Mitch Brightmore wins Silver Kings 2026 | Entering a new era for hard enduro | S2E16

Silver Kings was a cracker of an event and race as round three of the championship. Three days of racing in the Idaho mountains gave the riders and spectators everything they hoped for! From vibes in the parade, carnage in the prologue, close calls and tight racing on day 2 and ending with a drag race to the finish! 

Once again we sit down with Mike to talk about what went down behind the scenes and on the ground. As you know there was no live coverage of this event so we’re here to give a bit of context and share the stories that would otherwise get missed. The prologue offered some big jumps and sketchy performances and some riders were a little lost without Billy around to show them the ropes. We saw some good saves and some heroic performances. Jonny Walker in 1st, Mitch in 2nd and Trystan 3rd. 

Day 1 was a proper ride for the guys and girls out in the mountains with riverbeds and some scaley hill climbs. Mike shares some noteworthy stories about Mitch saving his bike through quick thinking and Teo almost losing down the hill. The final day was a multi lap race ending with an X-Loop. The first 2/3 of the track wasn’t too technical which made for tight racing between the top guys. It wasn’t until the last sections of the race where riders stared to separate and we ended with a close top 3 fight to the end. 

Mitch Brightmore takes the win! We couldn’t be more stoked with the outcome of this race. The juniors have finally arrived and we can’t wait to see how this boost in confidence will affect the remainder of the championship. Only time will tell but for now, we’re just excited to see a new era of hard enduro emerge.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:23 HEWC Round 3 - Silver Kings Hard Enduro, Idaho 

01:56 Mike's first time in America

03:22 The format of Silver Kings 

04:44 The parade & atmosphere

05:11 Day 1 format

09:04 Day 2: A Longer day in the mountains & the three key sections 

11:26 Trystan vs Manny on the loose rock

13:27 Teo's struggles

14:58 Mitch's mid-race bike failure 

20:43 Final day race format: The X-loop finish

21:59 Stark electric bikes

25:36 The finish: Mitch beats Trystan in a 60-metre drag race 

27:00 The moment behind the scenes: X-Grip

28:12 Mani’s response  

31:02 The Brightmore story

33:32 Ashton's junior class victory

33:32 Standout rides

36:01 USHE vs HEWC: Is the American series a genuine alternative? 

40:27 Championship standings update

With Mitch now in 2nd and only 13 points behind Manny, do you think we finally have a real championship battle on our hands? Let us know in the comments↓↓↓