Fine Margins: Karlsson and the Varg EX Take 10th at Abestone’s HEWC and P2 in the Straight Rhythm Final

Manuel Lettenbichler swept every session at Round 5 of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship in Italy’s Val di Luce — but the story of the weekend for electric off-road was Eddie Karlsson taking the sole Stark entry all the way to P2 in the Straight Rhythm final, and backing it up with a top-ten finish in Sunday’s brutal Main Race.

Abestone Hard Enduro, round five of eight on the 2026 HEWC calendar, ran September 4–6 in the Tuscan Apennines above Abetone — a completely reworked course this year, with no section repeated from 2025. Riders faced dry rock, roots, stream crossings and long climbs, headlined by a new obstacle nicknamed “Minestrone,” where the wrong line choice was effectively unrecoverable.

Sunday’s Main Race — two hours plus one lap — was run in punishing heat that visibly broke the field down as the day wore on. Only five riders in the Gold class managed to complete six laps.

Manuel Lettenbichler was untouchable throughout. He won the Prologue, the Gold Sprint Race, and then the Main Race by more than six minutes over Mitch Brightmore — a clean sweep worth 33 points that stretches his championship lead to 150 points, 24 clear of Brightmore with three rounds still to run.

Even Lettenbichler wasn’t immune to the course’s teeth, admitting to “a small crash in the river towards the end” while pushing to extend his gap late in the race — though it cost him nothing.

Karlsson and the Varg EX

Eddie Karlsson, riding Stark’s Varg EX (#42), was the only electric motorcycle in the field at Abestone. His weekend went like this:

• Gold Sprint Race (Saturday): 5th.
• Straight Rhythm knockout (Saturday): P2 after coming unstuck on a log-hop launch mid-run, getting thrown off the back of the bike before recovering to hold on to be beaten only by Billy Bolt.
• Main Race (Sunday): 10th overall, a lap down on a course that broke plenty of the field — only five riders in the entire Gold class completed all six laps.

The result moves Karlsson to 8th in the HEWC championship standings with 63 points, five rounds into the eight-round season. He was the only Stark rider — or electric motorcycle of any kind — entered at Abestone; teammate Toby Martyn is contesting Stark’s SuperEnduro program rather than the Hard Enduro calendar this year, and Graham Jarvis’s JARV-E project sat this round out, focused instead on the season’s marquee stops.

Also at Abestone

Billy Bolt had a mixed return, racing just his fifth event back after four months out with illness. He was 2nd in the Prologue and won the non-points Straight Rhythm outright, but a struggle for race fitness showed in the Main Race, where he finished 12th, a lap down. He sits 5th in the championship on 77 points heading into Roof of Africa (Lesotho, Sept 24–26).

Championship standings after Round 5 (Abestone)

Sources: MCNews, “2026 Abestone Hard Enduro Results — HEWC Round 5”; MX Vice, “Lettenbichler Sweeps Abestone Hard Enduro to Strengthen HEWC Title Charge”; Stark Future Facebook page.