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BLOOD, SWEAT AND TRIUMPH FOR TONI BOU
Repsol Montesa-HRC Toni Bou was the victorious rider at round three of the Indoor Trial World Championship in Southern Spain Granada, edging out Albert Cabestany and Takahisa Fujinami in another exciting edition of the series.
More than 3000 spectators were in attendance at the Palacio de Deportes to enjoy the seven médium-high timed zones set up for the Granada Indoor Trial.
Once again, British representatives James Dabill and Dougie Lampkin had disappointing rides, occupying the final places on the leaderboard. Montesa rider Dabill broke his bike on zone two, adding to his woes, whilst Lampkin continued to struggle with his Beta machine.
Jeroni Fajardo was also far from the podium battle, with the final three to be decided between Fujinami, Raga, Cabestany and Bou. In this latest round of the Trial series, the Japanese Montesa-HRC star finally broke his rostrum duck for the season at the expense of Barcelona race winner Adam Raga, who took a point in the head-to-head and missed out on the rostrum due to Fujinami’s better time total.
Bou began the final round in fine form, showing his class on the first zone. The Spaniard was, however, dealt a blow both figuratively with a fall on zone two. The incident left the reigning champion needing treatment after opening up a nasty looking gash on his head, with the delay causing him to miss the third zone.
Bou eventually managed to take control of the race after the dual lane with his skill combining with mistakes made by his two rivals. He mathematically sealed the win on last part of the trial. The runners up were made to pay for their penalties.
The win was a popular one in Spain, where the past two rounds of the indoor series have taken place and where the championship enjoys its highest level of popularity. Bou now heads the overall classification by six points, ahead of Cabestany, now second and seven on Raga, third.
The Granada Indoor Trial concluded, the World Championship takes a short break before returning in March for the Lisbon Indoor Trial.
Toni Bou: “After I crashed I felt a little bit dizzy and I was thinking about giving up. But I recovered and finally I could complete the race. It’s incredible to get this result in these conditions, I’m glad with this new victory.”
Albert Cabestany: “I was looking for the win in Granada. I rode very well on the qualification lap but I was not at my best at the final. I was shocked by Bou’s crash. He’s a very good friend and I lost a little the concentration.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “Finally I reached a podium place after a hard fight to get it. This season, I’m working hard physically and psychologically and I’m obtaining the first results. Toni Bou has taught an incredible lesson and we all should learn from him.”
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Toni Bou in action.
Albert Cabestany
Takahisa Fujinami
The Granada podium.
A battered and bruised Toni Bou
Dougie Lampkin
Dougie Lampkin’s 2008 World indoor campaign continued with yet another disappointing result for the thirty one year old, as he finished in sixth place at the third round in Granada late last night. This latest below-par performance leaves the Beta rider in sixth position in the overall standings at the mid point in the shortened championship.
The usual array of Spanish indoor obstacles created the seven sections and one dual lane race that formed the qualifying challenge inside the Palacio Deportes Stadium. Three thousand local fans packed the arena to watch the seven competing riders, as they fought it out for a place in the all-important three-man final.
Following last week’s poor showing at the previous round in Barcelona, Lampkin remained in Northern Spain to continue with his training schedule, in an attempt to familiarise himself with his new two stroke machine. After three years on a very different four stroke bike, Dougie always knew that the initial transition was going to be anything, but easy.
A nervous dab in the opening hazard of the night was a sign of things to come, as the multi World champion fived the very next section in what was to be a low scoring heat. A clean at section three marked a brief return to form, before a series of three fives in a row saw him crash down the leader board.
Lampkin at least finished the night on a slightly better note with a single dab in the last observed section, the waterfall, and a victory against his younger team mate Fajardo in the head to head race.
“Words can’t express just how disappointed I am, not only for myself, but for the rest of the team, as the results in no way reflect the effort everyone has put in over the last month or so.”
“The development work we have done appeared to have gone well, but perhaps we have all expected too much in such a short period of time. The good news is that we have now got three weeks without any competitions in which to get things sorted and to give me further time to get used to the bike.”
James Dabill
James Dabill’s maiden season as a permanent rider in the 2008 World indoor trials championship continued in Granada, Spain last night, with the youngster from Leeds once again coming off worst against his more experienced rivals.
Despite his best efforts James could not recover from technical difficulties with his clutch, and a broken rear wheel, which forced him to ride his second bike for the majority of the event. The scale of the disaster was clear to see with Dabill failing in all but the last section, taking his score to a hefty thirty-three marks.
With three out of the six rounds now having been completed, Dabill sits seventh in the general classifications, just one point behind his compatriot Dougie Lamkpkin, who has also endured an equally torrid indoor campaign this year so far.
Although James finished in a similar position in Barcelona just six days before, the two performances were visibly different. In the northern city James had rode with great confidence and looked very much on par with the other riders, however two unforced errors would spoil an otherwise good ride. In Granada it was a stark contrast, with Dabill and his bike never looking in tune with each other.
Only a three on the waterfall, the last section of the evening, prevented Dabill from suffering total humiliation in front of the three thousand Spanish fans. James’ ordeal had lasted a mere eight minutes and forty eight seconds, a seemingly brief encounter in return for the long journey south from his Italian team headquarters.
“I do not know what it is about Granada, but I had an equally bad time here last year too.”
“The night didn’t start well, with us having to bleed the clutch on my first bike just minutes before the trial started. It was weird as it had been perfectly OK during practice, but in the warm-up the lever came straight into the bars.”
“A five in the first section set the tone, and when I broke the rear wheel in the second hazard, I had a feeling that it was just going to be one of those nights. I never felt comfortable on my second bike and really struggled for the rest of the lap. I was glad when it was all over, and I want to forget about it immediately, as it was a real nightmare in every way.”
REPSOL – MONTESA HRC
Toni Bou consolidates his lead with an epic victory and Takahisa Fujinami is with him on the podium.
Toni Bou (Montesa-HRC Cota 4RT) has won the Indoor Trial of Granada for second consecutive year, the event ending the first half of this World Championship. A new victory that consolidates the Montesa rider's lead in the general classification, with six points over his most immediate rival.
After finishing first in the classification lap (5 points), the holder of the world title resolutely overcame the consequences of a bad fall in the second play-off obstacle that cost him five points in that zone and another five in the next, which he did not, do as he was being attended for a deep cut in an eyebrow, being taken to a hospital in Granada for treatment after the event.
Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa-HRC Cota 4RT) completed the success of the Repsol-Montesa HRC team with his first podium position of the season. Fujinami finished the classification lap with seven points, the same score as Adam Raga, having taken less time to complete the course (8:54 minutes, 46 seconds less than his rival), which enabled the Japanese rider to participate in the final.
Toni Bou: “Two victories and a second position is a good result for the middle of the championship. Today’s victory has been very hard to achieve, almost incredible. I was injured and after the bad fall and wasn’t feeling too good, sometimes I even doubted whether I could continue, but I managed to bring out all my determination after the ten point penalisation of the fall. This sort of incident shows you that in a moment you can lose all your advantage, even more so when there are still thirty points at stake. There’s no denying it, our situation is good, but we can’t consider it definitive at all.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “First I’d like to congratulate Toni, because to win in his state is very commendable; he’s taught us a good lesson. Today I relived a very similar situation to what happened in the first event of the season in Marseille. The same event that left me out of the final then; the play off by time, has put me on the podium this time. I felt quite at ease and was very close to obtaining second position if it wasn't for a mistake in the antepenultimate zone. I hope to continue like this in the coming events.”
The fourth scoring event for the World Indoor Trial Championship will be held on March 1st in Lisbon.
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