{jcomments on}The Madrid town of Lozoyuela has been the scene of the fourth scoring round for the 2015 Spanish Championship, being the second where the drivers of the highest category, the TR1, participate.
Lozoyuela is an idyllic enclave for the practice of Trial. It is a mixed terrain, with great grip and a geography that gives many possibilities when designing a demanding route. It was on this same stage that the Trial World Championship races have even been held.
Precisely for this reason it is more complicated to assimilate the great organizational disaster that has been experienced today, leaving in the background the elegance of the route, the correct marking and the good work of all those who have collaborated to make this race possible.
Neither the Spanish nor the Madrid Federation should have consented to the parallel celebration of two competitions, which added together have caused great disruption to all the participating riders. Endless queues, time penalties, errors in the equivalence of levels between the two championships…
The situation could have been solved by holding the regional championship on Saturday or by making a logical distribution of categories by groups of zones, but it was not to be.
All this has forced the Federation to further delay the departure of the TR1 until after one o’clock in the afternoon to prevent them from being immersed in the chaos of the areas. These hours have not favored the influx of public either.
All of this has even generated inopportune and incorrect actions by the Spanish Motorcycling Federation itself, which through its delegate, Jordi Prat, practically forced the rest of the drivers to “sneak into the zone” of the TR1, generating even more setbacks for drivers from other categories who have not had favouritism in the start times (such as the TR1) and have the same to carry out a race under the same conditions. Let’s not forget the importance of the rest of the categories in the Spanish Championship, since no one would race only for the TR1, and the economic effort is enormous, since it is usually financed by families and not sponsors.
BOU SHINES AGAIN
From a sporting point of view, Toni Bou had an almost perfect day. He started in a good position, without opening sections, and he was able to work throughout the 12 sections without making mistakes in a relatively simple trial that did not leave room for concessions. Just two points behind Bou, a great Jeroni Fajardo finished and after him the big surprise of the day, starring Jaime Busto. The 17-year-old Basque rider, recent winner of the mythical 3 Days of Santigosa and brand new signing of the official Montesa team, has occupied the third step of the podium with only 10 points in his first year as TR1.
Left off the podium was the winner of the first round, Adam Raga, who complained of a disagreement in a fiasco whistled after moving an arrow in the zone. Ten points behind was Cabestany, followed by Casales, Farre, Noguera and Gelabert.
After Lozoyuela, the championship TR1 is left in a handkerchief. The top three riders, Bou, Fajardo and Raga, are separated by just two points in the general classification.
In TR2, a class that celebrated its third round of 2015 here, the victory once again went to Marc Riba, who won with a total of 24 points. Joaquín Salcedo and Marcos Méndez, with 48 and 57 points, respectively, joined him on the podium in that order. In the rest of the categories at stake, the winners were
the following: Gabriel Marcelli, in Junior; Francesc Recio, in TR3; Eric Miquel, in Cadet; and Guillem Soler, in TR4.
The next test for the TR1, TR2, TR3, TR4, Junior and Cadet categories will be held on May 9 and 10 in the Asturian town of El Condado, where they will also be joined by the three levels of Women.
RESULTS SPANISH TRIAL CHAMPIONSHIP – LOZOYUELA
DECLARATIONS
Toni Bou: The race was very easy and I couldn’t make any mistakes. It went well and I’m very happy with this victory and to take the lead in the championship which, to be honest, I didn’t expect after finishing third in Mallorca. Today I could have been more comfortable by not having to open up sections, but a mistake in a race like this can always come. Now we have to think about Japan, the first of the World Championships and work hard to prepare for a start to the World Cup that will be long and hard.
Jaime Busto: I’m very happy, yes. The race went well, and I rode quite calmly, I felt great on top of the Montesa and, in these types of areas that were perhaps too easy, I felt comfortable. I didn’t expect to finish on the podium, I knew it was going well, but it was a big surprise. The next race is in the World Championship, hopefully I can get such a perfect result!
Adam Raga: “We started with the handicap of having to open up sections and the truth is that everything went very well until, on one of these, on the second lap, I was unlucky that my rear wheel slipped and touched one of the arrows indicating the area. The arrow twisted and the judge considered that it was a five and those points have ended almost all our chances of being able to fight for the victory. Despite this, I’m satisfied with my riding, with my bike and with how everything went, with everything except the result. But despite this, we are only two points behind the leader and, in the next race, we will fight again to win and to regain the lead.”
Arnau Farré: “We are satisfied with this seventh position. This is only my second race in TR1 and I’m happy with how everything went. The truth is that I haven’t started too well. I scored two fives in the first sections of the course, but then I recovered and was able to make up positions. I’m still adapting to this new category, which is much more complicated and physically demanding than TR2, but I’m happy because there has been an improvement since the previous round in Mallorca.”
Photos: JC Vázquez
