in Indoor Trials The intense and short calendar of the 2014 Indoor World Championship arrived in Barcelona for the distribution of points of the third scoring race. Once again, Trial has shared the show with Enduro, bringing together all lovers of off-road disciplines on the same stage.
From a sporting point of view, Toni Bou arrived in Barcelona with an important cushion at the head of the provisional standings, the result of a resounding dominance that has led him to add, counting today’s, 24 consecutive victories in this competition. In addition, he has broken the tie-break he had with Tarrés in the record of victories in the Indoor Trial of Barcelona. The motivation for Toni was twofold, since in addition to riding in front of his home crowd, a new victory would practically put the renewal of the world title in his pocket.
In the end, there were no surprises. Bou put in a sensational performance, scoring just one point on his scorecard , nine for his closest follower, Adam Raga, and fifteen for Cabestany, who completed the podium after beating James Dabill in the points tiebreaker.
CLASSIFICATION
The first qualifying round was played mid-morning behind closed doors. Fajardo eliminated Jorge Casales and Raga eliminated Loris Gubian. Dabill and Fujinami lost in this round to their rivals, Cabestany and Bou, respectively, but advanced to the next round thanks to obtaining the two best points records among those eliminated.
SEMIFINAL
Once in the open and in front of the heat of more than 11,000 people, the six classified riders measured themselves in four zones. The most decisive were 2 and 4. Those who committed a fiasco in the 1st or 3rd saw their chances of going to the final very compromised. In this case the first to be excluded was Fujinami, who committed three fiascos and one “one”. The next to be disqualified was Fajardo. that he couldn’t handle a very inspired James Dabill.
FINAL
The victory was therefore going to be between Bou, Raga, Cabestany and Dabill. Again, four zones would be disputed; The best of these would be the victor. In the first zone, Bou and Raga went to zero, Dabill dropped a point and Cabestany committed the maximum penalty. The second would be the most critical, as only Bou managed to pass it, also to zero, already achieving a comfortable advantage at the halfway point of the last round.
Zone three was only a problem for Dabill, who left a “several”, while zone four was again decisive. Bou already had the win in hand and Raga the second step on the podium. The excitement would be to see who would complete the places of honor, Dabill or Cabestany; Both committed the maximum penalty, so they were drawn and the tiebreaker gave the advantage to the Tarragona native.
After the Barcelona Indoor there are two races left: Milan (15 March) and Madrid (28 March).
Text: Trialworld
Photos: FIM / G2F Media
DECLARATIONS
Toni Bou: “I remember when I dreamed of one day being able to compete at the Palau Sant Jordi. Victories here are always special, but this time it was even more so. It’s so many things… to break the tie with Jordi [Tarrés], to increase my record of consecutive victories in the X-Trial World Championship to 24 and, above all, to continue getting closer to our priority objective, our goal, to win the championship again. It’s closer, but until it’s won, you can’t claim victory, so we’re going to keep working as always. Without a doubt, this has been the most difficult event we have contested this season and in these conditions is where I feel most comfortable.”
Takahisa Fujinami:
“I didn’t have an easy day, although I don’t know why, and it was very fair for me to get through qualifying. In the semi-final, paired with Toni, I wasn’t too sharp either and there came a time when I decided to put on a show and make the audience enjoy themselves”.
Adam Raga: “I’m happy with how the race went because I was on the verge of completing the Saunier Duval section so I could be closer to Toni Bou. I think I did well in qualifying, in the semi-finals and also in the final. I’m happy with the second position, it’s good for the championship and I hope to be able to win a race between now and the end of this X-Trial World Championship.
Physically and technically I feel good, and the bike too, fantastic, was perfect. I have my mechanics to thank for that; They and Gas Gas are working very well, leaving a very competitive bike. We hope to continue in this vein to be able to push Toni in the next races.”
CLASSIFICATION
1) Toni Bou – 1 point
2) Adam Raga – 9 points
3) Albert Cabestany – 15 points
4) James Dabill – 15 points
5) Jeroni Fajardo – semifinal – 14 points
6) Takahisa Fujinami – semi-final – 16 points
7) Loris Gubian – qualification – 26 points
8) Jorge Casales – qualification – 27 points
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