Story: Noel Flatters | Editor - Enduro.Media
February 4th, 2023

The Bottom Line Up Front

WHAT?

• Billy Bolt (Husqvarna Factory Racing) remains unbeaten in the 2024 SuperEnduro Championship after a nearly perfect 1-1-1 night in Budapest. The only point that Bolt left on the table was in the Superpole time trial where he finished 2nd to Jonny Walker (Beta).

• Jonny Walker (Beta) secured another P2 finish after going 2-5-2, along with his Superpole win.

• Portugese rider Diogo Viera (GasGas) was the story of the night, coming out of nowhere to pick up a very impressive 3-2-6/P3 podium finish.

• Mani Lettenbichler (FMF KTM Factory Racing) struggled a little bit on the faster and less technical track in Budapest, going 5-4-3/P5.

SO WHAT?

Two weeks ago we said that with three rounds to go the Championship was effectively over unless someone/anyone could find a way to beat Bolt in a GP. It didn’t happen in Budapest. Bolt came away from Hungary with 62 points to Walker’s 48, and has extended his Championship lead from 19 to 33 points over Walker. Unless Bolt’s left knee/leg injury somehow prevents him from riding the last two rounds in Sofia and Newcastle, and there’s nothing to indicate that it will, we’re going to say it again - It. Is. Over. The real question of the series is now if Lettenbichler can hang onto P3 overall.

NOW WHAT?

The first part of the answer to the ‘Now What?’ question is pretty easy: Now we sit back and enjoy watching the pure talent and grit that Billy Bolt brings to SuperEnduro tracks everywhere, plain and simple. There’s really no external pressure on him now, so he should be able to race for wins without having to worry about ‘championship thinking.’

Walker is sitting securely in P2 overall with a 75 point lead over Lettenbichler. While there’s effectively no chance that he can win the title, this points cushion SHOULD give Walker the mental room to throw everything he’s got at Bolt in an attempt to break up the perfect season and prove to himself that he can still be a winner. If you look back to what happened to Walker at the 2023 Endurocross series in the US, it would be a massive personal victory for Walker to get back on the top step of a podium.

Lettenbichler has a good hold on P3 overall with a 24 point lead over Will Hoare (Rieju Factory). Hoare has struggled to regain his form from the first three rounds of the Championship, and after making the move to the Rieju Factory Team he hasn’t seemed to find his perfect setup yet. Lettenbichler has looked much better on the more technical tracks. On the faster tracks he hasn’t shown the speed in transition to challenge Bolt or Walker. This isn’t to say that he won’t find that speed, but track layouts in the final two rounds could play into his abillity to stay ahead of Hoare in the overall (assuming that Hoare can get the Rieju dialled in to his liking). This will be an interesting battle to watch.

For the rest of the field, it’s going to be fun to watch what they can do in Sofia and Bulgaria. Dominik Olszowy (Rieju Factory) has shown many flashes of brillance throughout the series, and it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he could get himself up on the podium in one of the remaining rounds. Diego Viera’s ride should give him a massive injection of confidence and hopefully has ignited a mindset that will keep him in the hunt for poaching race results and podiums.

The story

Superpole
The Superpole competition was relatively straightforward in Budapest. It was Jonny Walker who returned to normal operations in the time trial to take the win with a 30.780 lap, earning the maximum 3 points. Bolt went 30.991/P2, with Lettenbichler coming through in P3 with a 32.058 to take the single point.

Walker: “I had a good lap. Not perfect, but carried good speed so I’m happy with that. The track feels good now, and has dried out a bit, but I’m sure that after a few more riders get onto it, it’ll bring a bit of mud onto the rocks and make it slippy again. I know I can do (ed: in the motos). I know I have the pace. I just need to put it together in races.”

Moto 1
As we moved into the motos it was Bolt’s turn to resume normal operations. The Championship leader took the holeshot and never looked back, going wire to wire for the win. Walker moved to P2 early in the race, and managed to maintain that position, but was giving away just around 2 seconds per lap to Bolt. Lettenbichler bridged up to Walker to make the battle for P2 interesting, but came off in the decisive feature on track known as ‘The Devil’s Knuckles.’

In the background of the battle for P2, Diego Viera was quietly building up to what would be the big story on the night by getting himself up to P4 on track. This would be decisive as the timed portion of the 7-minute + 1 lap race wound down. With 48 seconds left on the clock Lettenbichler came off his bike in the log matrix, moving quickly from the middle line to the inside right line just as Bolt was coming up the inside to lap him. Bolt made the move of the night to somehow jump over Lettenbichler as the German unexpectedly went down in front of him. Bolt managed to not kill Lettenbichler in the process and maintain a 21 second lead over Walker despite coming off the bike in the incident. Absolute insanity. Behind Bolt, Viera was able to get past Lettenbichler and snap up a P3 finish.

Moto 2
Off the reverse start it was Viera building on his Moto 1 result to take the holeshot ahead of Dominik Olszowy (Rieju Factory) and Eddie Karlsson (Ohlins / Husqvarvan). By the end of the first lap, though, Bolt had made his way up to P3, while Walker got caught out on the Knuckles and dropped back to P6. Viera managed to hold off Bolt until the 4:00 to-go mark, when he made a mistake in the matrix allowing the Brit through. With 2:50 remaining Olszowy had made his way into P2 behind Bolt only to become another victim of the matrix, falling back to P4 behind Viera and Mitchell Brightmore. From that point Bolt continued to dominate. Despite some minor mistakes in the final 3 laps he still comfortably took the checkered flag for the win. Viera come home in an incredible P2, with Mitchell Brightmore in P3 ahead of Lettenbichler and Walker.

Bolt: “It was good! Happy with that, happy with my speed. When it’s slippy like this it’s difficult to race the track, but I was still managing to charge on the in-between bits.”

Moto 3
The final race of the night was a relatively straightforward affair. Walker took the holeshot ahead of Bolt and Lettenbichler. With 3:30 left on the clock Bolt was handily in P1 and had built a 1-lane lead over Walker and Lettenbichler, and that’s how things finished up. Viera struggled in this race, but still managed to finish mid-pack in P6 which was enough to secure his P3 overall on the night.

Bolt: “I’d like to be able to say that I’ve been putting it on [about my leg injury] but I’m really struggling to straighten my leg right now. I’m really happy with that one. As the track deteriorates I tend to get stronger. I’ve only really been riding once a week. Until Mani and I came together [in Moto 1] I was really happy with how my leg felt. Two more rounds left and then we’ll worry about it after that.”

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