Date : 05/04/2009
Weather : Sat - rain, clearing; Sun - sun

Bou ties for lead after tense opening GP

Against a backdrop of blue skies and much welcomed sunshine, Repsol Montesa HRC's Toni Bou made amends for some costly mistakes on Saturday to take the win on day two of the Grand Prix of Ireland. In a reversal of Saturday’s top-two, Adam Raga (Gas Gas) finished in second spot despite having led after the first lap.

The young Spanish duo are now tied on 37 points each at the top of the 2009 SPEA FIM Trial World Championship standings after the opening round of eight. Bou actually leads the series thanks to having recorded the better second day result.

DAY ONE
Morning rain made the conditions at the start of the trial quite tricky and in fact the course stayed slippery all day. While Bou made the best start to the trial, an unexpected 'five' (the numeric penalty for a failure) at the fourth section lent the advantage to his closest rival, Raga. A further five at the 14th section, which he repeated on the second lap, was enough to offset all of Bou's handiwork in the other sections, so Bou finished two points adrift of Raga at the day's end, carding 50 penalties to Raga's 48.

Bou's team-mate Takahisa Fujinami took the final step of the podium after making a strong comeback from 5th place after the first lap. Fujinami's second lap 23 was only two penalties behind that of the leaders and the cleans he scored along the way lifted him to the third place after tying with Albert Cabestany (Sherco) on penalty points.


DAY TWO
Revisions were made to several of the sections overnight in order to ease what was a tough course for those outside of the top five. A dry day and plenty of sun also helped. It remained nonetheless a tense time for the lead two riders.

Raga led after the first lap of the course by the slimmest of margins – 10 penalties to Bou's 12. But second time around Bou not only overcame this disadvantage but put in what was by far and away the most stunning lap of the weekend, clearing the course of 15 observed sections for a mere three penalties. The turning point came at sections seven and eight where Bou turned in two immaculate rides while Raga stumbled to two fives.

Bou's nearest rival on that lap was Fujinami, who in making 12 was trying to make up for a disastrous first lap of 25 penalties. For Fujinami even putting in the second best lap wasn't enough though and he was only able to claw back one place to finish 5th for the day.

RIDER QUOTES

Toni Bou, Repsol Montesa HRC
Today I am happy, as yesterday I made some bad mistakes, which was also the same this morning too. Yesterday I had no opportunity to recover as Adam was very strong and made some good rides at all the important moments. I thought it might be a similar story again today as my first lap included some bad errors. However I kept fighting, and in sections seven and eight I made two incredible rides, which gave me added confidence and finally the victory.