Bou's six bomb
By TMX Archives on 23rd Mar 12
TONI Bou tied-up a record breaking sixth successive World X-Trial (Indoor) Championship in Milan last Saturday evening when he took an unbeaten sixth consecutive victory in the 2012 series.
Not even a nasty fall in the penultimate section, which brought about an exciting run-off with his long-standing rival, Gas Gas mounted Adam Raga (which the Repsol Montesa ace won of course) could take the shine off Toni's incredible achievement.
"On the one hand I'm delighted as it has been a very special day that I've been thinking about all week,” said Toni.
"This sixth title and six from six victories (this year) are fantastic.”
The Milan trial had begun with 10 competitors lining-up for the Qualifier as Italian Beta-mounted youngster Giacomo Saleri was added to the ranks for some local interest – along with Spaniard Pol Tarres on the Jotagas.
As ever with wild-cards Saleri was pure cannon fodder and helped to show just how tricky the sections actually were.
He quickly clocked-up four fives and salvaged a two from the five Qualifying sections.
At least Giacomo finished his lap – Tarres suffered a spectacular fall and was taken to hospital with concussion and a broken bone in his right wrist.
Not a good night for Pol!
There was also an early exit for both Michael Brown and his closest Spanish counterpart, Dani Oliveras on the Ossa.
Michael had the satisfaction of bagging a rare clean on the fourth sub, which Oliveras dabbed.
Dani also managed to exit the second sub with a dab although it didn't stop him missing the cut.
French Gas Gas ace Loris Gubian had a good Qualifying round by his standard to nail his place in the Semis just behind Fujinami, who took a couple of big fives, as did Jeroni Fajardo on the Beta, but countered these with three excellent cleans.
That left the big three.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX NEWS MARCH 23
WORLD X-TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 6 – Fila Forum, Milan, ITALY
FINAL (3 sects + Semi + Lane Races): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 5 + 5 + 0 = 10 marks, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 2 + 7 + 1 = 10, 3 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 10 + 6 + 2 = 18, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 15 + 9 + 3 = 27. (NB: Bou took victory after a ‘tie-break' lane-race with Raga).
SEMI-FINAL (4 sects + Lane Race): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 5, 2 Albert Cabestany (E - Gas Gas) 6, 3 Adam Raga (E - Sherco) 7, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 9.
ELIMINATED: 5 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 10, 6 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 21.
QUALIFICATION (5 sects): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) clean, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 5, 3 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 5, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 10, 5 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 13, 6 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 14.
ELIMINATED: 7 Dani Oliveras (E - Ossa) 17, 8 Michael BROWN (GB - Gas Gas) 20, 9 Giacomo Saleri (I - Beta) 24, 10 Pol Tarres (E - JTG) DNF.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Bou 120 points (CHAMPION), 2 Raga 78, 3 Cabestany 78, 4 Fujinami 57, 5 Fajardo 36, 6 Gubian 30, 7 BROWN 18, 8 Gomez 8, 9 Tarres 5, 10 Oliveras 3, 11 CHALLONER 2, 12 Saleri 1, 13 Ferrer 1, 14 Dagnicourt 1.
FINAL ROUND: March 31 – Paris Bercy, Paris, FRANCE.
