While many championships are winding down or have run their courses for 2021, the FIM World Enduro Championship got underway in Poland, where Americans Colton Haaker and Cody Webb returned to action, as well. For the three-time SuperEnduro Champion Haaker, it was a solid start to the championship, finishing out the night on the podium, but it was a tough night for the 2018 SuperEnduro Champion Webb, who struggled with mechanical issues and crashes.
The field was deep with talent. Home-country hero and multi-time AMA EnduroCross Champion Taddy Blazusiak (GasGas) was in the house, as was German extreme off-star Manuel Lettenbichler (KTM), who was making his first SuperEnduro race in three years, and Beta’s Jonny Walker, to name a few.
But the man that was on everyone’s hit list was Britain’s Billy Bolt, the hottest rider on the extreme off-road circuit these days. Bolt recently won the 2021 Hard Enduro Championship and was looking to ride his wave of momentum in the new SuperEnduro Championship, which he certainly accomplished in Poland.
Bolt made it clear from the get-go that he was ready to start where he left off. The factory Husqvarna rider and reigning SuperEnduro Champion looked very comfortable on the short but technical track. After setting the best time in the practice sessions, he proceeded to log an impressive time in the Akrapovic SuperPole (55.133). It was Bolt’s teammate Haaker next up and Lettenbichler third.
Blazusiak and Webb got off on the wrong foot after they both fell in SuperPole, forcing them to start at the back of the grid in the Prestige class.
At the start of the first of three main events, things didn’t improve for Webb and Blazusiak, the two men separately found themselves on the ground in the first turn, they had to push extremely hard to stand a chance of a comeback as the pace heated up.
Webb, plagued with brake issues, was in big trouble and was not able to demonstrate his potential. He fell several times over the course of the race and finished 10th.
Meanwhile, Blazusiak, carried by the passion of his home crowd, managed to fight back to a strong third position. Despite his bad start, the Polish rider put together a string of very quick laps and overtook his opponents on all the most technical parts of the track.
Out front it was a different story for Bolt, as he controlled the race pace to perfection. For a while he was followed by Haaker, but as soon as the American went down in a sandy corner, the Brit was away.
Feeling the effects of jet lag, Haaker couldn’t fight off a tenacious Blazusiak in the closing laps.
Walker had a good opening race with his new Beta machine, taking his first top five of the season and keeping himself in the game.
Lettenbichler finished second, ahead of Blazusiak and Haaker, by showing calmness and consistency.
As is tradition in SuperEnduro, the second race of the night saw a reverse grid start. This offered a great opportunity to Magnus Thor of Sweden to take the holeshot and run with it. The European Champion did a good job but was not able to hold off Haaker for long, as the Husqvarna rider made an excellent start to the second race.
Haaker seemed to have everything under control as he rode smoothly, but Bolt was on the move behind him.
The Brit caught Haaker, but just as he was on his tail he dropped it, he was quickly back in the saddle and made up the lost ground. The two teammates then engaged in the most spectacular battle of the night. Bolt made an amazing pass on Haaker before making another mistake and suffering another crash. Bolt, once again, made up all the time he lost, closing on Haaker in the last three corners and executing an amazing pass just before the closing section of the lap.
It was another tough race for Blazusiak, who made another brave comeback after falling heavily at the start. He had to be content with seventh place.
Webb, still struggling with brake problems, took fifth.
Behind Bolt and Haaker, a quietly quick Walker rounded off race two in third.
The last race in Poland was practically a formality for Bolt who began by taking his second Airoh Holeshot of the night. He won the final by more than 26 seconds ahead of a once again impressive Lettenbichler. The victory, taken with relative ease, was the icing on the cake for the Brit after not feeling his best in recent days.
“It’s been a brilliant start to the championship,” said Bolt. “Winning all three races and taking SuperPole as well—it’s great to be back indoors. I hadn’t got as much bike time coming into this round as I would have liked, and it showed a little in the beginning of the night. My timing was a little off and I was making myself work for it out there. We got things dialed in better for race three. The track came a bit easier to me and I could hit my lines consistently.”
“I’m pretty pleased with third tonight,” Haaker said. “It was tough out there and I wasn’t 100 percent sure where I was going to slot into things. For sure, race two was the highlight of my night. When I got that good start and a clean track in front of me, I was riding more how I wanted to. It’s good to get a SuperEnduro race back under my belt again because I haven’t done one since 2019. Now I know where things are at, I’ll build on it for round two, for sure!”
“That was tough!” said Lettenbichler. “I’m super happy that everything went well for me because I hurt my wrist two weeks ago and I wasn’t sure that I would be able to ride. I’m actually a little surprised how well things went. Finishing second in both the first and third finals was awesome. You know, coming back to this kind of racing, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it’s really been a lot of fun.”
“I guess things didn’t come to me in the finals like I wanted,” said the former AMA EnduroCross champ Blazusiak. “I felt really good, the speed was there, my bike was awesome, my fitness and shoulder were really good as well, and then I just kept crashing. If it wasn’t my mistake, it was another rider falling or making a mistake in front of me, or landing on top of me. I guess luck just wasn’t on my side tonight.”
After racing concluded, Webb, said, “[It was a] rough night for me. [A] scary crash in practice that got in my head and then a bunch of mistakes the rest of the night, plus I never got through the start cleanly in every moto. Putting this one behind me and got nothing to lose now rest of the season.” CN
RESULTS
| 1. | Billy Bolt | HUS | 1-1-1 |
| 2. | Manuel Lettenbichler | KTM | 2-4-2 |
| 3. | Colton Haaker | HUS | 3-2-5 |
| 4. | Jonny Walker | BET | 5-3-3 |
| 5. | Taddy Blazusiak | GAS | 3-7-4 |
| 10. | Cody Webb | SHE | 10-5-DNF |
https://www.superenduro.org/fr/result-pilotes-standing/537/2022
Visit Cycle News for more off-road racing action.
