Bou back and brilliant
By TMX Archives on 29th Apr 09
AFTER a slightly shaky opening to the defence of his outdoor World crown in Ireland, Toni Bou bounced back with a simply brilliant performance at the Portuguese Grand Prix to go clear at the top of the title race. Adam Raga did his best to keep the pressure on the Repsol Montesa teamster, but had no answer as Bou remained feet-up through the closing fifteen sections. Albert Cabestany made it an all-Spanish podium for the second counting day in a row, as Jeroni Fajardo and Marc Freixa completed the Catalan whitewash by taking fourth and fifth respectively.
The shock result of the weekend amongst the World Pro riders was Takahisa Fujinami's sixth spot, which drops him to fifth in the overall standings. Echoing the comments he made after the first Grand Prix, the normally happy-go-lucky Japanese runner looked very concerned as he complained about having no confidence or ‘good feeling' on the new-spec factory four-stroke. However he did confirm he would use the slight break in the series to get to the root of the problem, ahead of the next round in the UK.
It was also not the best of days for the homeboys in the top class, with current British championship leader James Dabill managing to salvage yet another seventh position thanks to a strong last lap. In contrast Dougie Lampkin started the better of the pair and held fifth spot at the punch-card change, only to destroy any chance of a top five finish with a poor second lap. This was six marks worse than his morning performance despite the drier and easier conditions.
Once again it was left to the younger British riders to do their bit for queen and country. Jonathan Richardson became the only competitor in all three classes to maintain a 100 per cent record, as the teenager recorded his third straight win. Under the watchful eye of his father Gerald, Jonathan looked both composed and stylish, and has opened up a healthy 11-point lead in the series even at this early stage in the season. British rival Jonny Walker claimed a top ten finish with seventh on the ACE Gas Gas.
Making some amends for his disastrous tenth place finish in the European round the day before, Alexz Wigg bounced back with a close second place in the Junior category behind eventual winner Alfredo Gomez. Wigg trailed his Spanish rival by two marks at the end of a slippery first lap but rode excellently on his final tour to close the gap to just a single dab come the finish. This pairing look set to be locked in battle all season long, with Alexz holding a slender three-point advantage over his rival at this stage. Jack Challoner posted an excellent second lap score of just seven marks which went some way to offsetting his costly opener of 21 and recovered to finish fifth but more importantly proved that he can challenge for podiums.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2009
James Dabill finished top Brit in the World Trials Championship, finishing seventh overall - he beat Dougie by four marks.