Bolt fights off Walker for Bilbao Win

2026 SuperEnduro World Championship round three results from Bilbao, Spain, where Billy Bolt fights off a determined Jonny Walker for another perfect night indoors – Mitch Brightmore third, despite dislocated shoulder.

SuperEnduro round 3 in a nutshell:

Bilbao sprung surprises from the get-go – not Billy Bolt going fastest, this is normal – but with tight qualifying and contrasting fortunes on a track which would prove to play a part in the races.

The Bizkaia Arena had an intense and unforgiving track, different from previous rounds, with grabby soil which proved hard work with ruts, holes, slick logs and basically no let-up for riders on a short lap.

The big drama came during practice for Mitch Brightmore, who crashed awkwardly, landing on the concrete at the edge of the track and dislocating his shoulder. The X-Grip rider seemingly can’t buy luck this season, although a physio in the pit area volunteering his services turned out to be a game changer.

Superpole

Josep Garcia was all action as always in bringing the noise in Superpole, helping ramp up the Spanish crowd with revs and a fast time. Eddie Karlsson was on it again to go faster in the tightly timed shootout before Jonny Walker went a blistering two seconds faster, finally nailing a mistake-free Superpole this season. Last of all, Bolt had to be at his best and clocked in the fastest with a 34.7s and first gate pick.

Moto 1

Jonny Walker rocketed to a holeshot and lead. Riding strong and batting off the attacks from Bolt in second, the Triumph rider was in a determined mood before a front-end tuck allowed Bolt an easy pass to cruise home for the race win.

The battle was intense behind Bolt and Walker for third between Karlsson, Garcia, Tim Apolle, Vieira, Brightmore and the track designer Alfredo Gomez. It felt like any one of them could take it, but Karlsson was the consistent one and pulled clear for third and the last rider not to get lapped by Bolt…

Moto 2

Brightmore pulled an important holeshot from the front row of the reverse grid in race two ahead of Harry Edmondson and Dominik Olszowy. It was a very different look to the leaderboard with the world champion almost last after the first rock section pile-up.

By lap three Walker was through on Brightmore for the lead and already hearing Bolt’s Husqvarna revving behind his Triumph fender.

It took a couple of laps, but Billy simply looked stronger, waited for the moment and forced it through on the inside to once more cruise over the line. Jonny was left looking at another second place ahead of the determined Brightmore third.

Moto 3

Jonny Walker repeated his moto one start for a good lead early in race three. Again, he had to be defensive once Bolt arrived behind and it was well past mid-race this time before Jonny made a mistake and Bolt flew by. It felt inevitable as Walker got snagged on a line in the rocks Bolt wasn’t taking and all he could do was watch as a Husqvarna sailed past his shoulder once more. It’s no downer on Jonny, even if the results are the same; he is pushing Billy to his limit.

Perhaps the story of the night was Mitch Brightmore clocking a 4-3-3 scorecard which meant a first podium of the year for the X-Grip Racing rider. It takes some grit to carry on racing at this level in the unreal intensity of SuperEnduro having dislocated a shoulder just hours earlier.

The result was, of course, another perfect night for Bolt, who was pushed hard by Walker – who grabbed the Acerbis fastest race lap award. In the end the world champion’s lines and technique marked him clearly the better rider on track and it is that simple.

Junior World Championship

Spanish rider Alex Puey had the crowd’s hopes high in the opening Junior race as he, Milan Schmuser and Toby Shaw all traded the lead. The championship leader Schmuser regrouped and capitalised on Puey’s mistakes to take the win with Shaw third.

The German made very light work of the reverse grid moto two, second halfway around lap one and waiting for his moment to pass Berts Crayston for the lead. It came on lap three and, despite a mid-race crash, the German ticked another easy win.

Schmuser then had a nightmare final moto start, crashing and then also getting held up while Alex Puey and Toby Shaw stretched away out front. It developed into a good fight between Puey and Shaw with the British rider eventually getting the better of the Spaniard.

But smooth Schmuser kept patient and the race came to him with each lap to finally go around Shaw, who’d crashed on the penultimate lap. 1-1-1 again for the German extends his points lead.

Shaw took 3-3-3 for second overall and Alex Puey’s 2-6-2 meant third in his home race.

Youth World Championship

Wojtek Walczak and Connor Watson were again the riders to watch in the Youth 125 class, with the Polish rider making a clean start for a start-to-finish first moto win.

Watson took a great holeshot in the more eventful second Youth race which saw championship leader Walczak down in the tricky first rock garden. Among the first-lap chaos Watson pulled a lead with Walczak quickly third behind Eneko Martinez, yo-yoing back and forth.

16-year-old Watson proved to be the fastest rider on track and comfortably carried it over the line for the overall victory. Martinez was second, but a 1-3 scorecard put the points leader Walczak second overall, with the Spaniard trading places on the podium.

Spanish national class

Eric Miguel was the class of the Spanish national Expert class, winning moto one and looking like he had second in the bag. But Xavi Leon, now riding the Stark, took the race two lead, but then it developed into a battle with Alejandro del Olmo taking over mid-race. The trio traded crashes and elbows before Miguel Perez finally made it stick for the double.

Prestige class overall results:

Junior class overall:

Youth class overall:

Spanish national class overall:

Photo Credit: Future7Media | Nicki Martinez