Formats and terms

The disciplines

“Off-road racing” covers formats that decide a winner in completely different ways. These are the six this site follows.

• Hard enduroGetting over rocks, climbs and steps. Survival matters more than outright speed, and it is normal for only a fraction of the entry to finish. Erzbergrodeo and Romaniacs are hard enduro.
• Enduro (on-time enduro)Riders cover a set route to a set schedule. The result is not decided out on that route but by the combined times of the special tests placed along it. EnduroGP and Japan’s JEC work this way.
• Cross-countryHow many laps of a circuit you can complete within a fixed time. Japan’s JNCC is cross-country.
• Rally-raid (off-road rally)Days of long-distance riding, with timed sections adding up over the event. Finding the route yourself is part of the job, which sets it apart from every other discipline here. The Dakar Rally is the best known.
• Adventure rallyFollowing a route from a map and a set of instructions. Less a race for position than an event you set out to complete.
• Beach raceHundreds to a thousand riders lined up on a beach for a mass start.

How an event is built

• PrologueA short event held before the race proper, run mainly to set the starting order or decide who qualifies rather than for its own result. It makes for a good show, so it is often held on a built course in a town or at the venue — Romaniacs runs its prologue in the middle of the city. Winning the prologue and winning the race are two different things because they are, quite literally, two different competitions.
• Offroad dayOne day of the main event that follows the prologue. Romaniacs runs four of them (offroad days 1 to 4) and Minas Riders three, with the daily times adding up to an overall result.
• StageIn rally, one day’s running. “Thirteen stages” at the Dakar means thirteen of these.
• Special stage (SS)A rally day splits into timed special stages and untimed riding to get between them. Only the special stages count towards the result, which is what a line like “2,201 km total, of which 1,269 km of special stage” is describing.
• Rest dayA non-running day partway through a two-week rally — for the riders, and just as much for repairing the bikes.
• CheckpointA point on the course riders must pass through, there to stop anyone cutting the route. If a race has to be stopped for weather or an incident, the order at the last checkpoint can be taken as the official result.
• Time trialRiders set off one at a time at fixed intervals and are ranked on elapsed time, rather than racing wheel to wheel. Large events use it to thin a big entry down to a field for the main race.
• Wave start / Le Mans startWith a big entry, riders are released in groups of a dozen or so, minutes apart — a wave start. A Le Mans start is the older method where riders stand away from their bikes and run to them on the signal.
• Green tape / blue tapeIn hard enduro, colour-coded course markings for difficulty — green for the easier line, blue for the harder one — often used to make each successive lap tougher.

The “tests” in on-time enduro

An on-time enduro day contains several timed sections, called special tests. Their combined times decide the result, and they are named for the kind of ground they cover.

• Special testThe umbrella term for the timed sections. “Three enduro tests of nearly twelve minutes each” means three special tests that day.
• Enduro testNatural terrain in the trees, over rocks and roots. Precision counts for more than outright pace.
• Cross testFaster and more open, closer in character to motocross. Rounds are often won and lost here.
• Extreme testA section of built obstacles that tests hard-enduro skills. EnduroGP uses it alongside the other two.

Reading the class names

Riders on the same course are split into classes by ability and machine, and the naming is different at every event.

• Gold (Romaniacs)The top class at Red Bull Romaniacs, with progressively shorter and easier classes below it for amateur entries. “Won the Gold class” is effectively the overall win.
• Adventure Ultimate / Core Class (Romaniacs)Romaniacs’ classes for adventure bikes — big, heavy travel machines rather than competition enduro bikes, on the same mountains. Core Class was added in 2026.
• Hiu class (Hiu Selatan)The premier class at Indonesia’s Hiu Selatan; the event name doubles as the class name.
• Oro / Plata / Bronce (Ukupacha)Gold, silver and bronze in Spanish, at South America’s Ukupacha, with Oro at the top. Each has age-group and electric sub-classes.
• RallyGP (W2RC, Dakar)The premier motorcycle class of the world rally-raid championship. “The bike winner” at the Dakar normally means the RallyGP winner.
• E1 / E2 / E3 (EnduroGP)EnduroGP’s classes, split by engine capacity and type. All of them ride the same course, and both an overall result (the EnduroGP class) and per-class results are published.

Abbreviations

• FIMThe Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the international governing body for motorcycle sport, and the body that sanctions world championships.
• HEWC / HEWRHEWC is the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship; HEWR is the world ranking introduced in 2026. The difference is set out here.
• EnduroGPThe FIM Enduro World Championship — the top level of on-time enduro, run over two days per round.
• ISDEThe six-day teams event, the FIM Enduro of Nations.
• W2RCThe FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, which the Dakar Rally opens.
• MFJThe Motorcycle Federation of Japan, which sanctions competition there.
• ACUThe Auto-Cycle Union, the governing body in the UK.
• JEC / JNCC / WEXJapanese national series. Racing in Japan explains where each of them sits.