Young Brit Ashton BRIGHTMORE (GBR-GASGAS) won his third MotoZ FIM SuperEnduro World Championship round of the season in Budapest, Hungary, last night in the Junior category.
Report and Images by MotoZ FIM SuperEnduro World Championship
He managed to get the better of Suff SELLA (ISR-KTM) despite the KTM rider constantly putting pressure on him. The fight remains close between the pair despite the latest overall victory for BRIGHTMORE. The 17-year-old Ashton would dearly love to follow in his elder brother, Mitch BRIGHTMORE’s footsteps, the 2023 Junior World Champion who now hones his craft in the Prestige class. After winning the first two races with relative ease, keeping his smooth and calm style over every obstacle, the GASGAS rider stuck bad luck in the last race, colliding with Milan SCHMUESER (GER-Sherco).
The Brit and the German were pushed to the back of the field and were forced to fight their way through the other competitors to try to save their evening. Meanwhile, Suff SELLA finally felt comfortable on the fast and flowing track and the Israeli took victory in the final race. Incredibly, BRIGHTMORE made his way back up into second and Marc FERNANDEZ SERRA (ESP-KTM) claimed third.
The overall result on the night was BRIGHTMORE ahead of SELLA and SCHMUESER. The Brit is now ten points ahead of the Israeli who will be keen to come back strong in Bulgaria in two weeks. Roland LISZKA (HUN-KTM) did not have the home GP he dreamed of, but he thrilled the 12,500 spectators at the MVM Dome and maintains third in the championship standings.
Ashton Brightmore: “I didn’t make it easy for myself tonight; I made a few mistakes in the three races. The final race was pure carnage, the first two weren’t as chaotic but the last one had loads of crashes and loads of pile ups, it made it tough to keep focused and work my way through. I wanted three wins tonight but I couldn’t beat Suff in the last one. At least my points advantage is better after tonight.”
Suff Sella: “I really needed a race win tonight, it was important for me to get one to keep the title fight close with Ash. It’s been a really tough day mentally because in the first two races I couldn’t get the feeling and I was really upset, I felt horrible and I had no flow to my riding. Despite getting one race win, I lost a lot of points today, so I need to work on my riding ahead of Bulgaria.”
Results
Standings
