Continuing to cement himself as the rider to beat in the SuperEnduro World Championship, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt has delivered a winning ride at the penultimate round of the series, in Budapest.
Securing two wins from three starts, the Brit extended his lead in the series’ overall standings with one round remaining. After an up and down night, team-mate Alfredo Gomez took third in race three for fourth overall.
Regaining control of the leader’s red plate last time out in Spain, Bolt arrived in Hungary determined to build on that performance.
Knowing that his speed was not in question, Billy was focused on eliminating the mistakes that had hampered him at earlier rounds, and producing a consistent night of racing.
Immediately setting the pace, he topped the SuperPole with the fastest hot lap time. Riding top-three during the opening laps of race one, a mistake in the rocks on lap five saw him drop back from the leaders.
Fighting his way back into contention, another mistake forced Billy to settle for third.
Regrouping for the second half of the night, Bolt returned to the track for races two and three eager to prove himself. Calmly working his way through the pack in race two, he grabbed control of the lead on lap one and never faltered.
Pulling clear of his rivals, he raced on to an impressive victory, 22 seconds ahead of his nearest challenger. Delivering another controlled performance for the third and final race, Bolt put himself out front on lap two before eventually crossing the finish line with 23 seconds in hand.
Despite enjoying the track and showing good speed, Alfredo Gomez endured a tough opening two races. A crash in the first corner of race one saw him forced to work overtime. Battling through, he recovered for fifth. Stuck in traffic for the majority of race two, the Spaniard was forced to settle for sixth.
Billy Bolt: “I came here wanting to show a new me. Often I make mistakes and rush things too much on track, but I’ve been working hard to be smooth, fast and importantly patient. Admittedly in race one I made too many errors and a better result than third slipped away, but I regrouped for the rest of the night.
“I picked the right moments to attack and was able to win both races comfortably. I’ve always shown my speed is there, but I’m so pleased to bring consistency into the mix like this.
“We’ve got a healthy lead now heading to the final round in Poland next month, where hopefully we can take this world title.”
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