Bou conducts the Tolmezzo intermezzo...
By TMX Archives on 2nd Jul 08
TONI Bou won the Italian round of the 2008 FIM SPEA World Trials Cham-pionship on Sunday. It was the Montesa rider's fifth win from the eight rounds staged to date and with his arch-rival, Adam Raga, finishing second, this gave reigning champ Bou a healthy 15 point Cham-pionship lead with just four rounds to go.
The Italian round was based in the town of Tolmezzo in the north east of the country. It had rained hard on Friday at the venue but by the time Sunday arrived the temperatures were sizzling in the 30s and most people were glad that most sections were at least in the shade of trees. The opening four subs were situated some three kilometres out of town and comprised a series of climbs over rocks and boulders, set-out one above the other, up a steep hillside.
The fifth section was man-made of rocks in the town while section six, by the paddock entrance, was also man-made.
Section seven was a series of big concrete steps, set on the side of a large dry river before a six kilometre ride brought the field to sections eight to 11 which were mainly steep, earth bankings above another dry riverbed. It was then back into town for the last section, one final man-made hazard comprising logs.
There were 18 starters in the World Championship class and Bou was straight into his stride using all his advanced technique on his factory four-stroke to build-up a strong first lap lead, dropping just 12 marks compared to the 21 his team-mate Takahisa Fujinami and two-stroke Gas Gas pilot Raga.
Adam survived a big crash when he went right over the handlebars of the factory Gasser in the third section and down a 20-foot bank, luckily landing on earth, not rocks. Nevertheless, this could be said to have ultimately cost him the overall victory as he only lost out to Bou by a mere four points at the end of the day. Raga did come back very strong and actually outpointed his title rival on the second circuit but that one extra five was the difference, and with Bou stretching his advantage at the head of the table this was an event Raga dearly needed to win to give himself a shot at re-taking the title.
Fujigas delights the Tolmezzo crowd
Another rider to regret not taking his chances was Takahisa Fujinami. Fujigas was actually leading the event going into the final two sections after an amazing second lap but then fived them both which dropped him to third on the day!
Of the Brits, it was a good day for James Dabill who equalled his best World Round result with sixth, mainly thanks to a superb second lap on which he lost just 21 points. This was the fifth time in total that Jim has finished sixth (three times last year, two this year) and he was only a couple of marks away from pipping Jeroni Fajardo for fifth.
But for Dougie Lampkin it was another day to forget. By Doug's own admission it was a good trial that required riding, not just a rock-step fest, and that there was nothing to blame but himself for finishing down in seventh. End of story.
Following his Euro victory the previous day, Michael Brown settled into his almost expected ninth place finish – this is the fifth time Michael has finished ninth in a World Round this year!
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Tolmezzo, ITALY
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 12 + 16 = 28
2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 21 + 11 = 32
3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 21 + 14 = 35
4 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 24 + 20 = 44
5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 32 + 30 = 62
6 James DABILL (GB - Montesa) 44 + 21 = 65
7 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) 39 + 30 = 69
8 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 36 + 45 = 81
9 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 49 + 46 = 95
10 Jordi Pasquet (E - Beta) 48 + 51 = 99
11 Daniel Oliveras (E - Sherco) 54 + 47 = 101
12 Michele Orizio (I - Scorpa) 57 + 54 = 111
13 Daniele Maurino (I - Gas Gas) 59 + 63 = 122
14 Francesco Iolitta (I - Scorpa 4T) 68 + 57 = 125
15 Jerome Bethune (F - Beta) 57 + 70 = 127
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 Bou 151 points, 2 Raga 136, 3 Fujinami 127, 4 Cabestany 89, 5 LAMPKIN 88, 6 Fajardo 88, 7 Freixa 67, 8 DABILL 67, 9 BROWN 52, 10 Oliveras 40, 11 Tomoyuki Ogawa 15, 12 Daniele Maurino 15, 13 Fumitaka Nozaki 14, 14 Kinichi Kuroyama 14, 15 Bethune 14, 16 Pasquet 13, 17 Shaun MORRIS 6, 18 Michele Orizio 4, 19 Masataro Iuchi 4, 20 Tsuyoshi Ogawa 4, 21 Francesco Iolitta 3, 22 Carsten Stranghoner 3, 23 Christophe Bruand 2, 24 Kazuhiro Onishi 1, 25 Henri Himmanen 1.
NEXT ROUND: Jul 6 – Kramolin, CZECH REPUBLIC
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Tolmezzo, ITALY
1 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 13 + 9 = 22
2 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 15 + 18 = 33
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 20 + 17 = 37
4 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa) 29 + 23 = 52
5 Sam HASLAM (GB - Gas Gas) 28 + 24 = 52
6 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 30 + 23 = 53
7 Jochen Schaefer (D - Montesa) 26 + 28 = 54
8 Andrea Vaccaretti (I - Montesa) 27 + 28 = 55
9 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 27 + 28 = 55
10 Emil Gyllenhammar (S - Gas Gas) 28 + 31 = 59
11 Fredrik Johansson (S - Beta) 27 + 35 = 62
12 Julien Perret (F - Gas Gas) 42 + 34 = 76
13 Ivan Peydro (E - Gas Gas) 47 + 36 = 83
14 David Millan (E - Sherco) 39 + 45 = 84
15 James FRY (GB - Sherco) 43 + 41 = 84
26 Harry HARVEY (GB - Gas Gas) 68 + 63 = 131
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 Gubian 137 points, 2 WIGG 133, 3 HASLAM 105, 4 Gomez 104, 5 Grattarola 100, 6 DANBY 95, 7 Guillaume Laniel 74, 8 Schaefer 36, 9 Johansson 32, 10 Laia Sanz 29, 11 Millan 25, 12 Gyllenhammar 21, 13 Alexis Cervantes 17, 14 Cody Webb 16, 15 Akio Saito 14, 16 Lee SAMPSON 14,... 23 George MORTON 6,... 28 James FRY 2,... 29 Ben WIBBERLEY 1.
FIM YOUTH TRIALS CHAMPS
1 Adrian Pastoriza (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 5 = 12
2 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 9 + 4 = 13
3 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 12 + 7 = 19
4 Marc Horrach (E - Gas Gas) 11 + 12 = 23
5 Pau Botella (E - Gas Gas) 15 + 9 = 24
6 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 14 + 11 = 25
7 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 19 + 7 = 26
8 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 22 + 7 = 29
9 Luca Cotone (I - Sherco) 15 + 20 = 35
10 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sherco) 20 + 16 = 36
11 Jake Whitaker (NZ - HM) 20 + 19 = 39
12 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) 19 + 20 = 39
13 Romain Tessariol (F - Gas Gas) 21 + 22 = 43
14 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 28 + 15 = 43
15 Jonathan WALKER (GB - Sherco) 22 + 23 = 45
25 Jack THOMPSON (GB - Sherco) 36 + 42 = 78
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 rounds: 1 CHALLONER 141 points, 2 Moret 116, 3 Ferrer 103, 4 Patrick Smage 99, 5 Dagnicourt 85, 6 Adrian Pastoriza 79, 7 Botella 68, 8 Borrellas 55, 9 Jake Whitaker 47, 10 RICHARDSON 47,... 25 Adam JONES 4,... 26 WALKER 4,... 29 THOMPSON 1.
NEXT ROUND: Jul 6 – Kramolin, CZECH REPUBLIC
EURO ADULT TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 2 – Tolmezzo, ITALY
1 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 17 + 19 = 36
2 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 30 + 22 = 52
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 31 + 25 = 56
4 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa 4RT) 36 + 24 = 60
5 Fabio Lenzi (I - Montesa 4RT) 41 + 20 = 61
6 Sam HASLAM (GB - Gas Gas) 32 + 29 = 61
7 Julien Perret (F - Gas Gas) 30 + 38 = 68
8 Andrea Vaccaretti (I - Montesa 4RT) 38 + 38 = 76
9 Andrea Mazzocchin (I - Montesa) 41 + 36 = 77
10 Henri Himmanen (SF - Beta) 35 + 41 = 76
11 Martin Kroustek (CZ - Beta) 47 + 34 = 81
12 Alexis Cervantes (F - Sherco) 40 + 45 = 85
13 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 45 + 40 = 85
14 Fredrik Johansson (S - Beta) 42 + 45 = 87
15 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa 4RT) 51 + 40 = 91
20 George MORTON (GB - Beta) 53 + 56 = 109
24 James FRY (GB - Sherco) 61 + 55 = 116
SERIES STANDINGS after 2 rounds: 1 BROWN 40 points, 2 Lenzi 28, 3 Gubian 25, 4 Grattarola 25, 5 HASLAM 25, 6 Gomez 24, 7 Alexz WIGG 13, 8 Perret 13, 9 Cervantes 13, 10 Johansson 9, 11 Vaccaretti 8, 12 DANBY 8, 13 Mazzocchin 7, 14 Himmanen 6, 15 Guillaume Laniel 6, 16 Kroustek 5, 17 Carsten Stranghoner 3, 18 MORTON 2, 19 Sanz 1, 20 Jochen Schaefer 1.
EURO JUNIOR 125cc TRIALS CHAMPS
1 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 20 + 11 = 31
2 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 14 + 18 = 32
3 Adrian Pastoriza (E - Gas Gas) 19 + 15 = 34
4 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 21 + 16 = 37
5 Luca Cotone (I - Sherco) 22 + 20 = 42
6 Marc Horrach (E - Gas Gas) 27 + 17 = 44
7 Pau Botella (E - Gas Gas) 18 + 27 = 45
8 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 34 + 17 = 51
9 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 27 + 26 = 53
10 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) 27 + 31 = 58
11 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sherco) 27 + 30 = 57
12 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 28 + 32 = 60
13 Francesc Ciurana (E - Beta) 35 + 28 = 63
14 Jake Whittaker* (NZ - Gas Gas) 29 + 34 = 63
15 Jonathan WALKER (GB - Sherco) 34 + 37 = 71
16 Guillaume Pot (F - Sherco) 33 + 38 = 71
20 Jack THOMPSON (GB - Sherco) 48 + 37 = 85
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Ferrer 40 points, 2 CHALLONER 30, 3 Moret 30, 4 Pastoriza 26, 5 Botella 24, 6 Horrach 20, 7 RICHARDSON 17, 8 Staltari 14, 9 Cotone 11, 10 Dagnicourt 11, 11 Ciurana 9, 12 THOMPSON 7, 13 WALKER 7, 14 Borrellas 6, 15 Warenghien 5, 16 Guillaume Pot 4, 17 Sasha TURKINGTON 1.
NB: Jake Whittaker* (NZ) is non eligible to score points.
NEXT ROUND: Aug 10 – Myslenice, POLAND.
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, July 4, 2008