The FIM Hard Enduro World Championship may be on its mid-season pause, but its front-runners clearly didn’t get the memo. Teodor Kabakchiev delivered a commanding performance at Ditrocks Hard Enduro in Ditrău, Romania this weekend, winning Saturday’s second day of racing by almost 24 minutes, and he wasn’t the only championship name on the podium.
A statement win in the Romanian mountains
Ditrocks, a round of the Romanian national hard enduro championship (CNIR), is not part of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship and carries no championship points, but the level at the front looked every bit world class. The Bulgarian Sherco rider completed Saturday’s brutal course in 4:01:59, opening a serious gap over the entire PRO field, as reported by Zona Enduro.
Behind him, the podium had a distinctly familiar look. Spain’s Alfredo Gomez took second in 4:25:53, while South Africa’s James Moore, one of the revelations of the 2025 & 2026 world championship seasons, completed the top three in 4:30:53. Three HEWC-registered riders filling the podium at a national-championship round says plenty about the depth of talent in Romania’s flagship series, and about the calibre of event Ditrocks has become. Kornel Ott and local star Jozsa Norbert Levente completed the top five.
No such thing as an off-season
For Kabakchiev, the result caps a great mid-season block. The Bulgarian sits third in the world championship standings on 68 points after three rounds, remarkably consistent with 22, 24 and 22-point scores at Alestrem, Extreme XL Lagares and Silver Kings, and is hunting championship leader Manuel Lettenbichler (88 points) and Mitch Brightmore (75 points).
The Romanian hills will stay busy, too. Romaniacs, not a HEWC round in 2026, but a fixture on every hard enduro fan’s calendar, runs from July 28 to August 1 in Sibiu, where Mario Roman is set to make headlines by switching to the Adventure Ultimate class aboard a CFMOTO 450MT.
Next stop: Sweden
Attention now turns back to the world championship and a historic first: Forza Orza, Round 4 of the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship and the first-ever HEWC round on Swedish soil, runs August 20-22 in Orsa Grönklitt. Set among classic Scandinavian forests, rocks and climbs above Lake Orsasjön, it promises a fresh test for the field — and home advantage for Sweden’s own Eddie Karlsson.
With Lettenbichler holding a 13-point lead over Mitch Brightmore, and Kabakchiev lurking just behind, the second half of the season is shaping up to be a thriller. Check the full championship standings before the lights go green in Sweden.