Bou is ready to take the crown
By TMX Archives on 12th Mar 08
THE fourth, penultimate round of the drastically shortened 2008 World Indoor Trials Champion-ship was staged in Milan last Saturday, in front of an impressive claimed audience of 8,000 people and with yet another emphatic victory, reigning champ Toni Bou virtually guaranteed himself the 2008 crown. It is technically possible for his nearest challenger, Adam Raga, to overtake him but for that to happen Bou would have to fail to make the start in the final round which is Madrid this weekend.
Brits Dougie Lampkin and James Dabill both endured another rough time of it in Milan where both riders were hoping to finally make their mark on the Indoors in front of their home teams. Doug had been working hard all week on overcoming some problems and both himself and James had ridden well in a non-championship Indoor at Bolzano in mid-week. But it all came to nought as, over eight tough sections, both riders dropped 17 observed marks plus time faults with Doug just getting the nod over Dibs for sixth place.
It was pretty tight amongst the remaining five competitors for the three Qualifying places although Bou set out his stall with an amazing clean ride through the hazards. And Raga was not throwing in the towel either with a far from shabby two on the prototype Gas Gas
Raga Replica.
It could have gone any way for the third qualifying place though between Takahisa Fujinami, Albert Cabestany and Jeroni Fajardo. Doug's team mate Fajardo was having one of his best rides of the year and in fact matched Cabestany, only losing out on a slower time through the sections.
Cabestany, looking cool on the Sherco four-stroke, was favourite for a place in the final but dropped a slack five in the fourth zone and that cost him dear. And it allowed Fuji into the final for the second time in the current series and gave the Repsol Mont squad two out of the top three places.
In the final, Bou was always in charge and inexorably pulled away from arch-rival raga to win comfortably by 10 marks with Fuji way back, just happy to be on the podium again.
Said Bou, "After my big crash in Granada I needed time to recover and am very happy with the win. I think we will have some big celebrations in Madrid this weekend!”
Raga commented, "For sure Toni is riding well and deserved to win but I can't complain, I made two big mistakes myself so second place is fine.”
WORLD INDOOR TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 4 – Forum di Assago, Milan, ITALY
FINAL: 1 Toni Bou (E - Repsol Montesa HRC) 9 marks lost, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 19, 3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Repsol Montesa HRC) 33.
QUALIFICATION LAP: 1 Bou clean, 2 Raga 2, 3 Fujinami 6, 4 Albert Cabestany (E -Sherco) 8 (Time 11:35), 5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 8 (Time 13:26), 6 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) 20, 7 James DABILL (GB - TRW Montesa) 19 (eliminated before lane races).
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 (of 5) rounds: 1 Bou 38 points, 2 Raga 29, 3 Cabestany 27, 4 Fujinami 22, 5 Fajardo 16, 6 LAMPKIN 11, 7 DABILL 9, 8 Jerome Bethune 1.
FINAL RD: Mar 15 – Palacio de Deportes, Madrid, SPAIN.