Toni takes 5
By TMX Archives on 15th Feb 13
THE impressive Palau St Jordi stadium, standing on Montjuic Park, high above the Catalan city of Barcelona and a superb legacy of the 1992 Olympic Games, was once again the venue for the Barcelona Indoor Trial.
The event was the second round of the 2013 FIM X-Trial World Championships, following on from the opener in Sheffield in early January.
Run on Sunday evening as a double-header with the World SuperEnduro series round – where Brits David Knight and Jonny Walker were competing – the trial took place in front of a crowd of 10,000 plus, which this massive arena easily accommodates.
With all the Spanish riders being Catalan – along with Barcelona resident Takahisa Fujinami – it was the ‘home' event for no fewer than five of the eight riders.
But there was only one winner which, inevitably, was factory Repsol Montesa rider Toni Bou.
Bou was once again head and shoulders above his rivals and stormed to his fifth-consecutive win in Barcelona and his seventh in total.
This matches the record of the great Jordi Tarres – with the promise of many more wins to come from Bou.
With a tight timetable in which to cram the SuperEnduro races and the X-trial there were no wild card rides, which was a shame for Brit James Dabill who rode so well at Sheffield for a close fourth place.
The opening qualifying round was held behind closed doors in the afternoon and France's Alexandra Ferrer and Italian Matteo Grattarola were quickly eliminated after logging a maximum 25 marks each for the five sections.
This was down to the characteristic all-or-nothing Barcelona sections which, as ever, tended towards a clean or a five.
If you can't boss the big, brutal, vertical steps then you' have got no chance.
In contrast, Bou breezed through Qualifying, cleaning all five sections and the writing was on the wall.
Following his nightmare ride in Sheffield, all eyes were on Gas Gas No.1 Adam Raga.
And he was right back on form losing only one mark in the sections and a couple on time to qualify second from Beta's Jeroni Fajardo (10) and Sheffield hero Albert Cabestany just one point astern on the Sherco.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX FEBRUARY 15
WORLD X-TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 2 – Palau Sant Jordi, Barcelona, SPAIN
FINAL (4 sects + Semi + Lane Races): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 2 + 5 + 0 = 7 marks, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 14 + 6 + 1 = 21, 3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 15 + 7 + 1 = 23, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 18 + 10 + 0 = 28.
SEMI-FINAL (4 sects + Lane Race): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 5, 2 Adam Raga (J - Montesa) 6, 3 Takahisa Fujinami (E - Gas Gas) 7, 4 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 10.
ELIMINATED: 5 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 11, 6 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 17.
QUALIFICATION (5 sects): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) clean, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 3 marks lost, 3 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 10, 4 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 10, 5 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 11, 6 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 21.
ELIMINATED: 7 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 25, 8 Matteo Grattarola (I - Gas Gas) 25.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Bou 40 points, 2 Cabestany 21, 3 Fajardo 21, 4 Raga 19, 5 Fujinami 17, 6 Ferrer 10, 7 DABILL 9, 8 CHALLONER 7, 9 Grattarola 4, 10 BROWN 3.
NEXT ROUND: March 9 – Malaga, SPAIN.
