Albert dances at the Palais!
By TMX Archives on 28th Jan 10
ALBERT Cabestany upset the trials form book on Saturday night when he took a dramatic late victory in Marseille where the second round of the 2010 SPEA FIM Indoor World Championship took place.
The Sherco rider took victory from right under reigning world champion Toni Bou's nose with a fantastic pressure ride in the final hazard to steal maximum championship points from the Repsol Montesa rider. Cabestany has a preference for the technical hazards often found in the French indoor events and his win was actually a repeat of last year's event. His win, coupled to his runner-up placing in Sheffield, behind Bou, puts Cabestany at the top of the 2010 standings alongside his arch-rival Bou.
The small Marseille arena, which holds 3500 spectators, was packed to the rafters as the evening's qualifying got underway with the nine contestants set to tackle six sections – with the rider finishing last being eliminated.
The opening skips allowed the field to lose any early nerves without incurring a disaster and British entries James Dabill and Alexz Wigg both cleaned along with Cabestany, Bou, Adam Raga and Jeroni Fajardo. Takahisa Fujinami and Loris Gubian both dropped single marks while wild card French rider Alex Ferrer made it through for two. It was to be the last time Ferrer would see the ends cards though as he fived the remainder of the hazards and was eliminated.
WORLD INDOOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Palais des Sports, Marseille, FRANCE
FINAL (4 sects + Semi Scores): 1 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 0 + 5 = 5 marks lost, 2 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 1 + 5 = 6, 3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 7 = 14,4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 8 + 9 = 17.
SEMI-FINAL (3 sects + Lane Race): 1 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 2, 2 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 4, 3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 5, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 10. ELIMINATED: 5 James DABILL (GB - Gas Gas) 13, 6 Alexz WIGG (GB - Beta) 20.
LAST CHANCE (2 sects & Lane Races): 5 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 2, 6 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 3. ELIMINATED: 7 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 4, 8 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 10.
QUALIFICATION (5 sects): 1 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 2, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 6, 3 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 6, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 9, 5 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 9, 6 James DABILL (GB - Gas Gas) 11, 7 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 21, 8 Alexz WIGG (GB - Beta) 25. ELIMINATED: 9 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 29.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Cabestany 35 points, 2 Bou 35, 3 Raga 21, 4 DABILL 18, 5 Fajardo 15, 6 Fujinami 8, 7 WIGG 6, 8 LAMPKIN 5, 9 Gubian 4, 10 BROWN 3, 11 Ferrer 1.
NEXT ROUND: January 31 – Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, SPAIN.
FOR FULL STORY SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2010
Albert Cabestany sprays the champagne as he celebrates his win with Toni Bou (left) and Adam Raga (right).