Tuesday January 6, 2009 at 12:00am
Toni Bou – Respol Montesa HRC opened the defence of his title with a close victory at the first round of the APEA FIM Indoor Trial World Championship 2009. Bou was locked in a fierce battle with Adam Raga – Gas Gas until the final section, when a late error cost Raga the runners up position, which was eventually taken by Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC.
As always the Sheffield event was a dramatic affair with the lead changing many times both in the qualifying lap and also in the trail itself. It was Raga who looked in hot form during the initial lap, his score of just six marks giving him the prized last starting place for the trial itself. In some contrast Bou appeared to be very nervous during his opening lap with a series of very uncharacteristic mistakes that left him three marks behind his main rival come the close of the qualifying session.
Wild card rider Dougie Lampkin – Beta, making what may be his last ever appearance in the series, produced the shock performance. Dougie qualified in a great third place after defeating his team-mate Jeroni Fajardo – Beta in the tie-breaker dual lane race. Fujinami and Albert Cabestany – Sherco completed the six qualified riders respectively, with young Michael Brown – Sherco missing out on a place in the trial despite a very brace first outing with his new team.
Lampkin was to carry his great form into the trial to become the early leader thanks to a really strong showing in the initial four sections. The new format saw Lampkin move to the back of the starting order midway through the trial, as the current results were used to create the new start positions for the final part of the event. With the added pressure of having to match the earlier performances of his main rivals, Dougie’s challenge was to fade quickly with a five in the fifth hazard.
This change in fortunes left Bou and Raga in command, with Fujinami closing in fast following a late fight back by the Japanese rider. Bou sealed his victory with an emphatic clean on the final waterfall. Raga looked to have secured second place, but two dabs and one mark on time in section seven would see him drop to third as Fujinami closed with a single mark rider.