Billy Bolt delivers impressive ride at EnduroGP round two

Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt has delivered two hugely impressive rides at round two of the 2021 FIM Enduro World Championship. Following a dominant performance on the event’s Friday evening Super Test, the Brit then continued to shake things up in the Enduro2 category, ultimately placing third on day one and backing up his performance with fifth on day two.

Riding an FE 450 in the hotly contested E2 class, Bolt initially went into the second round of the EnduroGP series simply looking to gain some valuable race time and experience, as well as putting on a show for the passionate Italian fans at the Edolo venue. The FIM SuperEnduro World Champion certainly won the crowd’s support on Friday, topping the overall Super Test times by a sizeable four-second margin.

Going into the first of the two full days of competition, Bolt remained competitive alongside the EnduroGP regulars. Posting several top extreme test results, Billy was able to stay in contention for the podium places. And at the end of the four laps, he secured an impressive third place in Enduro2 and fifth in the overall EnduroGP category.

Sunday proved tougher for Bolt. With the rougher, more challenging riding conditions to his liking, he was able to deliver a number of leading results in both the extreme and enduro tests. However, a couple of small mistakes cost the 23-year-old, with him then having to push hard to make up the time lost. A small issue towards the close of racing resulted in Billy ultimately securing a fifth-place finish in Enduro2, missing out on a second podium by just over 30 seconds.

Bolt now looks ahead to the restart of the 2021 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, and the Abestone Hard Enduro, held on July 9-11.

Billy Bolt: “I’ve really enjoyed my time here in Italy. It’s great to ride different events and I’m pleased with how things have gone here in EnduroGP. I didn’t really know what to expect coming into the event – a top-10 result was my goal, so to finish on the E2 podium on Saturday was great. I made a few mistakes on a few of the enduro and cross tests, but thankfully, I was able to claw some of that back with a couple of strong extreme tests. Day two didn’t go so well unfortunately, I found it hard to get into a rhythm early on and settle into a good pace, then towards the end, in the extreme test, my chain came off and I had to push to the finish, so obviously I lost a fair bit of time there. Overall, I’ve enjoyed it, and if all goes well, I hope to be able to come back to race a couple more sometime.”

Results – 2021 FIM Enduro World Championship – Round 2, Italy

Day 1

Enduro 2
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 57:59.69
2. Josep Garcia (KTM) 59:47.93
3. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 1:00:17.89
4. Hamish MacDonald (Sherco) 1:00:21.78
5. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 1:00:43.56
6. Hugo Blanjoue (FRA), KTM, 1:02:18.76

EnduroGP
1. Brad Freeman (GBR), Beta, 57:57.37
2. Wil Ruprecht (AUS), TM, 57:59.69
3. Josep Garcia (ESP), KTM, 59:47.93
4. Andrea Verona (ITA), GASGAS, 59:50.60
5. Billy Bolt (GBR), Husqvarna, 1:00:17.89
6. Hamish MacDonald (Sherco) 1:00:21.78

Day 2

Enduro 2
1. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 58:52.41
2. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 59:49.52
3. Josep Garcia (KTM) 1:00:03.85
4. Hamish MacDonald (Sherco) 1:00:20.82
5. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 1:00:38.37
6. Hugo Blanjoue (KTM) 1:01:53.07

EnduroGP
1. Brad Freeman (Beta) 58:24.94
2. Wil Ruprecht (TM) 58:52.41
3. Steve Holcombe (Beta) 59:49.52
4. Andrea Verona (GASGAS) 59:51.54
5. Josep Garcia (KTM) 1:00:03.85
6. Davide Guarneri (Fantic) 1:00:13.45
…
10. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 1:00:38.37