The SPEA RFME Spanish Trial Championship of 2018 will begin, as in its last three editions, in the Alicante town of La Nucia on February 10 and 11.
It will be the tenth time that the coastal town will host the best national competition of the specialty in the world. However, in 2018 all the categories will be present from the start; something that hadn’t happened since Nacional returned in 2015. That is, TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4, Junior, Cadet, Female A and B, Youth A and B, and Veteran.
That region, the Community of Valencia, and the weekend, by the way, are exactly the same ones in which half a century earlier the Catalan Pere Pi, who would end up becoming the first absolute Spanish Champion in our history, conquered the victory in the inaugural race of the Spanish Championship of 1968. A better tribute to our history could not be better.
“This event is very special for everyone because it marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of the National Trial, which has been a discipline that has given many motorcycling world titles to Spain. From the RFME we have opted for La Nucia to open this 50th Spanish Trial Championship for its commitment to sport and trial and its high level of organization”
Manuel Casado, President of the RFME.
This first event of the eight that make up the CET 2018 calendar, as usual, will allow us to discover the important novelties in terms of regulations and race format of the great competition of the sport of dynamic balance in our country – which you have broken down here and here – for this season.
Organized by the Royal Spanish Trial Federation (RFME), the Motorcycling Federation of the Valencian Community (FMCV), MotoDes and the La Nucia Off Road Club, with the collaboration of the Department of Sports of the City of La Nucia and the Provincial Council of Alicante, the CET 2018 La Nucia will have, once again, as its epicenter the Ciutat Esportiva Camilo Cano; where the paddock and five of the 22 race zones will be located.
THE ROUTE
The route will have two groups of zones: A, with twelve sections for TR4, Cadet, Women’s A and B, Youth A and B, and Veteran, and B, with ten completely different and more difficult tapings for TR1, TR2, TR3 and Junior.
On a sporting level,
Toni Bou
, current absolute Spanish Champion and most successful rider in the history of the speciality with 23 world titles, will once again be the main candidate for the final victory in TR1.
Adam Raga
, second in the CET 2017, and
Jaime Busto
, third, will be his main rivals; without ruling out
Jeroni Fajardo
, Albert Cabestany, Miquel Gelabert or Jorge Casales. For their part, the SPEA RFME National Team 2018 riders Gabriel Marcelli, Marc Riba and Aniol Gelabert will try to cause a surprise in the premier class.
Arnau Farré will be out after injuring
his left knee while participating in the Barcelona Indoor Trial, in the fifth round of the X-Trial World Championship, last weekend.
In the rest of the categories, lots of new faces and the odd rebranding. Who will enter their names as the first winners of CET 2018? On Sunday at 4:30 p.m. we will meet them.
