has won his ninth consecutive Indoor Trial world title in Wienner Neustadt (Austria) after adding his fourth victory of the season out of a possible five. For the rider from Piera, it is a great start to the year against very tough rivals who have even stopped his historic record of consecutive victories. In spite of everything, it is chilling to remember that Toni Bou has won all the races of the Indoor Trial World Championship of the last five years except one, in Pau (France). Adam Raga was the only rider capable of beating, at least once, the best indoor driver of all time.
The The Austrian Indoor Trial GP has left us with some beautiful battles since the beginning of the competition. The qualifying round was much more exciting than the Barcelona Indoor Trial, where the non-classified riders scored the maximum points in all areas, thus favoring a more open fight for the final round.
The guest pilot was Franzi Kadlec. The German rider would end up closing the classification, although he put in a good performance on his debut, passing, albeit with a penalty, two of the seven proposed sections. Improving the record in these more accessible areas (4 and 5) we find Eddie Karlsson, signing a seventh final place. With one point less on his card, the Frenchman Alex Ferrer ended his performance.
The excitement in this first round was between Fajardo and Dabill. The British rider finally found himself comfortable at the controls of his Vertigo and was about to join the party for the final round. However, Jeroni Fajardo, on a night in which he went from less to more, snatched that place from Dabill in the last zone.
The best time of the night in this first part of the competition went to Toni Bou, who with a 10-point advantage over his closest rival, Adam Raga, showed his superiority in the Austrian pavilion. Cabestany also secured a place in the final with the third-best time in the standings.
GREAT PERFORMANCE BY JERONI FAJARDO AND THE TITLE BY TONI BOU
With the four magnificent ones in the final round and seven demanding sections ahead, the excitement was more than served. The first section was not passed by any rider, leaving evidence of the toughness of the course, while in the second only Bou was able to reach the end of the section.
The third area was where the differences began to be marked. Bou scored a zero, while Raga lost the leader’s rope with a fiasco and Fajardo took the lead after scoring a single point. At this point in the race, Bou’s records predicted a resounding victory. However, Bou’s own attention was going to be on the positions of his rivals, since if Fajardo managed to overtake Raga, the rider from Piera could celebrate his ninth consecutive indoor world title.
. Up to the sixth zone Raga was ahead of the Girona native by only one point, but an untimely fiasco in that same zone was taken advantage of by a sensational Fajardo who scored only two points that was well worth a juicy advantage before the last zone, which did not exceed any. Therefore, a world title for Toni Bou, Fajardo signs his best performance and Raga is emerging as the runner-up of an indoor world championship that will decide his final positions this coming weekend in Oviedo.
AUSTRIA INDOOR TRIAL RESULTS 2015
DECLARATIONS
Toni Bou: “I’m very happy, very happy. I had a good race, and as Adam has been lately, I didn’t expect him to be able to get the title here. It was a very complicated, technical race, and today Jeroni fine-tuned a lot.
I felt good in the zones, and the crowd enjoyed it a lot and this is good for the sport, too. It’s hard to stop and think about what this title means, 9 is a lot, and I had never thought that I could win so much. Therefore, for all that it entails, because the rivals have also been very battle-hards and have made it difficult, this title has a lot of value. The bike has worked very well all year and the team has always been up to the task, supporting me at all times and I want to dedicate this ninth to the team, to my backpacker Joan Cordón, to my family, friends and to all those who follow me. Thank you very much.”
Adam Raga: “The truth is that today we didn’t do too well in Austria. We made too many mistakes and we didn’t have the day, although we have to be positive and be aware that this result is good in terms of taking the runner-up spot. The key today was in the rocky area, where my wheel slipped and I went to the ground. The judges have not been good at all tonight and several of their decisions have hurt us. Although that’s not an excuse because then we had opportunities to regain second place and we didn’t know how to take advantage of them. It’s clear that this third place hasn’t allowed us to rush our chances of the title, but we have to keep fighting and think about the runner-up position. Next weekend, I would like to close the X-Trial World Championship with a victory in Oviedo.”
