Hixpania Hard Enduro results: Gomez dominates HEWC Rnd 7

Alfredo Gomez handed his Hard World World Championship rivals a riding lesson on the Spanish rocks at Aguilar de Campoo to take the Hixpania Hard Enduro race win ahead of his Rockstar Husqvarna teammate and championship points leader Billy Bolt.

2021 Hixpania Hard Enduro ‘Lost Way’ race in a nutshell:

The penultimate round of the Hard Enduro World Championship saw Wade Young as fastest out the blocks as riders ran to their bikes inside Hixpania’s cave, the Sherco rider grabbed the holeshot ahead of Billy Bolt.
Former Hixpania winner Alfredo Gomez mastered the early uphills best of all though to take an early lead and then set about nailing his rivals hats on for the rest of the race.
Gomez simply looked more in control of the conditions, kept at it calm even when lapped riders got in the way and once he'd established a comfortable lead there was never any doubt about his win.
Overnight rain made the conditions unpredictable on the two mile course and it was the championship fight between protagonists Mani Lettenbichler and Billy Bolt which drew the attention.
The pair were running comfortable podium places all race but admitted making too many mistakes early on.
As the race progressed Billy upped his game, posted faster lap times to pull a gap on his championship rival and even closed in on Alfredo on the final circuit.
It was a too late though as they faced the final hillclimbs with Gomez taking a comfortable win with Bolt second and now three points clear of Lettenbichler with one round remaining.
“A win is fantastic,” said Gomez after the race. “I took it a little easy yesterday to save energy and it really paid off today. Thanks to all the fans for cheering me all around
“I had a few problems earlier in the year and I could not ride as well as I wanted so to finally get a result is amazing. Hopefully I can get a podium in the final round. It’s incredible to win at home.”

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“I struggled a lot in the first two or three laps.” Explained second-placed Bolt. “I wasted a lot of energy and time. Mani and I rode together for the first half and I was watching him mess up and he was watching me mess up! But I managed to pull it together in the second half, make a gap on Mani and even close on Alfredo but it was not enough in the end. Hats off to Alfredo today though, he was in a different league to the rest of us.”
“I was feeling a little rough leading to this race,” says Lettenbichler. “And it was super-tough today but a really enjoyable race. I lost a bit towards the end but Alfredo and Billy also were riding really well. The championship is really close now and we head to Getzen which is my home race and such a cool race, I’m really excited to get there.”
Mario Roman was the only other official finisher scaling the final hill and was classified fourth following confusion and controversy surrounding Jonny Walker.
Walker was fourth on the track but a cooling system problem saw him return to his van mid-race, fix the problem (basically put water in) and re-join the track in the same place but still get penalised with disqualification from the results...the FIM later reinstated Jonny to fifth place.
Round six winner Wade Young struggled a littel more on the Spanish rocks but kept at it for sixth place and remains third in the championship standings.