2024 Hidaka Rocks Extreme Enduro: Otsuka takes Yamaha YZ250 to victory on Japan’s Iron Giant

2024 Japanese Hard Enduro Championship round four at Hidaka Rocks Extreme Enduro saw Masatsune Otsuka take victory on a Yamaha YZ250X – who says Yamaha can’t do hard enduro?

The fifth edition of “Japan’s Erzberg”, the extreme enduro race been held in Hokkaido, the northernmost island in the country which is dosed in snow all winter but becomes a home for enduro in the summer.

This year’s Hidaka Rocks was the fourth round of the 2024 Japan Hard Enduro Championship Series, which will feature a total of seven rounds in total. The race format follows that of the Erzbergrodeo in Austria, combining a qualifying time trials on Saturday with a main race on Sunday.

2024 Hidaka Rocks Extreme Enduro: Japan’s Erzberg prologue onboard a Yamaha YZ250X

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The qualifying race took place on a course of about 5km with a maximum speed exceeding 120km/h. The results of the two time trial runs affected the starting order for the final.

The main race takes place in a quarry where rocks formed in the Jurassic Period are collected. 100 riders lined up in five rows took on the challenging 11km course, which was completely covered with rocks and had five checkpoints.

With a time limit of 2 hours and 30 minutes, many riders in the main race had used up all their time by CP2 or CP3. Despite being more difficult than the previous four editions, 14 riders competing for the championship made it to the finish line at the top of the mountain.

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Fresh from landing on Enduro21 in the middle of the Erzbergrodeo (check around the 10 minute-mark in our YouTube video!), Tomoki Ogami (Beta) claimed the lead at the beginning of the race but Masatsune Otsuka (Yamaha) took over the lead and continued to extend his lead to win the race.

Takahiro Otsu (GASGAS), followed by Kouta Harada (KTM) picked off Ogami-san to claim second and third. Kousuke Mori, who is Japan’s Roof of Africa gold class finisher, also crossed finish line with seventh place on his Yamaha four-stroke 450.

The town of Hidaka in Hokkaido will also host a traditional international two-day enduro in September. More information here: HTDE Facebook page