The third race weekend of the DOWATEK HardEnduroSeries Germany took place in the sand of Reetz. After the final was held on the track in Brandenburg last year, this year it went to the western part of the federal state with good Enduro conditions in the spring. It was already the fourth guest appearance of the series on the Mühlenberg in Reetz, and once again MotoXEvents, under the direction of owner Patrick Spingat, was responsible for the track. There was a lot of praise for this, as many new obstacles have been created in recent months and worn-out parts of the track have been renovated.
Despite some schedule conflicts with international races, 78 participants arrived, which meant a significantly larger field of drivers than expected. With the exception of Max Faude, the entire series' top riders were once again present. The riders provided spectacular flying performances on the motocross section and demonstrated their necessary extreme enduro skills on the many technical sections. They thus delighted significantly more spectators than at the last races in Brandenburg.
Facts, Reetzer Hardenduro 06.05.2023
Weather: 12 degrees, cloudy
Prolog Award Winner: Milan Schmüser (Sherco)
Winner: Milan Schmüser (Sherco), 01:20:44,789
Fastest Lap: Milan Schmüser (Sherco), 13:07,98
The long prologue presents a challenging challenge for the participants.
In the Prolog Award, the first decision of the race was made. The relatively long loop already contained some obstacles that demanded everything from the participants. Fynn Hannemann initially took the lead but was not entirely satisfied with his performance as he had also crashed. Nevertheless, he only slipped back to third place. Milan Schmüser set a superior best time and thus took the most points for the championship. Lenny Geretzky came in second, followed by the current series leader Marc Wulf in a close fourth place. Despite the length of the prologue, it was shown how close the field is this season: between second-placed Hannemann and eleventh-placed Luca Reinhold, there were only 30 seconds.
Schmüser and Wulf demonstrate their strengths in the group race - Reinitzhuber celebrates first success among the women.
In the second group race in Reetz, the decision was also made for the women. Due to scheduling conflicts with Enduro Panorama (Romania) and Extreme Enduro Lika (Croatia), only Julia Bittner and Paula Reinitzhuber started the race. Eva Täuber, the overall leader before the weekend, wanted to defend her lead in the Extreme Enduro Europacup in Croatia. However, Paula Reinitzhuber coped better with the loose, sandy ground and secured her first win of the season ahead of Bittner. However, the new overall leader among the women is Julia Bittner, as she had already accumulated more points from the races in Neuhaus-Schierschnitz and Crimmitschau. Milan Schmüser and Marc Wulf secured the victories in the group races. However, Wulf faced much more resistance from Lenny Geretzky.
There was already a prominent dropout in the group race of the day. Arvid Meyer had problems with his spark plug and although he was able to change it, he lost too much time and could not qualify for the final. This was a setback as he had even achieved a podium finish in the PRO class in Crimmitschau. Since there were no HESG Kids at the start in Reetz, four 85cc riders (Rübesamen, Hissenauer, Eppelmann, Albert) started in the junior class. All four showed a strong performance, with Linus Albert as an 85cc rider making it into the top 20 and even qualifying for the final. Thus, he is the first 85cc rider to achieve this feat after having to take a break from the first two season races due to a broken leg.
Linus Albert
80 minutes of action in the final
As usual, additional sections were integrated into the final, with three designated as NO-Help sections as it would have been too dangerous to pass between the motorcycles at these narrow bottlenecks. Milan Schmüser and Marc Wulf started from the front row and initially pulled away slightly from the field. However, in lap 2, Schmüser got into trouble at the bottlenecks, causing the field to come back together. Fynn Hannemann lost the most time and dropped from 3rd to 5th place, which he held until the end. Schmüser then pulled away from the field again and finally won with a lead of 1:23 minutes over Marc Wulf. Third place went to Felix Bähker, as in the season opener in Neuhaus-Schierschnitz. Marc Wulf now goes into the break until Reisersberg as the championship leader. However, it is getting increasingly tight behind him because Schmüser was able to make up ground with his second season win and is now tied on points with the opening winner Lenny Geretzky in 2nd place. Both are only 6 points behind Wulf. Felix Bähker and Fynn Hannemann also remain within striking distance, which means that three juniors are still among the top 5.
Surprises in the class rankings.
Partly, the decisions in the class rankings were only made in the final meters. The seniors, in particular, demonstrated how close racing is possible in Hard Enduro. Tino Bauer overtook Estonian Rene Jerbach only in the final meters. Although Jerbach wasn't fit after his crash, he traveled to Reetz and showed his real form for the first time this season. The fact that Bauer was still able to pass him in the last lap shows the balance in this class. Bauer is now in second place in the standings. The Czech Vladimir Vlk did not start as he was competing in Romania and was honored as a finisher in the PRO class. However, he still leads the HESG standings with a one-point advantage over Bauer.
Lukas Debus won the amateur classification for the first time. The KTM rider is the third rider to take home the most points from a race weekend. Max Rutz remains the leader in the standings, finishing third in Reetz. Felix Bähker won the juniors' class for the first time, and Milan Schmüser repeated his victory in the PRO class.
Price giving Amateur
The next race in the HESG starts on July 15, 2023, in the Bavarian Forest. Reisersberg will host a race for the third time in the DOWATEK HardEnduroSeries Germany. The HESG Kids will also be back on the start line in the rocky terrain.
Current information about the DOWATEK HardEnduroSeries Germany can always be found on www.hardenduro-germany.de and on social media.
Photos: Michel238pic / Michel Kuchel