The FIM SuperEnduro World Championship is go this weekend with round one in Lievin, France and Billy Bolt facing the challenge from Jonny Walker and Mani Lettenbichler for the seven-round indoor season ahead.

With three world crowns in three years, Billy Bolt arrives in Northern France as the obvious benchmark for all his rivals. Despite a new 2024 model Husqvarna to dial-in, and a longer season to bite into this year, he is still be the rider to beat.

Last season saw Bolt drop just one moto win from the entire season on his way to that third world crown but the British rider may not have such an easy time of it this year.

Seven rounds this season will across Europe visiting Poland, Germany, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and finally Great Britain in March – it’s the longest we’ve seen in recent SuperEnduro calendars.

The dangermen for Bolt will be at least two-fold this year with Jonny Walker, once again making his way straight across the Atlantic from the EnduroCross series where he finished runner-up, and Hard Enduro World Champion, Manuel Lettenbichler retruning ot the fold.

One of the biggest question marks this opening weekend at the French GP will be who can match Billy. Will there be added pressure on Bolt from the German who has just won the HEWC title so convincingly? He proved beatable more than once this outdoor season in SuperEnduro-style prologue races. 

It’s fair to say both Walker and Lettenbichler will lead the pack in having to raise their level on the rocks and logs to match Billy over a season but indoor enduro is always unpredictable and it promises great racing as always.

Stark contrast

A question mark surrounds the 2023 third placed rider Taddy Blazusiak who has caused a storm in the run-up to this round one by waving farewell to the Fariolo racing team who he has taken all of his many victories under on KTM and more recently on GASGAS machines.

Injured during the recent EnduroCross season in the United States, Taddy is on the verge of a spectacular debut for Stark Future on their Varg electric motorcycle.

It would upstage just about everyone if they make the start line on Saturday night but Enduro21 understands it is likely not to happen, sadly, due to FIM technical regulation surrounding racing an electric bike indoors.

Read our separate story on this here: Update: Taddy Blazusiak leaves GASGAS – here’s what we know

Top of the list of riders to watch is Mitch Brightmore, last year’s Junior SuperEnduro World Champion who has stepped up his game this season, even beating Billy in a prologue shootout at the Getzenrodeo. Though stepping up to Prestige class is literally another level, Brightmore may spring a surprise.

The SuperEnduro World Championship season begins with as strong a line-up as we have seen for a good few years, despite the absence of the North American riders this season.

Brightmore is joined by a list of riders who can cause menace if nothing else: Dominik Olszowy, the young Polish rider also following Walker across from EnduroCross duties is the 2022 Junior World Champion and joins tenacious Alfredo Gomez under the banner of the Catalan brand Rieju.

The spectacular shirt-wearing Swede Eddie Karlsson showed great form in qualification at least last season until injury. European Champ Dan Peace who bypasses the Juniors to go straight in among the big boys representing Sherco, and another former Junior champ Will Hoare are among those capable of springing surprises.

Juniors set for another Brigthmore winner?

The younger Brightmore brother, Ashton, became the Junior vice-champion last season and showed great promise and raw skills on the indoor obstacles. He ended up being Mitchell’s closest challenger last year and enters the 2024 season as the rider to beat.

Milan Schmueser, Raul Guimera and Suff Sella are all ones to watch in the Junior category which is often a spectacular one to watch under the lights and in front of the crowds.

2024 SuperEnduro World Championship round one entry list:

First race of the year in Lieven near Lille is a sell-out at the Arena Stade Couvert on Saturday but you can watch the Grand Prix of France on www.superenduro.tv

It’s a subscription TV service but is good value in our view – around €6 per race if you take out the season pass or €7.99 per round.

European Cup and Open classes return

The European Cup and the Open category will further enrich the evenings of the MotoZ FIM SuperEnduro World Championship. The European Cup will be present 4 times during the season, with the first round scheduled for Krakow on December 9 plus Riesa (January 6), Cluj (January 20) and Budapest (February 3). The Open category will be made up of non-qualified Prestige and Junior competitors at each round.

Photo Credit: Future7Media