British world champion bike racer has “bizarre” MotoGP crash desire

Seven-time world champion Billy Bolt says he ‘needs to know’ what it feels like to crash a MotoGP bike.

Having won six world titles in SuperEnduro, and doing so all in succession, as well as a Hard Enduro world title in 2021, Bolt is arguably among the most skilled motorcycle racers in the world, even if the series in which he competes are not as renowned as MotoGP or Supercross, for example.

But while Bolt’s career has had little to do with asphalt, MotoGP was one of the core influences in his earliest exposures to motorcycle racing, and the long-time Husqvarna factory man still carries desires centred around motorcycle circuit racing’s premier category.

“This is a bizarre thing to say, but I want to know what it’s like to lose the front on a MotoGP bike and just be sliding into the gravel,” said Bolt, speaking on the Gypsy Tales podcast.

“For some reason, I just need to know what that feels like.”

Bolt added: “That’s on my to-do list, really. You know when they get it perfectly on their elbow sliders and their knee sliders and they’re just [sliding], hit the gravel and do a few barrel rolls, get the airbag to go off. 

“When I was a kid, I watched MotoGP, probably one of my first memories of watching bikes is MotoGP, to be honest. 

“I was just obsessed with the crashes. 

“That and speedway, actually, because there was a speedway track like half-an-hour from my house in Newcastle.”

Bolt is set to race the final round of the ‘regular enduro’ EnduroGP series in August, the last edition of the British round at Rhayader in Wales. 

Wales will host the FIM 6Days race next year, which was recently presented to the UK parliament. By then, Bolt will be hoping to have been crowned a six-time SuperEnduro world champion, with the 2026–27 season set to start on 6 December at Gliwice in Poland.