Bou beats the 'field
By TMX Archives on 7th Jan 09
Toni Bou takes victory in the first round of the 2009 World Indoor Trials Championships
TONI BOU drew first blood in the battle for the 2009 SPEA FIM World Indoor Trials Championship in the opening round at Sheffield last Saturday evening. At the end of an exciting, closely-fought event the reigning champ led a Montesa one - two with Takahisa Fujinami in second relegating leading qualifier, Gas Gas's Adam Raga to third.
Britain's Dougie Lampkin actually led the trial after three sections, first time out on his Beta EVO but unfortunately two maximums led to an eventual fourth place - but it was a fighting performance from Doug that had the crowd on its feet. It was a disappointing World Indoor debut for Michael Brown, first time out on his Sherco though, being eliminated from the final in the Qualifying round.
Sheffield 2009 saw the World Indoor Trials Championship return to Britain for the opening round of the year and there was much anticipation after the FIM had taken over the running of the series as their new format incorporated - and was based around - the introduction of LIVE television coverage (Eurosport) which put extra pressure on the organisers to run to an exact timetable. And full credit to all involved, the live final ran virtually to the second in its hour and a half slot from 9 - 10.30pm.
Seven riders stepped forward to contest the opening round with the contracted series riders being Toni Bou, Adam Raga, Takahisa Fujinami, Albert Cabestany, Jeroni Fajardo and Michael Brown. Michael is the FIM's choice to contest the whole series in order to give a young rider a fair chance. Dougie Lampkin was Sheffield's seventh rider as the promoter's choice.
With seven riders, Sheffield ran a full Qualifying lap with the rider finishing last being eliminated from the live six-man TV final. The qualifier was conducted over six sections plus a dual lane race. The World Championship adopted the Qualifying format pioneered by Sheffield whereby each rider takes a turn to ride a section first, making qualifying much more fair than when the same rider has to lead the way.
WORLD INDOOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 1 – Sheffield Arena, Sheffield, BRITAIN
FINAL: 1 Toni Bou (E - HRC Montesa) 7 marks lost, 2 Takahisa Fujinami (JAP - HRC Montesa) 10, 3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 11, 4 Dougie Lampkin (GB - Beta) 16, 5 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 20, 6 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 25.
Final (after 3 sects): 1 Lampkin 6, 2 Bou & Raga 7, 4 Fujinami 8, 5 Cabestany 10, 6 Fajardo 12.
QUALIFYING HEAT: 1 Raga 6, 2 Bou 9, 3 Lampkin 11, 4 Fajardo 11, 5 Fujinami 12, 6 Cabestany 17.
NON-QUALIFIER: 7 Michael Brown (GB - Sherco) 20.
SERIES STANDINGS after 1 round: 1 Toni Bou 8 points, 2 Takahisa Fujinami 6, 3 Adam Raga 5, 4 Dougie Lampkin 4, 5 Albert Cabestany 3, 6 Jeroni Fajardo 2.
FOR FULL REPORT SEE T+MX NEWS, FRIDAY, JANUARY 9, 2009
Reigning World Indoor Trials Champion Toni Bou began his defence of the title with a brilliant victory at Sheffield, last weekend.