31/03/12, Paris - Bou makes it a straight seven
Toni Bou - Repsol Montesa cleaned up the 2012 FIM X-Trial World Championship with a seventh
consecutive win at the final round in Paris, France. Whilst Bou’s win was perhaps no surprise,
Jeroni Fajardo - Beta taking the runners up spot certainly was a shock as he finished ahead of
Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa who was third on the evening. Albert Cabestany - Sherco,
placed an off form fourth, but this was enough to secure him second in the series. It was a
disappointing finale for Adam Raga - Gas Gas who missed out on a place in the final for the
first time this season, and thus had to settle for third spot in the final standings, once again
behind his arch rival Cabestany.
A strong and exciting qualification process set the bar for the rest of the evening. As usual it
consisted of five sections to be completed in eight minutes. France’s Alexandre Ferrer -
Sherco broke new ground by becoming the first wild-card rider to make it through to a semifinal
this series. However it was not a happy ending for his compatriot, Loris Gubian - Gas
Gas. As France’s lone permanent rider in the series, who wanted to wave his country’s flag
high in Paris, suffered a fall from a high point in the second section. This seemingly knocked
his confidence from which he never recovered and ultimately cost him his place in the semifinal.
Michael Brown - Gas Gas, Jack Challoner - Beta and remaining wild card rider Benoit
Dagnicourt - Beta also rode themselves out of the main event.
Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol
Montesa dropped ten marks in qualification, which was four more than wild-card Ferrer whose
tally was just six marks. Adam Raga performed only slightly better than Ferrer, losing five
marks. Jeroni Fajardo - Beta proved that he was on top form from the off, dropping just one
mark whilst Albert Cabestany - Sherco initially looked capable of putting Bou under pressure
as the two ended qualification tied on zero points, with a tie-break putting Bou in the
intermediate lead.
The semi-final saw the addition of a new and challenging section, standing high above the
ground and constructed to resemble a Paris cityscape, complete with skyscrapers and an Arc
de Triumph at the centre. This section proved too difficult for Ferrer, Fujinami, Raga and
Cabestany. Fajardo was the first rider to complete it, however picked up two time penalties
whilst Bou cruised through in true style.
It was a close semi-final with Ferrer, Raga and Cabestany all tying on sixteen marks. With
Fujinami, Fajardo and Bou having scored better and secured their place in the final, this
allowed the riders’ qualification positions to be used to decide which two would go through and it was Raga who missed out, which meant he was unable to realise his ambitions of taking
second in the championship.
Completing his clean sweep victory was the perfect way for Bou to end the 2012 FIM X-Trial
World Championship. Following the podium presentations, this year’s World champion was
awarded a watch by Tag Heuer. Bou is now hoping to lead Spain to victory at the 2012 FIM XTrial
des Nations, which will be held in Nice, France next Friday.
News from Jake Miller (FIM Press), photos by our archives.
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Bou fa sette su sette!
Bou onora il titolo conquistato a Milano 2 settimane fa, sbancando anche Parigi, aggiungendo un record al suo palmares: 7 vittorie su 7 gare! Fajardo , dopo la grande performance di domenica scorsa al campionato spagnolo,dove e' stato battuto da Bou solo per il tempo, si conferma in gran stato di forma e e' secondo. Terzo Fujinami, ancora una volta sul podio in questa stagione.
Il duello Cabestany-Raga per il secondo posto in campionato va a favore del pilota Sherco, stasera quarto, mentre per la prima volta Raga si ferma alle semifinali.
