Wrap-up: FIM X-Trial (Indoor) Trials World Championship

And for spectators there's the attraction of the chance of seeing the world's best in exciting head-to-head action in the warm and dry, with the added attraction of food, drink and toilet facilities, plus a nice comfy seat to view the action. You certainly don't get that on a cold, wet day out ont' moors!

Yes, Toni Bou was always going to be crowned 2015 champion, breaking yet another record with his ninth straight X-Trial crown, but being able to watch the master in action is a reason in itself for trials fans to visit an X-Trial when they get chance. See if you can puzzle out exactly how Toni gets that factory Repsol Montesa up those sheer, vertical steps that stop his opponents dead in their tracks. If we are lucky, we get chance to see Toni just twice a year in Britain, assuming we are allocated a World Championship round, plus Sheffield so why wouldn't you go?

And it was Sheffield which once again got the 2015 series underway as Martin Lampkin and Neil Crosswaite took their baby into another New Year, the event now the second longest running Indoor event after Barcelona. Martin's sections are as well received by the fans as the riders because they are always unique, not like the same old hazards that they get in Spain, for instance.

On the competitor front, each round was slated for an eight rider field with the events run to a set format, for continuity. There were seven contracted riders who would contest the whole series, while each round would sport one wild card rider.

The rider missing was popular Japanese veteran Takahisa Fujinami, the crowd pleasing Honda-Montesa rider, who opted out of the series to regain full fitness after struggling through the outdoor season with an injury sustained in an off-season motocross training accident.

So, as ever, we had a Catalan dominated line-up with Bou, former champs Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany, plus Jeroni Fajardo nailing four of the seven berths. Tall Frenchman Alexandre Ferrer bagged a place while a breath of fresh air was young Swede Eddie Karlsson who was able to use this welcome extended run as vital Indoor experience, and Eddie did grow in confidence and skill as the series progressed.

Last but not least was Britain's own James Dabill who was mounted on the most interesting bike of 2015, the all-new Vertigo. Manel Jane's baby had only been publicly launched two months before Sheffield, and James was to give the space-framed, EFI two-stroke Combat its World competition debut in the white heat of an arena trial. Suspect that Manel, James, test rider and soon-to-be importer Dougie Lampkin all had their fingers crossed for that debut as anything can happen in an Indoor.

As it happened they had nothing to fear, the Vertigo performed adequately, if not spectacularly, and came through its first test with no disasters and while James' aim was a podium, sixth on the night was no disaster. The crowd was right behind the local ace and, but for a bit of bad luck, Dibs could easily have made the semis.

Up at the sharp end though, in front of an enthusiastic house Bou did everything expected of him and provided enough magic, as he took maximum points on the night, for the paying punters to go home happy knowing that they had witnessed something special. Cabestany, Indoor champ back in 2002, nailed second with his usual rock steady display while Raga was a disappointed third.

There was one controversial moment when Adam went for a spectacular jump across two boxes. The fans loved it but it had earlier been ruled that riders weren't allowed to jump, they had to drop to the floor. Raga claimed that before he entered the section he had asked judge Dave Willoughby if he could jump and Dave had said "Yes!” The ride was eventually judged void as riders who had gone earlier, Dabill and Fajardo, had not had the option to jump.

But as even Vertigo team manager Dougie Lampkin said: "It was spectacular!”

Michael Brown was allotted the wild card ride in Sheffield and, while one-off rides are an all but impossible ask indoors, it was good for Michael to get an appearance in front of his fans and he finished ahead of young Eddie, who was just finding his feet indoors on his pretty standard Montesa.

It was then off to France for the next two rounds, first to the Marseille on the south coast and then just a week later to Pau in the shadow of the pyrenees. In Marseille it was Bou again as he threatened to run away with the series, while Raga and Cabes swapped places on the podium and Fajardo followed them home again. Home rider Ferrer had finished fifth at Sheffield and seemed stuck in fifth through Marseille and Pau.

But in the small arena at Pau Raga showed the fight that would typify his performance all year as he really took the fight to Bou and made him work for his titles. Fajardo bagged his first podium in Pau, getting the better of Cabes.

Wild card for both rounds was naturally a home rider, the experienced and talented Loris Gubian who did everything that could have been expected with a pair of sixth places as Dibs was struggling, with only rookie Karlsson behind.

It was then off to the biggest venue of all, the mighty Palau St Jordi Olympic arena and its 15,000-seat capacity with the event run in conjunction with an International SuperEnduro, reflecting the sheer size of the floor area, around twice that of a standard arena in Britain.

It is also the natural home of all four Catalan riders; Bou, Raga and Fajardo are all from the Barca region and Cabes is still Catalan from Tarragona, about an hour south on the coast. And it went absolutely to plan with the top four finishing exactly as they would come the end of the series. Bou loved it in front of the adoring fans and all was well in Barca for the home boys.

The big surprise was Eddie Karlsson who suddenly found his Indoor mojo and fifth was a superb effort from the young Swede ahead of Dabill and Ferrer.

Barcelona marked the debut on the Indoor stage of the Repsol Montesa young gun Jaime Busto. The teenager finished last but got that all-important first taste of the extreme adventure that is X-Trial and, just as he did later in the year in the outdoor World Championship, Busto will surely get a hold on the Indoor hazards, especially with Bou to teach him and they are both of very similar build. And he has that unique edge of an all-Spanish Indoor series to get the all important practise.

But, it was off to Austria next to the town of Wiener Neustadt and in a relatively small arena Bou won his fourth round from the five rounds held. And with Fajardo, in his best round of the series, pushing Raga down to third place, Toni nailed X-Trial title number nine.

The Dibsta enjoyed his best ride of the winter on his Vertigo which was being developed on the hoof and fifth gave the team a high point as he beat Ferrer, Karlsson and wild card, German youngster Franz Kadlec, the latter making his X-Trial debut.

And so to the last round in Oviedo Spain with Bou effectively getting a lap of honour with no pressure whatsoever. That he stumbled and history will show that he posted his worst result of the campaign, the fact is Toni was showboating and trying to end the series with a flourish – and it didn't happen allowing veteran Cabestany to add to his X-Trial wins in an event that didn't really matter to any of the combatants as all the minor positions were in the bag.

And that was the three month 2015 X-Trial series, January to March, in a nutshell....and 2016 is all ready to go.