Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory Racing’s Billy Bolt has placed as runner-up at the second round of the 2020 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship in Germany. Arriving as series leader following a highly impressive winning performance at the opening event of the championship, Bolt endured a challenging night inside the Sachsen Arena in Riesa with a heavy fall in the opening final preventing him from performing at his best.
Despite his troubles, the FE 350 mounted rider secured second overall and with it holds the runner-up position in the SuperEnduro championship standings, just 11 points behind new series leader Taddy Blazusiak. Finishing just four points behind his teammate Bolt, Alfredo Gomez placed fourth overall, earning strong second place results in the night’s first and third finals aboard his TE 300i.
Quickly getting to grips with the technical track, Bolt showed his pace by posting the fastest time during the final timed practice. In the first of the three finals it took just two laps before he moved ahead of teammate Gomez and into the race lead, where he stayed until lap five. Initially losing just one place to Blazusiak, Bolt then dropped to his final finishing position of fourth.
The reversed start order second final saw Bolt quickly hustle his way inside the top five before taking the race lead on lap two. Looking comfortable out front, a mistake while leading on lap four unfortunately saw him drop to his final finishing position of second.
The night’s third and closing final proved to be the toughest for Bolt. Feeling the effects of his spills in the first and second race, he spent two laps in third before dropping to fourth. Finally moving forwards one position to secure third at the finish was enough for the Brit to claim second overall in the event classification.
In missing the end-of-night overall podium by just four points, Alfredo Gomez was ultimately a little frustrated at the way his time in Riesa ended. But in showing impressive speed on his TE 300i the experienced Spaniard kept a cool head to start his night with a deserved runner-up result in the opening final.
The reverse-start second final didn’t go Gomez’ way as an incident on lap seven saw him drop from fifth to seventh. Bouncing back in the night’s closing final, Alfredo again made a strong start to complete lap one in second, where he remained until the chequered flag. Heading into round three of the series Gomez sits third in the championship standings.
Billy Bolt:“It was certainly a difficult night for me. It looked like things were going to go well – the track really suited me, so I was really looking forward to seeing what I could do. I felt like the track could be ridden aggressively, but maybe that was where things went wrong for me. There was definitely a racing line, but I made too many mistakes. The crash I had in the first race was pretty big, I hit the ground pretty hard and that detuned me for the other races. After that I just wanted to get as many points as possible. For the championship things didn’t go like I wanted, but my speed was good. It’ll be back to work on Monday, with three rounds of the series still to go there everything to fight for.”
Alfredo Gomez:“It’s been a fantastic night for me, apart from an unfortunate incident in the second final that stopped me from finishing on the podium. That’s disappointing, but the first and third finals were really good for me. In the first race I made a small mistake when I was leading, but overall I’ve felt really good. I was able to find a much better rhythm compared to the first race in Poland. The final result could have been better, but generally I’m very pleased.”
The FIM SuperEnduro World Championship continues with the third stop of the five-round series in Spain on January 18, 2020.
Results – 2020 SuperEnduro World Championship, Round 2
Overall Classification
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 62 points; 2. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 46 pts; 3. Jonny Walker (KTM) 46 pts; 4. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 42 pts; 5. Blake Gutzeit (Husqvarna) 31 pts…
Prestige Race 1
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 9 laps 6:48.813; 2. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 7:23.066; 3. Jonny Walker (KTM) 7:26.617; 4. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 7:37.658; 5. Pol Tarres (Husqvarna) 8 laps 7:02.163…
Prestige Race 2
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 9 laps 6:55.816; 2. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 7:13.376; 3. Jonny Walker (KTM) 7:13.640; 4. Blake Gutzeit (Husqvarna) 7:39.762; 5. Pol Tarres (Husqvarna) 8 laps 6:58.545… 7. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 7:11.267…
Prestige Race 3
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 9 laps 6:52.817; 2. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 7:06.871; 3. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 7:09.880; 4. Jonny Walker (KTM) 7:14.722; 5. Blake Gutzeit (Husqvarna) 7:54.072…
Championship Standings (After Round 2 of 5)
1. Taddy Blazusiak (KTM) 117 points; 2. Billy Bolt (Husqvarna) 106 pts; 3. Alfredo Gomez (Husqvarna) 87 pts; 4. Jonny Walker (KTM) 87 pts; 5. Blake Gutzeit (Husqvarna) 60 pts…