Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt put in a commanding showing at round three of the FIM SuperEnduro World Championship in Hungary to secure the overall victory. Topping the SuperPole hot lap, before going on to win all three Prestige class races, the defending world champion further extended his championship lead in Budapest.
Dominating the evening’s SuperPole by almost one and a half seconds on his FE 350, Billy was keen to make good on that momentum when the start gate dropped for race one. Exiting the first corner in second position, a hectic lap one saw him slip back to third. Recomposing himself, he went on the attack and by the end of lap two had taken over the lead. Once out front, Bolt pulled clear to eventually claim victory by three seconds.
With the start order reversed for race two, Billy cut his way through the field to reach third position on lap one. After a couple of exchanges, he took the lead on lap three and quickly opened up a healthy advantage. Looking set to claim a convincing win, drama unfolded when he got his front wheel lodged in the rock garden with three laps to go. Dropping to second, he put in maximum effort to reel leader Cody Webb back in and take his second victory of the night.
Setting his sights on a clean sweep in Budapest, Bolt emerged from the second corner of race three in third. Quickly moving into the lead, Billy was determined to do no wrong this time and set about checking out. Executing precision laps on his FE 350 saw the Brit build a commanding lead to cross the chequered flag over 20 seconds clear of his rivals.
With maximum points gained on the night thanks to his three race wins and SuperPole victory, Billy now heads to round four in Israel on March 2 with a 26-point championship lead.
Billy Bolt: “With three wins and topping SuperPole, it was a great night at the office. I knew my speed was good from the off, but in the first two races I seemed to keep tripping myself up. I would get into the lead and then just make a mistake or judge the lapped traffic wrong. Thankfully I was able to recover each time, but I really wanted to do better. I feel like race three was my best of the night. Mistakes were minimal and I was able to ride my lines with confidence. It was a great way to end the night!”
Overall Classification
1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 63pts; 2. Jonny Walker (Beta) 51pts; 3. Cody Webb (Sherco) 42pts…
Prestige Race 1
1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 6 laps, 4:44.087; 2. Jonny Walker (Beta) 6 laps, 4:45.815; 3. Cooper Abbott (Sherco) 6 laps, 5:02.030…
Prestige Race 2
1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 9 laps, 7:35.071; 2. Cody Webb (Sherco) 9 laps, 7:38.798; 3. Jonny Walker (Beta) 9 laps, 7:43.281…
Prestige Race 3
1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 9 laps, 6:58.254; 2. Jonny Walker (Beta) 9 laps, 7:18.193; 3. Cody Webb (Sherco) 9 laps, 7:33.496…
Championship Standings (After round 3)
1. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 184pts; 2. Jonny Walker (Beta) 158pts; 3. Cody Webb (Sherco) 124pts…