Rag n roll star
By John Dickinson on 5th Aug 11
THE British round of the 2011 SPEA FIM World Trials Championships, staged at the excellent Nevis Range venue, near Fort William in Scotland over the weekend, with the trial held on Sunday, was a cracker being packed with drama, fantastic riding and even provided a British winner as East Anglias Jack Sheppard shrugged-off the pain from his persistent wrist injury to take a convincing win in the Youth class to go nine-points clear in the title race, although with two scores to drop, that isnt quite as clear-cut as it looks.
A hot, sunny day on Saturday brought out a large crowd to witness the preliminaries and pre-trial entertainment provided by the Steves, Colley and Saunders, while Dougie Lampkin and Takahisa Fujinami finally ended their series of challenges with an epic downhill mountain-bike race that had to be re-run as they dead-heated the first time!
Sunday then dawned overcast and rain threatened but the light drizzle that eventually arrived in the late afternoon only served to spice-up the action even more as the rocks became even more slippery, leading to the skill levels being lifted yet again. Adam Raga eventually lifted the winner's trophy following an epic battle with Toni Bou while Takahisa Fujinami claimed the final podium place.
ADAM Raga achieved a memorable victory over reigning World Trials Champion Toni Bou, in a thrilling SPEA FIM World Trials Championship round in Scotland on Sunday.
The Gas Gas number one took advantage of several surprise errors – including a final section fiasco – by Bou on the opening lap of 15 sections to co-lead with Bou's Repsol Montesa team-mate Takahisa Fujinami, with a narrow three point cushion over his arch-rival Bou.
Raga then held it together quite brilliantly to stave off the expected charge by the Montesa rider, which duly arrived but Raga proved more than equal to. This was a supremely confident ride by Raga and this was a significant win.
The 15-sections, to be lapped twice, set by Martin Lampkin, were a superb mix comprising three man-made rock hazards (numbers two, 14 and 15), set for the spectators' benefit in the paddock, a series of tightly-marked technical sections set in the boulder-strewn wide river flowing through the forest, and a group of four traditional stream sections at altitude which were marked out long in order to encourage riders to tackle them non-stop.
A lone section, number 13, half way down the mountain bike course, brought the field back down to the finish.
With the top riders being first to tackle the sections, as per the rules, all eyes were on Toni Bou as the first Championship rider to tackle sections.
After confident cleans on the first two hazards, he drew gasps from the crowd as he failed the third, the factory Mont falling backwards down the final rock step. Raga went next and forced the Gasser through for a one, matched only by Sherco's Albert Cabestany to grab an early lead.
Dougie Lampkin, aiming for his 100th Grand Prix victory, had a nightmare start when the front wheel spindle snapped on his factory Gas Gas in the second section and Doug actually ran over his own front wheel for a shock maximum.
Another five in the third was not the start Doug was looking for.
Raga then fived the sixth with Bou returning the compliment in the seventh while Fujinami waited until section 11 to record his first five.
A large crowd had gathered at the eighth – a long, technical hazard that looked the pick of the early sections – but Bou legged and pushed his way through to just reach the Ends cards before the whistle blew for time.
To the expectant crowd's disappointment Bou's rivals decided that just getting through to avoid the five was the answer.
Bou eased his way through the top stream sections feet-up, as his rivals all dropped marks but the real drama came in the final, man-made section when he was given a five for touching a section marker – and he really was not impressed!
Raga took his chance and cleaned, then went straight out into the second lap ahead of his rival to keep the pressure on.
After a shaky start, dropping nine in the first six hazards, he arrived at the eighth. He made a real bona fide attempt and just made the Ends cards before time-out for a one.
This really put the pressure on Bou to perform – which he did of course to take the only clean ride on the hazard.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS AUGUST 5
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Nevis Range, Fort William, BRITAIN
1 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 18 + 10 + 2 = 30
2 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 21 + 9 + 1 = 31
3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 18 + 23 + 8 = 49
4 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 25 + 22 + 3 = 50
5 James DABILL (GB - Beta) 31 + 22 + 8 = 61
6 Michael BROWN (GB - Gas Gas) 29 + 43 + 2 = 74
7 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Ossa) 30 + 38 + 11 = 79
8 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Gas Gas) 41 + 38 + 4 = 83
9 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 47 + 38 + 9 = 94
10 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 44 + 50 + 5 = 99
11 Matteo Grattarola (I - Gas Gas) 49 + 52 + 9 = 110
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Bou 132 points, 2 Raga 117, 3 Cabestany 99, 4 Fujinami 99, 5 Fajardo 82, 6 DABILL 69, 7 Gubian 56, 8 BROWN 53, 9 CHALLONER 52, 10 Grattarola 47, 11 Alexz WIGG 24, 12 Francesco Iolitta 22, 13 LAMPKIN 15, 14 Daniele Maurino 5, 15 Fabio Lenzi 4, 16 Carsten Stranghoner 4, 17 Michele Orizio 2.
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Pol Tarres (E - Gas Gas) (15x0) 16 + 18 + 2 = 36
2 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) (14x0) 17 + 17 + 2 = 36
3 Francesc Moret (E - Montesa) 22 + 24 + - = 46
4 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) (13x0) 24 + 19 + 13 = 56
5 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) (11x0) 31 + 20 + 5 = 56
6 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 38 + 16 + 7 = 61
7 Jack SPENCER (GB - Beta) 38 + 28 + 2 = 68
8 Gianluca Tournour (I - Gas Gas) 38 + 37 + - = 75
9 Jake Whittaker (NZ - Beta) (7x0) 30 + 33 + 16 = 79
10 Matteo Poli (I - Ossa) (2x0) 40 + 39 + - = 79
11 Carles Traviesa (E - Gas Gas) 39 + 35 + 6 = 80
12 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 48 + 31 + 5 = 84
13 Ricky WIGGINS (GB - Gas Gas) 49 + 38 + - = 87
14 Ben MORPHETT (GB - Sherco) 35 + 42 + 13 = 90
15 Ivan Peydro (E - Gas Gas) 52 + 39 + 3 = 94
17 Harry HARVEY (GB - Gas Gas) 63 + 64 + 9 = 136
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Gomez 124 points, 2 Moret 105, 3 Tarres 101, 4 Dagnicourt 85, 5 Borrellas 71, 6 Ferrer 66, 7 RICHARDSON 57, 8 Traviesa 54, 9 Maxime Warenghien 44, 10 Tanguy Mottin 34, 11 Whittaker 34, 12 Tournour 32, 13 Peydro 27, 14 Poli 21, 15 Cotone 18,... 17 Jack SPENCER 9,... 20 WIGGINS 3,... 22 MORPHETT 2,...
FIM YOUTH TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
1 Jack SHEPPARD (GB - Beta) 27 + 24 + - = 51
2 Steven Coquelin (F - Gas Gas) 32 + 23 + 3 = 58
3 Giacomo Saleri (I - Beta) 28 + 27 + 7 = 62
4 Cedric Tempier (F - Sherco) 32 + 30 + - = 62
5 Chris STAY (GB - Gas Gas) (9x0,4x1,2x2) 33 + 33 + 7 = 73
6 Kenny Thomas (F - Beta) (9x0,4x1,1x2) 39 + 34 + - = 73
7 Bradley COX (GB - Beta) 43 + 31 + - = 74
8 Francesco Cabrini (I - Beta) 37 + 39 + - = 76
9 Jesus Martin (E - Gas Gas) 40 + 35 + 2 = 77
10 Tom DEXTER (GB - Gas Gas) 36 + 42 + 6 = 84
11 Mats Petit (F - Gas Gas) (15x0) 47 + 38 + - = 85
12 Martin Pochez (F - Gas Gas) (14x0) 47 + 43 + 5 = 95
13 Cory DUBIK (GB - Gas Gas) 48 + 49 + - = 97
14 Andrew ANDERSON (GB - Gas Gas) 52 + 48 + - = 100
15 Martin Ignacio (E - Gas Gas) 52 + 43 + 11 = 106
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 SHEPPARD 129 points, 2 Tempier 120, 3 Saleri 99, 4 Steven Coquelin 84, 5 Thomas 49, 6 Cabrini 49, 7 Martin 47, 8 Eddie Karlsson 45, 9 Pochez 43, 10 Jonas Widschwendter 37, 11 COX 36, 12 Mats Petit 28, 13 Romain Rigaud 26, 14 Fabien Menard 25, 15 Paul Bury 21,... 21 Tom DEXTER 6,... 23 Cory DUBIK 3,...
NEXT ROUND: August 20/21 – Twin Ring Motegi, JAPAN.
