and in the overall championship.
"Right now, I'm struggling to
process what's just gone on,"
said Bolt. "I'm a whirlwind of emo-
tions. I can't believe I'm the FIM
Hard Enduro World Champion.
It's an incredible feeling!"
The final round was anything but
smooth sailing for the would-be
champion, however. Bolt struggled
in the early going and lingered in
the top-10 before battling his way
back to the runner-up position.
"I had hurt my finger in the
morning race and needed to
figure out how to adapt," said
Bolt. "I made a bunch of mistakes
and that was like a tornado of
errors. I think I dropped to sixth,
but I regrouped and knew I could
recover. I settled in and enjoyed
the second half of the race, find-
ing new lines and finding a flow.
Once I got up to second, I knew
the title was back on, so I held
my ground and did it!"
The day's racing started with
the two-hour morning Getzen-
Race, with 60 riders battling for a
top-15 qualifying position. After a
race-long battle, Lettenbichler just
beat Bolt to the line for the win.
Then came the GetzenChamp
race, an 80-minute-plus-one-lap
final featuring the 15 qualifying rid-
ers. It was there that Lettenbichler
did the only thing he could do—put
in a flawless race in a final bid for
the title. While he was happy to
taste victory on his home turf, the
KTM rider had to settle for second
in the championship.
"I knew coming into it that it
would be hard to win the title with
how the points were, but I gave it
my best shot," said Lettenbichler.
"The fight was good early on, but
when Billy made some mistakes,
it gave me a gap. I feel like I rode
a good race after that. I did what I
had to do by winning but the luck
was missing. Hats off to Billy; I'm
proud of him, too. We had a great
season together."
CN
VOLUME 58 ISSUE 44 NOVEMBER 2, 2021 P37
A runner-up finish at the final round
was all Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's
Bolt needed to clinch the title.
