Brits knock them for six
By TMX Archives on 2nd Oct 08
LAIA Sanz arrived in Andorra having already clinched an amazing eighth World Ladies Trials Championship the previous week in Spain but the Barcelona beauty cemented her domination in style in the third and final round of the series when it was staged in Andorra on Friday before Saturday's Ladies Trial des Nations.
And, because of the Nations element there was an excellent turnout with 35 girls taking on the 15-section course which was lapped twice from its starting point at Sant Julia de Loria in the south of the tiny Principality. It was the perfect day's practise for everyone as the Nations was to take place the next day over exactly the same course.
The final Ladies round was staged in cold but sunny weather with the mainly rocky sections dry, although the rock is of pretty slippery nature and can't ever be called grippy.
However, Laia managed to do what few have done before her as she completed all 30 sections without losing a single mark. Said Laia, "The fact that I had already won the title allowed me to concentrate hard in this trial. On quite simple sections I was able to remain unpenalised but this is never easy to achieve. My satisfaction at the moment is enormous.”
The big battle was always going to be for the podium places and with Britain's Rebekah Cook and Germany's Iris Kramer level on points going into the final round there was pressure by the bucket-load! And it was Becky who was victorious at the end of the day, trouncing her rival finishing runner-up on the day and in the Championship to the tune of eight points to the 21 of Iris - and Iris still made third place.
Becky actually went behind early on with a five in the fifth section as Iris made a three. Sanz showed her real skill here with clean rides on each lap - the only ones of the day! But from that moment, Becky was right on it, dropping only a single more for a six mark opening lap and then scythed this down to a mere two second time round while Kramer's lap score ballooned to 12. Becky's ride included matching Sanz with a double clean on the tricky 13th, a section that saw only a handful of cleans.
The ride of the day though came from British teenager Joanne Coles, the ACE Sherco supported rider who put in a superb effort to finish in fourth place, just four marks behind Kramer. And Joanne actually outpointed the 2007 World Champ on the second circuit. Joanne is a girl that all the contenders will be fearful of next year!
It was a great day for the Brits all round actually, as they totally dominated the top 10 with the ever-improving Emma Bristow sixth, determined Maria Conway seventh and the irrepressible Donna Fox in tenth.
FIM LADIES WORLD TRIALS CHAMPS
Rd 3 – Sant Julia de Loria, ANDORRA
1 Laia Sanz (E - Repsol Montesa) 0 + 0 = 0
2 Becky COOK (GB - Gas Gas) 6 + 2 = 8
3 Iris Kramer (D - Scorpa) 9 + 12 = 21
4 Joanne COLES (GB - Sherco) 16 + 9 = 25
5 Ina Wilde (D - Sherco) 14 + 14 = 28
6 Emma BRISTOW (GB - Gas Gas) 17 + 13 = 30
7 Maria CONWAY (GB - Beta) 18 + 17 = 35
8 Sandra Gomez (E - Gas Gas) 20 + 16 = 36
9 Mireia Conde (S - Gas Gas) 20 + 17 = 37
10 Donna FOX (GB - Sherco) 20 + 18 = 38
11 Louise Forsley (US - Sherco) 26 + 15 = 41
12 Sasha TURKINGTON (IRE - Gas Gas) 19 + 23 = 42
13 Sandrine Juffet (F - Gas Gas) 22 + 22 = 44
14 Rosita Leotta (D - Beta) 28 + 23 = 51
15 Maryline Journet (F - Gas Gas) 30 + 21 = 51
18 Katy SUNTER (GB - Gas Gas) 31 + 26 = 57
19 Hannah STYLES (GB - Sherco) 32 + 26 = 58
FINAL SERIES STANDINGS (Best 2 results from 3 to count): 1 Laia Sanz 40 points (CHAMPION), 2 Becky COOK 34, 3 Iris Kramer 32, 4 FOX 24, 5 CONWAY 23, 6 BRISTOW 20, 7 Leotta 18, 8 Wilde 17, 9 Forsley 16, 10 Juffet 15, 11 COLES 12, 12 TURKINGTON 13, 13 Gomez 11, 14 Journet 11, 15 Conde 9, 16 Maddalene Aizpurua 8, 17 Carla Calderer 5, 18 Katy SUNTER 2, 19 Connie Ludvigsen 2.
Joanne Coles pulled off the surprise performance on Friday.