Viva Espana!
By TMX Archives on 5th Oct 12
IN all truth there was never ever going to be any doubt that Spain would win the 2012 Trial des Nations, staged at Moutier, Switzerland, last Sunday, as the icing on the cake that was three excellent days of trials.
The Spanish quartet was led by World Champ Toni Bou on the factoryMontesa and included Adam Raga (Gas Gas), Albert Cabestany (Sherco) and Jeroni Fajardo (Beta).
And the inevitable win gave Spain an incredible ninth-consecutive title – and victory by one of the event's biggest-ever winning margins, 98 marks.
Worthy runners-up were the Great Britain team comprising James Dabill (Beta), Michael Brown (Gas Gas), Alexz Wigg (Gas Gas) and Jack Challoner (Beta), with the team being managed this year by Ben Hemingway.
Right from the start, in damp conditions that in theory at least should have given the GB team some hope, the
Spanish squad were simply rampant.
They made light work of the 18 sections, set mainly on a hillside made slippery from constant rain, which were lapped twice.
Such is their strength in depth, on no single section did any other country better the Spanish score on either lap and, with three riders to score from the four man teams, they relentlessly pulled ahead until the winning margin was almost in three figures.
In fact only the final section cost them dear, with five on the first lap and 10 on the second, for a 15 total against 18 for Team GB.
The battle was for the podium places and while the French were expected to be strong with a young, confident squad it was actually the Italians who looked like giving Britain a hard time.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX NEWS OCTOBER 5
TRIAL des NATIONS
Moutier, SWITZERLAND
World Championship Group
1 SPAIN – 45 Total (Toni Bou (Montesa), Albert Cabestany (Sherco), Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) & Adam Raga (Gas Gas)).
2 GREAT BRITAIN – 143 Total (Michael BROWN (Gas Gas), Jack CHALLONER (Beta), James DABILL (Beta) & Alexz WIGG (Gas Gas)).
3 ITALY – 178 Total (Matteo Grattarola (Gas Gas), Francesco Iolitta (Beta), Fabio Lenzi (Beta) & Daniele Maurino (Ossa)).
4 FRANCE – 227 Total (Cedric Tempier (Sherco), Benoit Dagnicourt (Beta), Alexandre Ferrer (Sherco) & Loris Gubian (Gas Gas)).
5 NORWAY – 365 Total (Ib Andersen (Gas Gas), Kristoffer Leirvaag (Gas Gas), Sverre Lundevold (Beta) & Hakon Pedersen (Sherco)).
International Trophy Group
1 CZECH REPUBLIC – 35 Total (Pavel Balas (Gas Gas), Martin Kroustek (Beta), Martin Matejicek (Gas Gas) & Jiri Svobod (Beta)).
2 SWEDEN – 50 (101x0) Total (Emil Gyllenhammar (Beta), Jesper Johansson (Beta), Eddie Karlsson (Gas Gas) & Martin Lagergren (Sherco)).
3 GERMANY – 50 (95x0) Total (Jan Junklewitz (Sherco), Mirco Kammel (Beta), Christian Kregeloh (Gas Gas) & Jan Peters (Beta)).
4 BELGIUM – 63 Total (Arnaud Dermine (Ossa), Maxime Mathy (Gas Gas) & Julien Rousselle (Sherco)).
5 IRELAND – 65 (Gareth ANDREWS (Sherco), Michael BURTON (Beta), Sean DOYLE (Gas Gas) & Andrew PERRY (Sherco)).
OTHERS: 6 United States 69, 7 Australia 73, 8 Austria 75, 9 Finland 97, 10 Switzerland 107, 11 Poland 150, 12 Canada 187, 13 Portugal 269, 15 Denmark 333, 17 Latvia 351, 18 Brazil 421.
