Report: Sheffield Indoor Trial
By John Dickinson on 11th Jan 17
TONI Bou won a thrilling Martin Lampkin Memorial Sheffield 2017 Indoor Trial on Saturday night after yet another head-to-head battle with his long-time arch rival Adam Raga.
Raga had topped the Qualifying and it looked like last year's shock win was going to be repeated until a fantastic final-section clean from the Repsol Honda star finally crushed his TRS-mounted rival's ambition.
A four-man final was contested between Toni and Adam, Bou's teenage team mate Jaime Busto and Britain's James Dabill, out on a Gas Gas for the first time since 2010.
The simple truth is that Bou and Raga were in a class of their own but The Dibsta rode well and he can be confident as the International X-Trial and Indoor season gets underway after finishing on the podium ahead of Busto.
The evening began, fittingly, with a sustained period of applause in memory of Martin Lampkin, the first-ever Trial World Champion, who was in charge of the Sheffield sections right from the start back in 1996 and who sadly passed away last year.
Sons Dougie and Harry were instrumental in carrying on Martin's legacy and a challenging night's competition, with the sections right on the limit of possibility, had the 5,000-plus crowd buzzing.
There were six separate sections plus a dual-lane race, with all sections used both in Qualifying and the
With the event not being an FIM World Championship the organisers were able to run to their own rules and Qualifying saw the eminently sensible system of riders taking it in turns to go first in a section.
This is the fairest way to give the less experienced riders half a chance of learning from the established stars.
So it was Gas Gas UK rider Jack Price, the most local rider ever to get a ride at Sheffield, who got the evening underway on the opening section,which was a series of concrete blocks mounted on an artic flatbed.
Pricey began confidently but the multiple step proved a stopper.
It would subsequently stop James Dabill and another Sheffield debutant Miquel Gelabert via a mechanical when his Sherco rear linkage broke in what was his final section.
Shapes
The skips were next and cleaned by Dabill – to the delight of the crowd – and Gelabert but fived by Busto and Jeroni Fajardo, the Vertigo rider failing to make the final in a below-par performance.
Bou and Raga both confidently breezed through the first three hazards, the ‘easiest' proving to be the Red Bull metal shapes where Pricey had his best ride with a single dab plus a time fault. Dibs needed a steadying prod and Gelabert took the sole maximum.
The toughest section proved to be the large boxes with one aspect, an angled climb following a jump up off the floor, stopping everyone bar Bou.
Toni needed two goes at it and this cost him a time fault but his clean ride, making the rear tyre grip where no-one else could, sent applause ringing round the arena.
The master was in the lead and the question, "What could possibly go wrong now?” was answered in the very next section which was the large bottles.
Gelabert did it for a one and there were cleans from Dabill Busto and Raga but on the tricky transition jumping from one angled bottle to the next Toni lost the front wheel and it was a big five.
And Bou was absolutely furious with himself.
This put Raga in the lead courtesy of the time fault Bou incurred and when both then cleaned the final section – the combined trees and rocks – it looked very much on the cards that Raga was on course to repeat his famous victory of 2016, when making his TRS debut.
The final saw the riding order revert to the accepted standard format with the top Qualifier going last and the last Qualifier leading the way. Dabill and Busto joined Bou and Raga in the final, Fajardo being the most disappointed rider to miss out. There were no fewer than three series of dual lane races which saw the loser penalised one mark and therefore worth contesting and there was some really exciting racing.
Dibs defeated Busto straight off before Raga got the better of Bou and a cracking final seemed guaranteed.
But it all threatened to go sour at the very first section when after Dabill and Busto had both fived the blocks on the truck, Bou put in a brilliant ride and rode off celebrating a clean.
But observer Jim Lampkin had spotted that Toni had crossed a section boundary and had indicated a maximum. Toni was incandescent and remonstrated with James, with Dave Willoughby, tried to involve Raga with his protest (Adam remained impassive) and was refusing to ride the next section, the bottles.
And with the crowd getting on his case it was Dougie who calmed the situation and persuaded a far from happy Bou to continue.
Toni finally rode the section – and dropped a mark – before defeating Dibs in the second round of races.
Dropped
The skips were next and after Dabill and Busto had failed, Toni made one awful mis-timed effort before rescuing the situation with a brilliant recovery for a one.
Raga took a five!
Back in with a chance now, Toni began to settle down and pulled off a fantastic clean on the boxes which won the crowd back.
And when Raga also cleaned but with a time fault, Bou was back suddenly in the lead by a single mark with a final race and two sections to go.
Both leaders won their races and then both cleaned the Red Bull hazard, which brought the battle for the win down to the final section which was the tree trunks and boulders, run in the reverse direction.
Dibs and Busto proved how tough the section was with a maximum apiece so then it was Bou's turn.
Now totally in control of his emotions Toni put in an outstanding ride to clean the section but added a further time penalty and that put Bou and Raga level on eight marks – but with Raga still to ride the section!
Adam came out and breezed the opening part but then made a mess of the crucial vertical tree trunk, came off the bike backwards and it was all over.
Toni Bou was victorious in the 2017 Sheffield Indoor...
SHEFFIELD INDOOR TRIAL
Sheffield Arena, Broughton Lane,
Sheffield (Avondale Management)
Final: 1 Toni Bou (Montesa) 8 marks, 2 Adam Raga (TRS) 13, 3 James Dabill (Gas Gas) 29, 4 Jaime Busto (Montesa) 22.
Qualification: 1 Adam Raga 5, 2 Toni Bou 6, 3 Jaime Busto 10, 4 James Dabill 13, 5 Jeroni Fajardo (Vertigo) 15, 6 Miquel Gelabert (Sherco) 16, 7 Jack Price (Gas Gas) 27.
