Video & Race Report: Enduro Sweden Series 2019 - Round 07 Isaberg

Photography & words: // Johan Gustavsson // Video: // Peter Eriksson

The seventh and last stop of this year's Enduro Sweden Series was held in Isaberg, a new venue that hosted the Swedish Nationals in XC a couple of years ago but was until this weekend not really famous for its Enduro riding. The series overall first place was already settled for Elite men's, Master men's, Master women. The Elite Women's was a real tight one between Linn Olstam and Josefine Björkman and the men's U21, the best result this weekend would give the overall series win.

Isaberg is located pretty south in Sweden and is not a big mountain but this was a steep one, making this a super exciting race.


The stages were freshly built and they seemed completely new for everyone, loamy and steep was the theme for Isaberg, the tracks changed a lot during the weekend and lots of stages had new roots


Should we call it a comeback? David Axelsson has been off the racing scene for over a year now and gave it a try again this weekend. A third-place shows that he has not forgotten how to ride a bike properly.


Elin Eng got the season-ender she was looking for, third in this race gave her third in the overall, not bad for someone being on an Enduro bike for just two years.


Elina has been alone in her category for most races this season so an overall win was certain. Next year she'll be given two new challengers and hopefully, more will join, until then she'll have to compere her times with the Elite to find some fair competition.


Anton had like most riders some struggles with this race, although a consistent season with a win last race gave him the split 3rd in the overall.


Johan Geschwind was the one to split the 3rd in the overall with Anton, I guess we can say it's a real fight for the top spots.


Way too many mistakes and technicals for Daniel Swanbeck, just pulling of a 6th in this race, although it was enough to bring home second place in the overall.


Once again it's Andreas Höglund who claims the top spot in the men's U21, he also secured the victory in the total in his class. His time was 0.1 seconds back from the third place by David Axelsson in the Elite men's. I'm pretty sure we don't have to wait that long before he also claims the top spot in the Elite class.


Josefine Björkman had to the change to claim the overall with this race, although she missed it by just 60 points to her rival Linn Olstam by coming second today. Still a good race for Josefine with a podium on almost every race this season.


Not seen on the Enduro scene for a while now was Oliwer Kangas. We're used to seeing him on the podiums when he enters a race and this was no exception, claiming the second spot in the Elite men's.


Not too many people live in the Isaberg area, a 30 minutes drive from here you can find Hampus Rocksjö home tracks, so I guess you can call him a local. Hampus teammate and riding buddy Philip Fagerberg hurt his shoulder on the fourth stage and Hampus had to keep riding by himself, doing it in full style in front of the audience on stage six.


Another "local" was Josefine Ahlström, a rider that now days live a 10-hour drive north from Isaberg but still goes back to home if there's an Enduro race near. She ended up with a solid fourth and seemed to have a lot of fun.


The winner of this race and the total in the series was Linn Olstam, after having a tight battle with Josefine Björkman all year she was really happy to end up on top, same as last year. Now she's really looking forward to some months of the bike and might use the one with a motor a bit more at home.


Nothing can stop Simon Carlsson, after helping his fellow rider Philip Fagerberg with his shoulder, Simon kept on racing with a bit of a short time to the last stage. He got knowledge that there was a gap between the riders in the Elite field and sprinted to the top of stage 6 so the fans didn't have to wait. 100% powerhouse the whole season and ending it with a bang like this, congratulations.


The season ended with plenty of good times and hang out down in the finish area with the classic "Korv med bröd".