Raga Czechs in!
By TMX Archives on 9th Jul 08
ADAM Raga pegged-back Toni Bou's World Championship lead by three points last Sunday with a stunning victory at Kramolin in the Czech Republic which leaves the Gas Gas number one just a tantalising dozen points behind the reigning World Champ with three rounds still to go. Trailing the Montesa man by three marks after the opening lap of 15 sections, Raga posted a superb second lap of just seven marks while his rival dropped three fives but was still well clear of team-mate Takahisa Fujinami in third.
Dougie Lampkin, well below par with a shoulder injury (see Trials Torque), finished top Brit in seventh on 66 marks behind a trio of Spaniards, Cabestany, Fajardo and Freixa but well clear of Michael Brown in eighth and last week's top Brit James Dabill who dropped down behind his countrymen in Czecho.
Just 13 riders competed over the two laps of 15 sections on a course that was dominated by rocks and giant boulders which meant that there tended to be a lot of cleans or fives. The two toughest were the back-to-back sections seven and eight, both containing a killer boulder while six, in the same group, was almost as bad. Bou should have had the advantage as he managed eight for a three and a two while Raga clocked-up a pair of maximums. Adam had a slight edge on seven with a five and a two while Bou went three five. These sections really were on the edge of what is and isn't possible with most riders fiveing all three each lap. It was really down to the Indoor specialists to shine.
On the opening lap Bou did exactly what was necessary, managing not to part with a single maximum but on his second loop he took a surprise five on the steep bankings of the second section near the start and again on section 11, rocks again, which saw many cleans.
The extreme nature of the course didn't really do the three Brits many favours and the most disappointed had to be Dabill who had pipped Lampkin the week before but fell back behind a far-from-fit Doug and also his big pal Michael Brown who actually posted his best World Championship result of the season.
So, with his advantage of a dozen Championship points and three rounds to go Bou should be sitting safe. All Raga can do is keep chipping away, going for the wins and hope that someone, probably Fujinami on current form, can take the odd point or two off Bou.
IT was a bad day for the Brits in the Junior Cup at Kramolin because although they all finished in line-astern at the end of two laps and 30 sections, unfortunately it was in fifth, sixth and seventh places and not first, second and third. And it was Sam Haslam who led the way from Championship challenger Alexz Wigg, still struggling with a knee injury, with Ross Danby some 20 marks in arrears on the day.
Up at the sharp end it was a surprise win for French rider Guillaume Laniel who so far this season hadn't managed better than sixth place until Sunday. But just one mark behind him on the day was his countryman Loris Gubian, a five time winner already this season, and with Britain's Alexz Wigg finishing down in sixth, Gubian currently holds an 11 point series lead.
Haslam continues to strongly contest third place in the series although he lost out to young Spaniard Alfredo Gomez on Sunday, Gomez logging a very high number of cleans, 17, compared to the 20 of Gubian and just 12 for Hazzer Haslam.
With a break in the calendar now before the next round, in Sweden on August 31, Alexz now has time to get his knee looked-at before mounting a strong challenge for the Junior Cup in the final three rounds.
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 - Kramolin, CZECH REPUBLIC
1 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 13 + 7 = 20
2 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 10 + 18 = 28
3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 18 + 21 = 39
4 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 13 + 28 = 42
5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 22 + 27 = 49
6 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 24 + 26 = 50
7 Dougie Lampkin (GB - Beta) 29 + 37 = 66
8 Michael Brown (GB - Beta) 51 + 35 = 86
9 James Dabill (GB - Montesa) 53 + 37 = 90
10 Daniel Oliveras (E - Sherco) 44 + 54 = 98
11 Daniele Maurino (I - Gas Gas) 58 + 57 = 115
12 Francesco Iolitta (I - Scorpa) 65 + 62 = 127
13 Martin Kroustek (CZ - Beta) 75 + 70 = 145
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Bou 168, 2 Raga 156, 3 Fujinami 142, 4 Cabestany 102, 5 Fajardo 99, 6 Lampkin 97, 7 Freixa 77, 8 DABILL 74, 9 BROWN 60, 10 Oliveras 46, 11 Maurino 20, 12 Tomoyuki Ogawa 15, 13 Fumitaka Nozaki 14, 14 Kenichi Kuroyama 14, 15 Jerome Bethune 14, 16 Jordi Pascuet 13, 17 Francesco Iolitta 7, 18 Shaun MORRIS 6, 19 Michele Orizio 4, 20 Masataro Iuchi 4, 21 Tsuyoshi Ogawa 4, 22 Kroustek 3, 23 Carsten Stranghoner 3, 24 Christophe Bruand 2, 25 Kazuhiro Onishi 1, 26 Henri Himmanen 1.
NEXT ROUND: August 31 - Uddevalle, SWEDEN
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 7 - Kramolin, CZECH REPUBLIC
1 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 13 + 9 = 22
2 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 19 + 9 = 28
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 19 + 14 = 33
4 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 18 + 16 = 34
5 Sam HASLAM (GB - Gas Gas) 22 + 20 = 42
6 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa) 24 + 21 = 46
7 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 32 + 32 = 64
8 Emil Gyllenhammar (S - Gas Gas) 34 + 32 = 66
9 Jochen Schafer (D - Montesa) 29 + 41 = 70
10 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa) 41 + 40 = 81
11 Christian Kregeloh (D - Sherco) 40 + 42 = 82
12 David Millan (E - Sherco) 44 + 40 = 84
13 Ivan Peydro (E - Gas Gas) 46 + 53 = 99
14 Jan Junklewitz (D - Sherco) 47 + 53 = 100
15 Martin Hemmer (N - Beta) 56 + 55 = 111
21 Harry HARVEY (GB - Gas Gas) 73 + 73 = 146
SERIES STANDINGS after 7 rounds: 1 Gubian 154, 2 WIGG 143, 3 Gomez 117, 4 HASLAM 116, 5 Grattarola 115, 6 DANBY104, 7 Laniel 93, 8 Schafer 42, 9 Sanz 35, 10 Johansson 32, 11 Gyllenhammar 29, 12 Millan 28, 13 Cervantes 17, 14 Webb 16, 15 Saito 14, 16 Lee SAMPSON 14, 17 Nomoto 13, 18 Lalkens 12, 19 Shibata 11, 20 Perret 9, 21 Ibsen 9, 22 Vaccaretti 8, 23 Nagakubo 8, 24 George MORTON 6, 25 Kregeloh 5, 26 Peydro 5, 27 Arnaud 4, 28 Junklewitz 2, 29 James FRY 2, 30 Ben WIBBERLEY 1, 31 Hemmer 1.
NEXT ROUND: August 31 - Uddevalle, SWEDEN
