Story: Noel Flatters - Editor - The Enduro Bureau
August 22, 2024

The 2024 Red Bull Tennesse Knockout is kicking off later today, and this year’s edition is looking to be an interesting one! This year we see the race hosting the final round of the AMA US Hard Enduro Series (USHE) and the 5th round of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship (HEWC). While Canada’s Trystan Hart (FMF KTM Factory Racing) looks to have effectively sealed his third consecutive USHE overall title, things are tighter on the HEWC side after Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler missed a round after a knee injury. But most interesting of all should be the battle between Hart and Lettenbichler! Hart is highly motivated to beat Lettenbichler on ‘home’/North American soil as he has done several times previously. The Robot has openly said that beating Mani is his main goal this weekend. The bottom line is that this is going to be a great weekend of Hard Enduro racing here in North America. TKO’s short format racing setup is fast and exciting, and the battle between Hart and Lettenbichler should be epic. The racing for overall positions on both the USHE and HEWC sides should also be very hard-fought with several riders having huge motivation to make gains as we start in towards of the outdoor season. Let’s take a closer look at the storylines going into TKO 2024!

Storyline 1: Hart vs. Lettenbichler

Trystan Hart has made no secret that his main focus this weekend is beating German HEWC series leader (and 2x defending HEWC overall champion) Lettenbichler. When we reached out to The Robot after his big win at the USHE Donner race two weeks ago, we noted that his 10-point lead in the series overall was looking very good in terms of securing the overall championship for a third consecutive year. His reply was “I don’t care about the points, I just want to win TKO and beat Mani on home soil.” Pretty hard to see any ambiguity in that statement.

Hart finished the 2023 HEWC in 3rd overall behind Lettenbichler and Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt. For 2024, he made the decision to focus primarily on the USHE and planned to race only Erzbergrodeo, Romaniacs, and TKO on the HEWC side of the house. This would allow him to remain fresh for this year’s AMA Endurocross season after experiencing burnout last year with his busy trans-Atlantic race schedule.

Hart finished P2 at Erzberg behind Lettenbichler, but then chose to skip Romaniacs after getting into a very tight battle with Factory1 Sherco’s Cody Webb in the USHE. Hart was still 5-points behind Webb in the USHE overall heading into Donner, and no doubt was prioritising erasing that deficit over a physically brutal multi-day race in Romania.

Hart has been dominant at TKO over the past several years, winning the race in 2023, 2022, and 2020. 2021 was off-year for the Robot with a P3 finish behind Bolt and Lettenbichler. Lettenbichler took the win back in 2019, just ahead of Hart.

Clearly these two are the heavy favourites coming into the weekend. Both riders should be well rested after their last races. Mani’s knee didn’t seem to cause him any real problems at Romaniacs, and the short racing format at TKO shouldn’t bother it either, especially with several weeks off since Romania. Mani’s primary goal is to be the first HEWC rider. HEWC points are not impacted by non-FIM riders in Tennessee, so it doesn’t impact Mani in the overall if he finishes behind Trystan. The Robot only needs to finish ahead of Webb to wrap up the USHE title, and even has some cushion if he doesn’t. This allows him to purely focus on winning the race and we believe that, in combination with his recent dominance of TKO, the Canadian is the primary favourite for the win.

Storyline 2: FIM Hard Enduro World Championship Overall

As noted above, Lettenbichler comes into TKO as the points leader of the HEWC, with a 5-point advantage over Wade Young (Red Bull Leader Tread) and Mario Roman (Sherco Factory Racing), and an 8-point lead over Roman’s teammate Teodor Kabakchiev. The FIM awards 20 points for a round win, 17 points for P2, 15 points for P3, and so on.

With USHE riders not impacting FIM points, Mani doesn’t need to worry Hart beating him in terms of the HEWC overall (it most likely matters in terms of contract bonuses, though). If he picks up the HEWC win at TKO, and with only two rounds left to go, the German will be looking good in terms of picking up another overall championship.

The battle behind Lettenbichler, however, looks to be a great one. With Young and Roman tied on points, and Kabakchiev nipping at their heels, it’s going to be full gas for all three riders to position themselves in the overall. It’s anyone’s guess as to how this will go!

Storyline 3: AMA US Hard Enduro Series Overall

As mentioned above, Hart comes into the final round of the USHE series with a 10-point lead over Webb. With a 5-point differential between P1 and P2, and a sliding scale of point differentials after that, we believe that The Robot has, barring exceptional circumstances, effectively clinched the series and can focus his energy on beating Lettenbichler. As with the HEWC points at TKO, USHE points are not impacted by FIM riders. Hart only has to finish ahead of Webb to secure the overall. Webb would need to be the first USHE rider AND have Hart finish P4 or worse amongst USHE riders to win the overall. This seems like a highly unlikely scenario given all available information.

The most interesting battle is for P3 overall in the series, with Ryder LeBlond leading GasGas Factory Racing’s Will Riordan by five points. Again, with USHE points allocations being what they are, Riordan will need to beat LeBlond AND get some help from other riders finishing ahead of the Husqvarna rider to pass him in the standings. With his one-year GasGas Factory deal, though, you can believe that Riordan is going to have a high level of motivation to show that he can beat LeBlond before they move indoors for the AMA Endurocross season.

Over on the Pro Women’s side of the series, it looks like it’s going to come down to a battle between Sherco USA teammates Louise Forsely and Rachel Gutish for the series overall. They’re currently tied for second, but we expect that it will be one of these two off-road legends that comes away with the championship.

The Bottom Line

This is going to be a great weekend of Hard Enduro racing here in North America. TKO’s short format racing setup is fast and exciting, and the battle between Hart and Lettenbichler should be epic. The racing for overall positions on both the USHE and HEWC sides should also be very hard-fought with several riders having huge motivation to make gains as we start in towards of the outdoor season. Stay tuned to The Enduro Bureau for more, and (as always!) thanks for supporting North American-based Enduro and Off-Road journalism.