Adam Raga has achieved victory in the first DL12 Indoor Trial, organized by Dougie Lampkin at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, a mythical venue in the opening of the indoor season, which on this occasion is outside the official calendar of the World Championship.
The fact that this first competition did not count towards the world championship meant that there was less tension between the riders, who were battling it out for the first time in 2023. It is worth mentioning the debut of Jaime Busto and Sondre Haga with GASGAS, as well as Matteo Grattarola as VERTIGO driver and Toby Martyn with MONTESA.
OPEN FIGHT TO THE LAST ZONE
Adam Raga’s victory was very close and the outcome was not clear until the last section, where Jaime Busto also arrived with a chance of victory. A final section, that of Honda, very demanding, where precisely Toni Bou had a strong fall without consequences, but he did have them in the previous area, where he injured his heel and had to rule out his participation in this great final.
It’s Adam Raga’s third win in Sheffield. The first was in 2005 and the second in 2016, in his first year with TRRS. The rider from Tarragona particularly valued the fact that he has recovered quickly from his back injury, for which he underwent surgery five weeks ago and has worked hard to get ready for the start of the season.
The sections were much tougher in the grand finale, where local rider Toby Martyn filled the vacancy left by Toni Bou. Busto immediately took the lead, as Martyn, Raga, and Marcelli failed to overcome the towering trunks of Inch Perfect.
Raga then tied the race with an incredible run through the Vertigo tubes, and it was still level at the halfway point of the race, with the leading pair tied at a total of eight.
THE 2023 X-TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BEGINS
The turning point turned out to be the climb of the Honda, which allowed Raga to open a five-point gap ahead of Busto. After that, they all added up to the fiasco in the Hope area. In the next one, the Michelin zone, only Busto was able to overcome it, so everything was ready for the sentence in the last section, where Raga depended on himself and did not fail, becoming the winner of the test.
The second edition of the DL12 Indoor Trial will be held on Saturday, January 13, 2024, but before that, the X-Trial World Championship will be held, which will begin on February 5 at the Palau Sant Jordi with the X-Trial in Barcelona.
Gallery X-Trial DL12 Sheffield
DL12 XTRIAL - SHEFFIELD
- ADAM RAGA (TRRS)
- JAIME BUSTO (GASGAS)
- TONI BOU (MONTESA)
- GABRIEL MARCELLI (MONTESA)
- MATTEO GRATTAROLA (VERTIGO)
- SONDRE HAGA (GASGAS)
- JACK PEACE (SHERCO)
- HARRY HEMINGWAY (BETA)
