the work done so far by the technicians.
On Friday, the event changed the scenery on the “iron mountain”, with the Iron Road prologue, through a gravel and sand track of about 15 kilometers, where the very high speed provided a great show for a route that was delicate due to intermittent rains and fog in some points, leaving a low visibility. Once again Dominik Olszowy was among the fastest riders of the 1,300 participants, finishing in a spectacular third place. Will Hoare was 15th and Alfredo Gómez 42nd.
On Saturday the same test was repeated on the “iron mountain” and again Dominik Olszowy showed great speed to improve his position, finishing second scratch. With this sensational result and with the sum of the two days, Olszowy achieved third place. His teammates finished Will Hoare 15th and Alfredo Gómez 42nd, enough results to start on the first line of the grid on Sunday.
In the Hare Scramble, the final race on Sunday, the weather conditions improved, although the course was very muddy and mainly inside the very slippery forest, which added difficulty to the drivers. On this last day, Will Hoare and Alfredo Gómez would compete.
In the exciting MX style start, Hoare managed to get into second position, staying behind the leader during the first CP, until reaching the big stones Carl's Dinner as third, but just overcoming one of the most complicated areas, several crashes caused Will to be delayed and could not complete the course within the regulatory time, in a very complicated race in which only eight participants finished. Gomez, who started a little behind, was recovering positions quickly and at CP 8 he was already 15th, but unfortunately before overcoming the very complicated area of Carl's Diner he was forced to abandon after a fall and break the clutch hose.
The next round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship will be held in Serbia, with the Xross Hard Enduro Rally from June 19 to 22.
Alfredo Gómez:
“I'm happy because we did well in the prologue. During the race I hit a tree and crashed, with the bad luck to break the clutch hose, too bad, because we were going well with Jarvis going into Carl's Dinner, it was a setback, but hey, that's racing, we'll come back stronger.”
Will Hoare:
“The race was going well, I was just suffering some problems with arm cramps. But finally they said I missed the checkpoint, so I didn't get points, so it wasn't a good weekend.”
Dominik Olszowy:
''Red Bull Erzbergrodeo 2024 was a blast! We focused on a fast racing signing up only for Rocket Ride and Iron Road Prolog aiming for podiums in both challenges.
After some nice battles at Rocket Ride races, I got 2nd place in a final run. During two days of racing the clock at Iron Road Prologue, I manage to get 3rd and 2nd fastest time which gave me 3rd place Overall.
I’m happy with the results and it was nice experience to see main race Hare Scramble from different angle and cheer my teammates Alfredo and Will.''
