SEVEN FIM TRIAL DES NATIONS WINS IN A ROW FOR SPAIN
Very much as expected Toni Bou - Repsol Montesa led his Spanish counterparts, Adam Raga - Gas Gas, Jeroni Fajardo - Beta and Albert Cabestany - Sherco to a seventh straight win at the 2010 FIM Trial des Nations held in Myslenice, Poland. Spain's supremacy was never in doubt at any moment, and their winning margin of thirty-eight marks once again confirmed they remain in a league of their own. Whilst Great Britain could not challenge for the win, their runners up position was also equally safe from the outset in the wet and muddy conditions.
Captained by ex multi FIM Trial World Champion Dougie Lampkin - Beta, the British sqaud which included James Dabill - Gas Gas, Michael Brown - Sherco and Alex Wigg - Beta were the only team to even be on the same page as Spain, with them coming home very comfortably ahead of Italy. The Italian team of Matteo Grattarola - Sherco, Francesco Iolitta - Beta, Fabio Lenzi - Montesa and Danielle Maurino - Gas Gas fought off the French quartet to steal the final podium place in the World Championship Group.
Typically little separated third and fourth places with Italy holding just a single mark advantage over France at the halfway point. France's Jerome Bethune - Beta, Beniot Dagnicourt - Beta, Alexandre Ferrer - Sherco and Loris Gubian - Gas Gas put up a brave fight, but could not stop the Italians pulling further clear as they open up a twenty-four mark margin come the close of play.
The fight for the International Trophy was much more open with several teams in with a real chance of taking the victory. In the end Norway emerged as the winners, they last won this award back in 2002, with a good cushion over the Czech Republic. The Norwergian team consisting of Ib Andersen - Gas Gas, Kristoffer Leirvaag - Sherco, Mardon Moi - Beta and Hakon Pedersen - Sherco posted two laps scores under thirty marks to beat the Czech Republic into the runners' up spot for the second year in a row.
2009 International Trophy winners Germany endured a nightmare opening lap with a total that was almost double that recorded by Norway. With the victory out of sight, the German squad of Jan Junklewitz - Sherco, Mirko Kammel - Beta, Christian Kregeloh - Sherco and Jan Peters - Beta ensured that they retained their pride by recording the best lap score of the Trial on their second visit to the eighteen muddy hazards. This amazing recovery was enough for them to grab the last podium place from the USA who finished in fourth spot.
Just sixteen marks separated fourth to eighth in this class, thus confirming the extreme competitiveness that exists within this group. Finland slotted into fifth behind team USA, whilst Belgium took sixth spot just three marks ahead of Australia, leaving Sweden to come off worst in this five way scrap. Host nation Poland represented by Konrad Legutko - Sherco, Michal Lukaszczyk - Sherco, Gabriel Marcinow - Gas Gas and Jozef Madry Topor - Sherco finished in a respectable eleventh place as the competition returned to its birth place some twenty-six years after the initial FIM Trial des Nations took place in Myslenice back in 1984.
G2f FIM press release