Story: Noel Flatters | Editor - Enduro.Media
January 21, 2024

GP Romania (Round 4 of the FIM SuperEnduro World Championship) took place tonight and once again it was Billy Bolt who found a way to overcome his leg injury from GP Germany and dominate proceedings.

WHAT?

• Billy Bolt (Husqvarna Factory Racing) took home another win to stay unbeaten in the 2024 SuperEnduro Championship after going 2-1-1. Bolt also now leads the Championship by nineteen points with three rounds left to go.

• Jonny Walker (Beta) managed another P2 finish with a 1-2-2 night. Walker continues to ride fast, and still picked up his P2 despite coming into this round with what was described as a minor neck injury.

• Mani Lettenbichler (FMF KTM Factory Racing) came up with his second consecutive podium finish of the Championship on this highly technical track.

• Eddie Karlsson (Husqvarna) showed well on the night, winning the SuperPole, the Holeshot award, and a P5 overall finish.

SO WHAT?

Let’s be honest with ourselves here, shall we? It’s going to take a disaster for Bolt lose a round in this year’s Championship. The man is riding with a badly injured left knee/leg for the past two rounds, and STILL nobody has a real answer for him. Yes, Jonny Walker rode well in Romania, and has picked up moto wins here and in the previous round at GP Germany, but Bolt is clearly the class of the field. A nineteen point lead over Walker may not seem like a lot with three rounds left to go, but until someone proves that they can actually beat the man in one round… It. Is. Over.

2023 FIM Hard Enduro world champion Lettenbichler’s P3 ride on the highly technical track in Romania, coupled with a very tough night out for Will Hoare in his first race as a Rieju Factory team rider, was enough to put Lettenbichler into P3 overall for the championship just seven points ahead of Hoare. Dominik Olszowy (Rieju Factory) sits in P5 overall, fourteen points behind teammate Hoare.

NOW WHAT?

We move on to the final three rounds of the 2024 SuperEnduro Championship, and we keep wondering if/when someone not named Billy Bolt can win one of these things. The real battle now seems to be for P3 in the championship. Hoare now has two weeks until GP Hungary to keep working on his new factory bike, and to dial in settings on the Rieju platform. If he can return to the form he had earlier in the championship, it could become a real battle to the end with Lettenbichler. Don’t forget Olszowy, either, even at 21 points behind Lettenbichler. The former World Junior champ has shown some flashes of speed, and had a very respectable ride in Romania. Maybe the pressure that comes with having a new factory teammate will push him into a higher gear and give him an outside shot at the final overall podium position.

The story

Billy Bolt. Billy Bolt continues, quite simply, to be the story. Coming off an incredibly gutsy win in Germany following a significant left knee/leg injury in timed training, Bolt had somehow managed to win the round by holding off the usual suspects of Jonny Walker and Manuel Lettenbichler. Coming out of Germany, it felt like if Bolt could ride in Romania, he would win in Romania. In what was (hopefully) a surprise to no-one at all, that’s exactly what happened.

Moto 1
Off the start it was the surprising Eddie Karlsson (Ohlins / Husqvarna) who came off the line with the holeshot. Karlsson had unexpectedly won the SuperPole time trials after Walker crashed on his lap, and Bolt got hung up just long enough cost him the crucial winner’s point. Bolt immediately took possesion of P2 on the opening lap of Moto 1, with Will Hoare (Rieuju Factory) slotting into P3. It only took Bolt another lap to get past Karlsson to grab the lead. On a very technical track, though, it was clear that Bolt was asking a lot of his injured leg, especially on what would be the main feature of the night - a 180 degree left hand corner over an angled log matrix known as ‘The Devil’s Fingers.’ Bolt’s preferred line through the night was hard to the inside left, lofting his bike over the matrix using a high support platform in the corner to place his left foot and use his injured leg to help lever the bike up and over/around.

To Walker’s credit, he didn’t let Bolt extend his early race lead. He maintained a 3 second or gap, until he was able capitalise on a mistake by Bolt in The Devil’s Fingers and sneak by for the lead. At that point Bolt appeared to go into race management mode, allowing Walker to open up the gap. With 16 seconds left go before the last lap, Walker also faltered in the Fingers. Bolt quickly got to his rear wheel, but then also bobbled after he missed his inside line. From there Walker was able to maintain the lead to the checkered flag and take the win ahead of Bolt and Lettenbichler. Definitely an interesting finish, and it gave the faintest glimmer of hope that perhaps Walker could continue to take advantage of Bolt’s leg issue on an exceptionally technically and physically demanding track.

Moto 2
Off the reverse start it was Hoare taking the lead. The biggest story from the start, though, was Dominik Olszowy’s (Rieju Factory) crash that also took down Lettenbichler. From there the chaos kept happening. Bolt had an early crash to put himself back into P4 with work to do in order to get past Hoare, Walker and Brightmore and take the lead. With 4 minutes to go in the moto Walker moved himself into P1 and with 2:30 to go had established a significant 9.4 second lead over Bolt. It looked like this was Walker’s race to win, but we’d seen him in this position a few times before this season only to lose to Bolt through unforced errors. Unfortunately for Walker, it happened again. With 1:20 to go he went down, allowing Bolt to catch up but not pass. Walker was even able to open a small gap the next time through the Fingers. Bolt made it back yet again with 27 seconds to go in the 7 minute +1 lap race, but slid his rear wheel across a log and lost touch with Walker.

Bolt kept battling, likely in the knowledge that he had passed Walker at the end of races for the win multiple times this year, and on the last lap made a fantastic pass in the rock garden to secure the win. Walker came through in what must have been a bit of a soul-crushing P2, with Olszowy putting in a brilliant comeback ride to finish P3 ahead of Brightmore and Lettenbichler.

Moto 3
Going into the final race of the night the pressure was squarely on Walker’s shoulders, just as it had been two weeks earlier in Germany. Walker got the better of Bolt off the start, but the question was could he maintain the position advantage. Unfortunately he couldn’t. Bolt had made his way past Walker to P2 with 5 minutes to go, and then made the pass on Karlsson for P1 at the 4-minutes remaining mark. Walker got through Karlsson for P2 and was right on Bolt’s wheel until, with 2 minutes remaining, he had a massive bobble in the Fingers. From there it was all over. Bolt extended a massive lead and held it all the way to the finish for a dominating Moto win and a dramatic overall win on the night to open up his lead over Walker in the Championship standings.

GP ROMANIA Results