And' another one...
By TMX Archives on 1st Jul 11
Andorra, the tiny principality nestling between Spain and France high in the Pyrenees, staged European and World Championship trials last weekend when a difficult trial, made harder by blistering heat and altitude, caused all contestants to suffer for their sport.
The overall results still have a very familiar look though - with Jack Sheppard waving the Union Jack again with another win in the Youth class.
Toni Bou conquered the exhaustion caused by both searing heat and extreme altitude to nail the fourth round of the 2011 SPEA FIM World Trials Championship which was staged on the mountain high above St Julia de Loria in the principality of Andorra last Sunday.
It was a Repsol-Montesa one-two as Takahisa Fujinami joined Bou on the podium but only after overcoming a protest after it was suggested he had changed a marked silencer. The protest was duly thrown out - after a nervous 20 minutes for Fuji - and the podium was completed by Gas Gas's Adam Raga with Sherco's Albert Cabestany just missing out.
James Dabill took his best finish of the season in fifth for Beta as Jeroni Fajardo struggled with problems on his development Ossa.
The trial in Andorra used a new route to previous years with the opening 10 sections high-up on the mountainside with a maximum altitude of 1,300 metres. At least the majority of these were in the shade although they were very steep and technical. The most technical was the ninth where Bou was untouchable, scoring two single mark efforts - where everyone else fived on both laps.
The final five sections were lower down the slopes, with the final hazard being a man-made section down in the town for the benefit of the locals but they copped the full heat of the sun.
As ever with such a tough trial Bou won virtually unchallenged with the big fight effectively being for the lower podium positions. The big shock was Fajardo slumping to an off the pace sixth with the Ossa apparently not adjusting to altitude. The person benefitting from this was Brit Dabill who gratefully accepted the points bonus.
Jack Challoner continued his learning curve on the Championship front with a fighting seventh, just ten-marks behind Dabill, and ahead of Loris Gubian, Matteo Grattarola, who bust the 100-mark barrier with Alexz Wigg completing the top ten just ahead of Michael Brown. The huge gulf between the top 10 is illustrated with Bou's 19 cleans and a single five compared to Wiggy's four cleans and 17 fives. And Alexz is an immensely skilled trials rider, as is Michael Brown.
In the Junior class Spanish Montesa rider Alfredo Gomez suffered his first defeat of the year when French ace Alexandre Ferrer took the Sherco to victory. Ferrer was chased by four Spanish riders headed by Gomez and Pol Tarres.
Jonathan Richardson was the sole British challenger and Jonathan took six points for 10th place, just ahead of Ladies supremo Laia Sanz on the factory Montesa.
Jack Sheppard got back to his winning ways with a convincing victory in the Youths. Jack dropped 13 marks on each of his two laps and importantly was the only rider not to lose a five through the 30 sections. Winner last week in Spain, French rider Cedric Tempier, was second with Swede Eddie Karlsson making his first visit to a World Championship podium in third.
Jack, still battling with the pain from a wrist injury, once again has the luxury of a 13 point lead at the head of the Championship. And he now has a two week gap for the wrist to grow stronger before the series resumes in Italy on July 6.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX JULY 1
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Sant Julia, ANDORRA
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 5 + 10 + - = 15
2 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 13 + 22 + - = 35
3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 19 + 22 + - = 41
4 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 24 + 21 + - = 45
5 James DABILL (GB - Beta) 34 + 42 + 5 = 81
6 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Ossa) 40 + 40 + 4 = 84
7 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 38 + 53 + - = 91
8 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 45 + 53 + 1 = 99
9 Matteo Grattarola (I - Gas Gas) 63 + 38 + - = 101
10 Alexz WIGG (GB - Sherco) 50 + 51 + 2 = 103
11 Michael BROWN (GB - Gas Gas) 56 + 45 + 5 = 106
12 Francesco Iolitta (I - Beta) 67 + 61 + - = 128
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 7) rounds: 1 Bou 95 points, 2 Raga 80, 3 Cabestany 75, 4 Fujinami 69, 5 Fajardo 60, 6 DABILL 48, 7 Gubian 41, 8 CHALLONER 38, 9 BROWN 37, 10 Grattarola 34, 11 WIGG 23, 12 Iolitta 19, 13 Dougie LAMPKIN 7, 14 Carsten Stranghoner 4.
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 16 + 13 + - = 29
2 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 13 + 20 + - = 33
3 Pol Tarres (E - Gas Gas) 14 + 25 + - = 39
4 Francesc Moret (E - Montesa) 19 + 22 + - = 41
5 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 23 + 32 + - = 55
6 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 26 + 35 + - = 61
7 Maxime Warenghien (B - Ossa) 30 + 34 + 4 = 68
8 Carles Traviesa (E - Gas Gas) 35 + 37 + - = 72
9 Jake Whittaker (NZ - Beta) 25 + 41 + 8 = 74
10 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 36 + 40 + - = 76
11 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa) 36 + 42 + - = 78
12 Matteo Poli (I - Ossa) 36 + 43 + - = 79
13 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) 41 + 46 + - = 87
14 Tanguy Mottin (F - Montesa) 46 + 43 + - = 89
15 Luca Cotone (I - Gas Gas) 38 + 50 + 2 = 90
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 7) rounds: 1 Gomez 97 points, 2 Moret 73, 3 Tarres 68, 4 Dagnicourt 59, 5 Borrellas 56, 6 Traviesa 44, 7 Warenghien 44, 8 RICHARDSON 39, 9 Ferrer 33, 10 Mottin 25, 11 Ivan Peydro 22, 12 Gianluca Tournour 21, 13 Whittaker 21, 14 Poli 14, 15 Cotone 11,...
FIM YOUTH TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Jack SHEPPARD (GB - Beta) 13 + 13 + - = 26
2 Cedric Tempier (F - Sherco) 17 + 17 + - = 34
3 Eddie Karlsson (S - Gas Gas) 19 + 17 + - = 36
4 Giacomo Saleri (I - Beta) 18 + 22 + - = 40
5 Steven Coquelin (F - Gas Gas) 29 + 30 + - = 59
6 Kenny Thomas (F - Beta) 33 + 36 + - = 69
7 Jonas Widschwendter (D - Sherco) 34 + 38 + - = 72
8 Martin Pochez (F - Gas Gas) 39 + 38 + - = 77
9 Fabien Menard (F - Gas Gas) 37 + 35 + 6 = 78
10 Mats Petit (F - Gas Gas) 43 + 42 + - = 85
11 Ignatio Martin (E - Gas Gas) 43 + 48 + - = 91
12 Jesus Martin (E - Gas Gas) 39 + 52 + 4 = 95
13 Diogo Veira (P - Gas Gas) 50 + 53 + - = 103
14 Francesco Cabrini (I - Beta) 49 + 55 + - = 104
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 7) rounds: 1 SHEPPARD 97 points, 2 Tempier 84, 3 Saleri 71, 4 Coquelin 67, 5 Thomas 37, 6 Martin 35, 7 Pochez 33, 8 Cabrini 33, 9 Karlsson 28, 10 Widschwendter 28, 11 Romain Rigaud 26, 12 Menard 25, 13 Petit 22, 14 Bradley COX 17, 15 Paul Bury 14,... 19 Chris STAY 6,... 20 George GOSDEN 2,...
NEXT ROUND: July 10 – Montecrestese, ITALY.
EUROPEAN ADULT TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – St Julia, ANDORRA
1 Francesc Moret (E - Montesa) 30 + 42 = 72
2 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 36 + 39 = 75
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Gas Gas) 41 + 39 = 80
4 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 45 + 41 = 86
5 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 46 + 47 = 93
6 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas.) 46 + 55 = 101
7 Tanguy Mottin (F - Montesa) 50 + 56 = 106
8 Matteo Poli (I - Ossa) 57 + 59 = 116
9 Francesco Iolitta (I - Beta) 66 + 51= 117
10 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 57 + 62 = 119
11 Martin Kroustek (CZ - Beta) 59 + 60 = 119
12 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa) 60 + 59 = 119
13 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) 63 + 58 = 121
14 Gianluca Tournour (I - Gas Gas) 61 + 64 = 125
15 Maxime Warenghien (B - Ossa) 61 + 68 = 129
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 CHALLONER 73 points, 2 Gomez 60, 3 Grattarola 58, 4 Moret 56, 5 Dagnicourt 51, 6 Borrellas 41, 7 Iolitta 33, 8 RICHARDSON 22, 9 Warenghien 18, 10 Mottin 17, 11 Cotone 15, 12 Poli 14, 13 Tournour 13, 14 Kroustek 11, 15 Pedersen 10,...
EUROPEAN JUNIOR 125cc TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Jack SHEPPARD (GB - Beta) 30 + 36 = 66
2 Eddie Karlsson (S - Gas Gas) 39 + 31 = 70
3 Giacomo Saleri (I - Beta) 41 + 30 = 71
4 Cedric Tempier (F - Sherco) 47 + 29 = 76
5 Steven Coquelin (F - Gas Gas) 37 + 41 = 78
6 Jonas Widschwendter (A - Sherco) 53 + 55 = 108
7 Martin Pochez (F - Gas Gas) 54 + 58 = 112
8 Kenny Thomas (F - Beta) 59 + 53 = 112
9 Francesco Cabrini (I - Beta) 60 + 54 = 114
10 Mats Petit (F - Gas Gas) 55 + 60 = 115
11 Diogo Veira (F - Gas Gas) 71 + 60 = 131
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 SHEPPARD 73 points, 2 Saleri 64, 3 Tempier 61, 4 Coquelin 56, 5 Karlsson 39, 6 Widschwendter 31, 7 Pochez 28, 8 Cabrini 26, 9 Petit 18, 10 Thomas 13, 11 Michel Schulte 12, 12 Paul Bury 12, 13 Diogo Veira 11, 14 Luke Walker 10, 15 Bradley Cox 9, 16 Roman Rigaud 9, 17 Jesus Martin 9,...
NEXT ROUND: July 9 – Montecrestese, ITALY.
