Toni's Mad for it
By TMX Archives on 9th Mar 12
ALTHOUGH pushed hard by former World Indoor champ Adam Raga, there was still no stopping Toni Bou in thePalacio de Deportes, Madrid.
The Barcelona boy raced to his fourth consecutive win at the venue and also his fourth win from four starts in the current World X-Trial series.
And while the Repsol Montesa ace increased his Championship lead to a mighty 26 points over Gas Gas No.1 Raga,
Britain's Gas Gas contender Michael Brown was also celebrating – having made it through into the semi-final for the first time.
Michael started the night in brilliant fashion, cleaning the opening hazard in the Madrid arena, where MotoGP World Champ
Casey Stoner and fellow Repsol Honda rider Dani Pedrosa were in the audience.
The only other riders to clean this hazard were Bou and Raga which shows just how good a ride Brown was having.
This clean gave Michael the edge he needed to beat Loris Gubian, Pol Tarres (on the all new Jotagas) and Alfredo Gomez, to advance into the semi for the first time.
Bou was once again looking ominously dominant though, dropping just a single mark to top qualifying from the ever
consistent Albert Cabestany on nine marks on his Sherco.
Raga dropped a couple of fives but still qualified well ahead of Takahisa Fujinami (Repsol Montesa), a below-par Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) and a jubilant Brown.
Michael started the dual-lane race that opened the semi-final with a win over Fajardo that proved crucial in pipping Jeroni for the eventual fifth place, as in the four tough sections which followed both dropped maximum points.
Bou continued to dominate in the semi but after looking untouchable through the first three hazards he then took a five on the fourth and final one, which Raga alone cleaned to close within two points of his arch-rival. It looked set for a very interesting finale but Bou gives absolutely nothing away and won all three of his dual-lane races.
Raga dropped a couple more marks astern, as the points from the semi are combined with the final for the eventual total score.
Both cleaned the fifth and both dropped a couple in the sixth, as Raga did his very best to overcome his rival.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX MARCH 9
WORLD X-TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Palacio de
Deportes, Madrid, SPAIN
FINAL (3 sects + Semi + Lane Races): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 4 + 9 + 0 = 13 marks, 2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 7 + 11 + 2 = 20, 3 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 10 + 17 + 3 = 30, 4 Takahisa
Fujinami (J - Montesa) 12 + 19 + 1 = 32.
SEMI-FINAL (4 sects + Lane Race): 1 Toni Bou
(E - Montesa) 9, 2 Adam Raga (E - Sherco) 11, 3 Albert Cabestany (E - Gas Gas) 17, 4 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 19.
ELIMINATED: 5 Michael BROWN (GB - Gas Gas) 20, 6 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 21.
QUALIFICATION (5 sects): 1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 1, 2 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 9, 3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 11, 4 Takahisa Fujinami
(J - Montesa) 17, 5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 20, 6 Michael BROWN (GB - Gas Gas) 20.
ELIMINATED: 7 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 22, 8 Pol Tarres (E - JTG) 25, 9 Alfredo Gomez
(E - Montesa) 25.
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 Bou 80 points, 2 Raga 54, 3 Cabestany 51, 4 Fujinami 39, 5 Fajardo 22, 6 Gubian 19, 7 BROWN 13, 8 Gomez 6, 9 Tarres 5, 10 CHALLONER 2, 11 Ferrer 1, 12 Dagnicourt 1.
NEXT ROUND: March 10 – Palma de Mallorca, SPAIN.
