Geneva Indoor Trial Results
Repsol Montesa Honda rider Toni Bou has won the Geneva Indoor Trial, Round 1 of the 2011 SPEA FIM X-Trial World Championship, held at the Palasport Fiera di Genova arena in northwest Italy on Saturday.
Bou got the first campaign off to a solid start as he scored a narrow victory over Albert Cabestany (Sherco). Adam Raga (Gas Gas) completed the podium on a night when the top three riders were separated by just five marks.
With this win, Toni Bou has made a strong start to his world title defence, in which he has won the last four editions of this competition. In this opening trial, this speciality takes on its new name, which will be called X-Trail from now on.
Toni Bou finished the qualifying round without picking up a single penalty point and took the lead of the trail in the semi-final, a round which the several times World Champion finished with 5 points, half those of his nearest rival.
With this advantage, Bou was able to make the most of his credit in a final consisting of three parallel races and three individual zones.
His teammate in Repsol Montesa Honda, Takahisa Fujinami, who also had zero points in the qualifying, had a problem in the last zone of the semi-final and was knocked out of the final leg of the trial.
The result in Italy sets four-time champion Bou on course for a fifth consecutive crown, but his triumph was not without serious challenges from his closest rivals Cabestany and Raga.
With a pause before the season resumes in January, Bou’s countrymen have time to regain their composure and launch a fresh challenge on the 2011 series at round two in Marseille, France on Jan. 22.
Toni Bou (Repsol Montesa Honda) says: “I’m very happy as I couldn’t have started the championship and my title defence in a better way. It was a very difficult trail in which I was very tense, but the end result was an excellent relief.”
“The five-point advantage I had at the end of the semi-final was very valuable. I reached the final zone with one less but still enough margin to allow me to be careful in a complicated step and not take any risks, which could have jeopardised victory and the world championship lead.”
Takahisa Fujinami (Repsol Montesa Honda) says: “The handlebars of the bike moved in the last zone and that’s where I got left out of the final, which I still had the possibility of reaching. I felt very disappointed.”
Italian Indoor Trial Results:
1. Toni BOU (REPSOL MONTESA HONDA) 9 (5 + 4)
2. Albert CABESTANY (SHERCO) 12 (10 + 2)
3. Adam RAGA (GAS GAS) 14 (11 + 3)
4. Jeroni FAJARDO (BETA) 28 (11 + 17)
5. Takahisa FUJINAMI (REPSOL MONTESA HONDA)
Indoor Trial World Championship Points:
1. Toni BOU (REPSOL MONTESA HONDA) 20 Points
2. Albert CABESTANY (SHERCO) 15 Points
3. Adam RAGA (GAS GAS) 12 Points
4. Jeroni FAJARDO (BETA) 9 Points
5. Takahisa FUJINAMI (REPSOL MONTESA HONDA) 6 Points
