Sherco's Anthony Solar takes back the 2024 AHEC title after a bar-to-bar championship battle with Beta's Ruben Chadwick.
The 2024 Australian Hard Enduro Championship (AHEC) was another bone-crunching series of clutch-frying punishment for the riders that took it on. The four-round Championship stretched from the Victorian NSW Border town of Towong Upper, taking in the Goldfields Extreme at Wattle Flat near Bathurst before riders took on the Dog and Bone Extreme at Tenterfield ahead of the final round showdown.
Defending champion Ruben Chadwick was only a handful of points behind series leader Anthony Solar heading into the final round at Hillston, NSW and the stage was set for the two top dogs to battle it out to determine who would be the 2024 AHEC.
To make things spicy, the final round would not feature the usual two-day race format of prologue Saturday and main race Sunday. Championship points normally awarded for prologue and the main race, were combined for the final round, a point-to-point race. The stakes were high and the game had changed.
SOLAR POWER
Anthony Solar was on a mission of redemption after relinquishing his 2022 AHEC crown to Ruben Chadwick in 2023. The Motul Sherco told ADB,
“I got lazy last year and put on a bit of weight. I got comfortable and was happy with my Championship until I didn’t retain it. Losing sucks so I decided to do it properly this year and I put in the hard work and I managed to win it again.
“I didn’t experience nerves for the whole season but coming into the final round I had all scenarios playing out in my head and I was a bit nervous. I had to remind myself that I had done the hard work and to trust myself and ride like I normally would, which I did. It was a relief to cross the line, along with excitement and it was certainly a good feeling getting my second Championship.
“I knew I was fit coming into round one this year and I felt good on the bike. The goal is to always try and win them all but obviously that is hard to do. It came down to the last round where I had a bit of a points lead over Ruben and I knew I only needed to finish behind him so I decided to just play it smart for that race and I came across the finish line in second which won me the Championship.
“Ruben and I were just about going bar-to-bar in every race but Wade Ibrahim can never be counted out. When he is on, he’s on. He could quite easily have won round-three. He finished second but he and I were swapping for second and third for the entire first lap. He’s always in the mix, he just didn’t quite piece it together this year. Ruben and Wade are a bit better in the big boulder rocks than me but we’re getting to the stage where we are becoming good all-rounders. In previous years it was track dependent on who would pip it. But now it can be anyone’s game. You just have to be on it to get it.
“We did a fair bit of testing in the off-season to make sure the bike was prepped the way we want it. In previous years we’d change suspension setup from Saturday to Sunday but I found that it was hard to be familiarized with two different setups. Especially when you train on one but not the other. This year we settled on a setup that was a compromise that would do everything and we stuck to it for the whole season and it worked out.”
CHADWICK’S CHASE
Ruben Chadwick may have lost the 2024 AHEC title fight but the Beta rider went out on top storming to the final round victory. The Queenslander enjoyed a colorful 2024 Championship season and is determined to take the title back in 2025.
“Solar had stepped it up a bit from 2023 and it was tight the whole Championship, we found ourselves battling at every round. He’s worked on his speed a little bit and he got a few prologue wins. I probably go better when it’s a more gnarly track that’s less rideable and requires more pushing. The first couple of rounds were wet and those Victorian boys seem to go good in that stuff. Up here in Queensland I don’t get to ride it those conditions too often. It’s normally dry and dusty.
“I started to get my head around the wet conditions at round-two and I rode good to get the win there. I pushed hard towards the end of the season and we kept developing the bike. Being such a short Championship, every round counts. I knew the final round was going to be super-rocky and unforgiving with no breaks constantly riding on crap so I knew I was going to need a softer setup to handle slower-pace riding over rock. I think we hit the nail on the head and my bike was pretty good.
“I probably should have put a bit more importance on the prologue at the first three rounds not so much for the main race start positions but for the Championship points you get because that is what made the difference really. You get 500 points for main race wins and 250 points for prologue wins. I won prologue at round-three but was feeling crook that weekend and finished third in the main race. I just didn’t pull it together. Even if I got second at that race the Championship would have been different for me.
“Hard enduro is a physical and mental challenge that is pretty rewarding when you push through and get it over and done with. Being a trials rider originally, I enjoy pushing myself over the gnarly terrain and grinding through it.
“I put a big effort in to finish the Championship off on a good note and it was good to come away with the win at the final round. I was feeling less stressed about the final round and feeling calm because all the pressure was on Solar to perform. I didn’t have much to lose really so the ball was in his court not to stuff up. I just had to ride and do my thing. I felt good and it was one of the most relaxed rounds for me, really.”
BURRITO BITES
Jeremy Cowley from Dirt Bike Burrito podcast is a rider that just loves riding. He’s what you might call an Average Joe that loves his hard enduro just as much as holding the throttle wide-open in the desert. Jeremy explains his passion for hard enduro and what it’s like for a Bronze Class rider in the Australian Hard Enduro Championship.
“Hard Enduro is a great way to test yourself and your mental toughness” Jeremy told ADB. “You can have all the skill in the world on a short ride but can you use those skills at hour four or five? And how tough are you to keep pushing through when you’re exhausted and looking at another hill that could take you another hour? For me, it’s a mental challenge that I really love.
“I enjoy riding the Bronze Class because it’s like old school enduro conditions. There are some technical parts to it but it’s no different to a ’90s or 2000s enduro with some snotty hills and a couple of logs. Bronze is a great cross country compared to Silver and Gold Class which is two-stroke territory. I ride a GASGAS EC 350F in the Bronze Class and I can be on the bike anywhere between three to six-hours. It’s a great ride and you’re constantly moving but if you ride Silver Class, it’s more technical and you can get caught in traffic bottlenecks and you might be stuck for 45-minutes to an hour, not going anywhere.
“It’s a hard sport and I go through fazes where I love it then hate it. The up-side is, you don’t have to ride very far. Some tracks are only 17km long and it can take you all day to cover it. Compared to desert riding it can take you two-hours to go 240km. The achievement you get from hard enduro is great and it really can give you another skillset that can benefit all other areas of riding. It’s helped me with balance and dealing with a bike kicking around and that all translates well to riding in general. Hard enduro is great for everyone because it’s not hard on your body. If you have a fall it’s generally at a slow speed and a lot of people like that. It can be expensive on your bike but it’s generally not expensive on your body.”
BOSS BRIEFS
Hard Enduro Racing Australia’s Greg Peterson shares his thoughts on the 2024 AHEC.
“The competition was very though this year” Greg informed us. “Last year Chadwick lifted hugely and left Solar in his wake and Solar responded this year and they went tit for tat. It was incredible. They have really lifted the level of racing and you could see that from their results at Erzberg which is the highest any Aussie riders have ever placed over there. It’s great for our Championship.
“The Championship is still growing and I am happy with the progress in numbers considering the economy. We had 315 riders at the first round and 230 at the final round. The most popular classes are Silver and Bronze with anywhere between 80 and 120 riders per class. The Gold Class hovers around 23 to 28 riders per round. That class is elite, terrifying and somewhat dangerous. I do vett the riders that go into Gold Class. You have the top four of Solar, Chadwick, Ibrahim and Perry, then you have another group of five or six riders then it drops to the riders who will never win a race, although they are very skilled, they don’t have the fitness to race at that pace, they just love the challenge.”
POINTS SYSTEM
The Australian Hard Enduro Championship points system is unique. Prologue points equal half the points awarded for the main race and all points accumulate for the Championship.
A main race win is awarded 500 points with descending points per place in the following order: 500, 450, 420, 400 then descending by 10 points thereafter. Prologue points are 250 for the win, 225 for second, then 210, 200 then descending by five points for each place. The final round was a one-day event that combined prologue and main race points.
RESULTS
- Anthony Solar: 2835pts
- Ruben Chadwick: 2820pts
- Wade Ibrahim: 2545pts
- Chris Perry: 2315pts
- Jon Gatt: 2225pts
- Brandan Buckman: 2065pts
- Houston Walters: 1900pts
- Adam Giles: 1865pts
- Robert Brosig: 1745pts
- Nick Conlon: 1730pts
SILVER CLASS
- Timon Wegner
BRONZE CLASS
- Aiden Rodriguez
JUNIOR CLASS
- Alex Dunlea
BRONZE OVER-45
- Brad Jennion
SILVER OVER-45
- Leigh Bentley
Not without controversy
There was some controversy surrounding Championship rivals Chadwick and Solar and it would be remiss of us not to mention it. Chadwick protested Solar refueling in the bush halfway through a lap without the proper safety equipment to refuel. The protest was eventually overturned by MA because it was made after window to protest such a matter. The verdict was handed down in the week before the final round of the championship.
WORDS // Stephen Tuff
PHOTOS // OK Photo