Date : 25/07/2010
Weather : Sun with some cloud
Temperature : 24 degrees C
Crowd : 10,000

Bou clinches his fourth title with a victory in Italy

Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC is the 2010 SPEA FIM Trial World Champion. The twenty-three year old Spanish rider on board his factory four stroke machine clinched his fourth successive outdoor title after winning the Italian Grand Prix and with one round still remaining. In front of a massive Italian crowd Bou fought off a strong challenge by eventual runner up Adam Raga – Gas Gas to collect his crown in some style. Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC completed the podium to keep his chances of becoming vice champion very much alive.

Set high in the Italian mountains some sixty kilometres north of the city of Bergamo, the ski resort of Foppolo last hosted a round of the SPEA FIM Trial World Championship back in 2001. The surrounding landscape remains as stunning as ever, with the natural terrain once again providing a suitable challenge for the visiting riders. A good mixture of boulder-strewn streams and steep grassy bankings situated on the outskirts of the town gave the passionate Italian fans plenty of action to cheer about.

After heavy rain on Friday night, the sections had dried significantly ahead of today’s trial, meaning that it always promised to be a relatively low scoring event. Reinforcing this point, Bou on his Cota 4RT remained clean through the first eight sections before fiving the ninth hazard where others succeeded. Raga actually recorded the only clean here on the opening lap, but this only served to cancel out the maximum he incurred one section earlier. Fujinami was the only rider in touch with this leading duo at the end of the first lap, as the other contenders were really struggling to get to grips with the mountain course.

As has been the case throughout Toni’s career, he once again produced his best performance at the crucial moment with an almost perfect closing lap. Bou parted with just a single dab in section seven to move clear of his rivals and to secure his most important win of the season to date. Raga fought bravely as did Fujinami on the second lap, but Toni proved to be too strong for both riders, as they eventually finished second and third respectively. With Bou already crowned champion, Fujinami now must beat Raga at the last round in the Czech Republic if he is to stand any chance of making a Repsol Montesa HRC 1 – 2 in the final general standings.


Bou – 1st:
“Sometimes in these situations you can really feel the pressure, but today that was not the case. I had a difficult job today, as riding first when the sections were at there most slippery was a real test. Anyway I was riding well and had a really good feeling on the bike. The only mistakes were in sections nine and fourteen on the first lap, which allowed Raga to be close to me. On the second lap I made a really good job, and it was a great way to seal the title. Now I can enjoy the summer break with a small holiday, before preparing for the final round.”

Fujinami – 3rd:
”Again I started badly today, I am not sure why but I had no confidence, and not a good feeling on the bike, but that was the case. To make things worse I then made a five in section three when I touched my minder, so even at this point I knew it would be difficult to recover, as most of the sections were easy. The second lap was much better for me, and in the end I was happy to finish third, and along way ahead of fourth place. Raga now has a two point lead over me, but I hope I can overcome this at the last round. It should be an interesting fight.”

Laia Sanz – Repsol Montesa
Had a weekend to forget after having shown some kind of return to form in more recent weeks. The defending FIM Women’s Trial World champion placed outside the top twenty in the European event on Saturday and finished sixteenth in the World trial on Sunday. “I have struggled all weekend in conditions that are not my favourite, my riding was not good and also I had some problems with the observers. Overall it has been a bad two days for me.”

Next event: Round 8 at Kramolin (Czech Republic) on 05 September

Images supplied by: Repsol Media Service