Raga has achieved a well-deserved victory at the Pau Indoor Trial, thus breaking the relentless dominance of a Toni Bou who has been at the top of the podium for 28 consecutive races . In other words, the rider from Piera had managed to win every race since January 2010. A feat that will probably not be repeated in the history of this sport.
Adam Raga has always been more comfortable outdoors than indoors, but last week he already warned in Toulouse – a non-scoring race – with a great victory against his main rivals. The Gas Gas rider knew that in Pau he could make a splash, as the route this time was not as demanding as in previous rounds and mistakes could be costly.
The concentration had to be maximum from the qualifying round. The first driver to be mathematically left out of the final round was Eddie Karlsson. The young Swedish rider, who fills Fujinami’s place due to injury, continues to learn at a forced pace in his first year of X-Trial. After Karlsson, James Dabill would end his night , who as in Marseille has not had a good performance at the controls of the new Vertigo, with which he continues to suffer from the lack of filming and training. However, each race for them is a great source of information to continue progressing in the year of the debut of the Spanish brand.
Gubian and Ferrer were also left out, although with good records and close to the cut-off points that gave access to the final round. Of the four magnificent ones – Bou, Raga, Fajardo and Cabestany – it was the great leader, Toni Bou, who had the best performance in the first pass through the zones with a perfect card. Behind him is his big threat: Adam Raga. Cabestany and Fajardo, both with 10 points, closed the access positions to the last round.
The final round is done with the ones in reverse. Of the five proposed sections, it would be from the fourth when the excitement would begin, as it was the longest of all and it was where Raga risked to the maximum to put pressure on Bou. The 2 points that then separated them with two zones to go could come to nothing in the event of a failure. AndIn this zone, four neither Fajardo nor Cabestany managed to pass. Raga, on the other hand, embroidered it, even entering into time. It was Bou’s turn and the pressure was maximum for the championship leader. Finally he missed a step and added the maximum score, which put him 3 points behind Raga, who took advantage of this advantage to keep it in the last zone and score a spectacular victory. A good performance also from Fajardo, who completed the podium.
Now the riders will face each other on March 8 in Barcelona , their home event, where we will be able to see if Raga continues to close the gap and can opt for the championship or if Toni Bou is once again unmarked.
DECLARATIONS
Adam Raga: “I’m very happy with this victory. It’s been great. I want to congratulate the whole team, because they have done a great job and I think we have been on a good track for a long time. We’re working very well and we should be very satisfied with a win like this, which is not easy at all. We were very close in all areas of the final. Although on the second lap, in one of the longest sections, I scored a zero and I was also faster. I came in within the minute of time we had and that added pressure to my rivals, who then failed. From there, I took the lead and secured the victory until the end. I’m very happy because we’ve been setting a good line since the beginning of the year. We won the trial in Toulouse – which does not count towards the world championship – and now it is in Pau, and these good results encourage us to continue like this and with the desire to reach Barcelona, the next round of the world championship at home.”
Toni Bou:
“
This morning I already saw that it would be a very easy race when we saw the sections. Any mistake was impossible to recover, and that’s how the final went: few sections, very easy. I tried to complete zone 4 to zero, but in the double after the tricky entry maybe I went too fast… It was fair, but I couldn’t.
I want to congratulate Adam Raga, who did very well and deserves the win today.
It’s been 28 races in a row winning indoors, and maybe this is not normal: not making any mistakes for so long, always being there… But now, it’s time to think about the next race, where the goal remains the same: to win, and win the championship. I feel comfortable, very good with the bike; we have to go and do well in Barcelona.”
Dougie Lampkin (Vertigo Team Manager):
“The current result does not reflect the improvements we have made again in the short time we have had since Marseille. Neither does how well James is riding in practice. Unfortunately for James, he seems to be feeling the pressure, as he’s getting used to being the center of all the teams’ efforts. Not only is he dealing with adapting and developing a new bike, but he’s also trying to cope with being closely followed by the whole trial world.”
“Within the team we continue to have confidence in James and the work we are doing. We will continue to work in the same way in the coming weeks to be ready for the next round. We always knew that the X-Trial FIM World Championship was not going to be the ideal place to start the competitive life of the team and the bike due to its short and sharp format, but we knew we have to start somewhere.”
James Dabill: “In terms of training and testing it’s been a very positive week, so I’m frustrated because I let my nerves get the best of me in section one. After that I think if you look through the qualifying results, except for Adam (Raga) and Toni (Bou), everyone else has struggled with the unpredictable nature of the sections here in Pau. Step by step we’re moving forward, and I’m confident that in the coming weeks we’ll start to show the progress we’ve made with a much better result.”
RESULTS
