Results of the fourth round of the 2024 SuperEnduro World Championship in Cluj, Romania, where Billy Bolt has once again taken victory from Jonny Walker despite knee injury and a "less than optimal" track.
 

SuperEnduro round four in a nutshell:

  • The fourth round of the 2024 MotoZ FIM SuperEnduro World Championship visited the BT Arena in Cluj, Romania for the first time. The track was something else with half the Romanian forest indoors and a mousetrap of a layout which riders objected to and alterations were made. The problem was so many logs did not give a moment to catch breath for the 'gladiators', especially in the complicated corners, where trunks arranged at an angle were a nightmare. Trials bikes would have been better.
  • The story of the night is carbon copy of the previous round where, despite not being at 100% after damaging his knee two weeks ago in Riesa, the world championship leader Billy Bolt pulled off the overall, leaving his rivals to reflect on another missed opportunity.
  • Like round three, the battle with Jonny Walker was intense for three races on the night but Bolt came out winner twice to Walker’s one and the champion is clearly in no mood to let pain prevent his championship campaign.
  • Bolt and Walker have so far shared the Superpole results in France, Poland and Germany, before reaching this mousetrap track of Cluj. In the event both made mistakes and it was the Swede Eddie Karlsson who gave the surprise of the night with a best time of 35.218 seconds, followed by Mani Lettenbichler and Diogo Vieira, with the two favorites, Bolt and Walker, in an unexpected P4 and P7 respectively.
  • Both had choked their way through the corner of logs before the finish line and it would prove to be a contentious part of the track all night.
  • With the best position on the grid for Karlsson, the Swede briefly led the first final of the Prestige category but the pack hunted him down and he progressively lost steam. The world championship leader took the lead ahead of Walker and Rieju's new signing, Will Hoare. But Jonny put his rival under pressure and when Bolt got stuck again in the 'cursed corner', Walker took the opportunity to overtake and made his way to victory, ahead of Bolt and Lettenbichler, after the Red Bull KTM rider worked his way through.
  • The second race, with the usual reverse grid order, began with Will Hoare as the leader, although Walker soon took advantage of a mistake by his compatriot to take first place followed by Bolt, Mitchell Brightmore, Domink Olszowy and Lettenbichler halfway through.
  • Shortly after, a mistake by Walker allowed Billy to get closer and when Bolt launched his attack on the last lap to grab the lead, the win was his. Walker crossed the finish line two seconds behind, with Olszowy in third place, followed by Mitch and Mani fifth after several hook-ups.
  • Come the final moto, the dizzying pace of Walker and Bolt allowed them to get rid of Karlsson, Lettenbichler and Hoare with relative ease in the first laps. The Husqvarna rider took his opportunity to overtake Beta rival, opening a gap for the lead and in the end take a comfortable victory.
  • Thanks to his fourth victory of the season, Bolt establishes himself as the leader of the championship with 239 points, with Walker in second position, 19 points behind his compatriot and Lettenbichler, further down the table, with 153.
  • In the Junior category, Suff Sella and Ashton Brightmore again looked favourites in their title battle but it was the British rider’s night on the tight logs, his trials background shining it seemed.
  • Brightmore took the first moto from Sella and the second, despite the reverse grid start order.
  • The third Junior final was a repeat with Sella and Brightmore in the first two positions, followed by Fernández and Schmusser. But this time around the positions were reveresed betwent the top two, after the Israeli took advantage of Ash's mistakes.
  • The results sees the championship leader's plate back in the hands of Brightmore, three points ahead of Sella in the general standings.
  • As in the previous event in Germany, the Romanian Grand Prix also featured the European Championship where the Spanish Xavi León took another double win ahead of the American Dustin Mccarthy and the Polish rider Maciej Wieckowski.
  • The fifth round of the 2024 SuperEnduro World Championship takes place in two weeks on February 3, in Budapest, Hungary.

SuperEnduro GP of Romania results, Prestige overall:

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Final 1

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Final 2

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Final 3

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SuperEnduro GP of Romania results, Junior overall:

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Final 1

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Final 2

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Final 3

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SuperEnduro GP of Romania results, European championship:

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Photos: Andrea Belluschi | Future7Media