Toni Bou seeks eighth outdoor title
By Team TMX on 9th Apr 14
Repsol Montesa's Toni Bou currently shares the honour of holding seven outdoor titles alongside his legendary predecessors Jordi Tarres and Dougie Lampkin.
However the reigning champion has every chance of claiming a record breaking eighth championship that will set him apart from the other winning duo when the 2014 FIM Trial World Championship begins at Mount Tarrengower, Australia this weekend.
Bou has been dominant during the recent FIM X-Trial World Championship, however he will know that this weekend is likely to be a much tougher affair having been pushed all the way to the wire last season by his Spanish compatriot Adam Raga.
During the early part of the 2013 series it was Raga who appeared to have adapted best to the no-stop rules that were reintroduced at the start of the championship. Adam's three day wins on the bounce in the opening three rounds confirmed that Bou had a fight on his hands, and although Bou re-established control mid-championship, Raga put up a battle towards the final rounds meaning that the title was not decided until the final round.
Raga will again start the season as one of Bou's main challengers, along with the usual candidates in the form of Beta's Jeroni Fajardo and Sherco's Albert Cabestany
Cabestany, who is the second oldest rider in the championship, is in great form and full of confidence having followed Bou home in the 2014 FIM X-Trial World Championship
In contrast Fajardo has had far from his best indoors and finished down in fifth spot in the final rankings. Jeroni will certainly need to buck this trend if he is to repeat the top three placing he recorded outdoors last season.
The championship's oldest competitor, Takahisa Fujinami, has also not had the best of results in recent X-Trial events and will look to the start of the new series to regain some of the magic that has kept him inside the top five for an incredible 17 consecutive seasons.
Britain's James Dabill has been riding consistently recently and has just rounded out his best ever X-Trial season to claim fourth position in the. James will be hoping to repeat the same kind of level of riding in Australia as he finally looks to break into the elite top five come the end of the year.
Eighteen -year-old Jorge Casales from Spain is another rider on the rise. Winner of the 2013 FIM Junior Trial World Cup, Casales is widely tipped as a potential future champion in the making and will certainly be doing his best to make his mark amongst the more establish World Pro riders
