Toni Bou - Repsol Montesa begun his title defence with a convincing win at the opening round of the 2010 SPEA FIM Indoor Trial World Championship held at Sheffield. Bou was joined on the podium by Albert Cabestany - Sherco and James Dabill - Gas Gas respectively, as the young British rider kept Adam Raga - Gas Gas out of the top three by virtue of a tie break.
Sheffield had the honour of debuting the new Trial format that saw three stages of elimination after the initial qualifying session. Fixed riders Alexz Wigg - Beta and Loris Gubian - Gas Gas only lasted five sections, as they both failed to progress to the Trial itself. In contrast Bou signalled what was to follow as he remained unpenalised in the initial part of the competition.
The opening four dual lane races in TX1 really brought the near capacity crowd to life, as local riders Dougie Lampkin - Beta and Dabill both gained automatic quailification to TX2 alongside Raga and Cabestany, whilst the four losers went to a tense last chance section. Here Bou and Jeroni Fajardo - Beta were quickest as all four riders went clean , leaving Michael Brown - Sherco and Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa HRC to be eliminated.
Dabill begun to make his challenge for a podium place in TX2 as he matched his peers through the three sections, dropping no further marks in doing so. Fajardo was cruelly axed at this point, as despite also remaining faultless he recorded the fifth slowest time, which left him and Lampkin, who fived the first section in TX2, as spectators for TX3.
In TX3 Bou begun to break clear, after the opening section which all four riders failed, the regining champion did not drop any more marks as he firmly stamped his authority on the event. His closing ride on the waterfall hazard, where all his rivals failed, sealed and confirmed why he remains favourite to lift his fourth indoor crown in a row.
Cabestany was within one mark of Bou until the deciding section and made a positive debut on the two stroke Sherco after having campaigned a four stroke for the last two seasons. Raga was furious as he found himself demoted to fourth place by fellow Gas Gas teamster Dabill, on a night when there were several shock results.
2010 SPEA FIM INDOOR TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Round 1 - Sheffield, Great Britain
Results:
Trial
1: Bou 5 - TX3
2: Cabestany 11 - TX3
3: Dabill 15 - TX3
4: Raga 15 - TX3
5: Fajardo 0 - TX2
6: Lampkin 5 - TX2
7: Fujinami 2 - TX1
8: Brown 2 - TX1
Qualifying
1:Toni Bou (SPA-Montesa-HRC) 0
2: Jeroni Fajardo (SPA-Beta) 2
3: Takahisa Fujinami (JPN-Montesa-HRC) 3
4: Adam Raga (SPA-Gas Gas) 6
5: Dougie Lampkin (GBR-Beta) 6
6: James Dabill (GBR-Gas Gas) 9
7: Albert Cabestany (SPA-Sherco) 13
8: Michael Brown (GBR-Sherco) 17
Non-Qualifiers:
9: Alexz Wigg (GBR-Beta) 19
10: Loris Gubian (FRA-Gas Gas) 25
Current FIM championship standings:
1: Bou 20
2: Cabestany 15
3: Dabill 12
4: Raga 9
5: Fajardo 6
6: Lampkin 5
7: Fujinami 4
8: Brown 3
9: Wigg 1
10: Gubian 1
