28/03/14 - Bou wins again, as Cabestany becomes vice champion

Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa closed out the 2014 FIM X-Trial World Championship with his fifth win in five rounds to maintain his 100% record and to extend his record to twenty six victories in a row. However with Toni having already wrapped up the title prior to this event in Oviedo, Spain the story of the night was about who would become vice champion. Albert Cabestany – Sherco held his nerve to take second spot come the end of the evening and close the season as Bou’s nearest challenger. Adam Raga – Gas Gas did his best to overhaul his bitter rival, but had to settle for third place on the night and the same place in the series. James Dabill – Beta rounded of his best ever campaign with fourth in the Spanish city to remain fourth in the final rankings.

Qualification proved much tougher than expected, with only Bou and Cabestany managing to keep their scores in single figures. Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa was the first rider out and made hard work of the six qualifying sections, his score of twenty-six putting him in last place on the night. With the Japanese rider out of sorts Dabill was the first to transfer through to the semi-final. The first big shock of the night came as Jeroni Fajardo- Beta saw off Raga, as the Gas Gas teamster failed the skip section right at end. Lucky for Raga he was still to make it through to the last six as one of the two best losers.

Cabestany’s passage through this initial process was without pressure as Jorge Casales – Gas Gas once again struggled to match his peers in this his rookie season. Casales was cruelly robbed of the last spot in the semi-final as he lost out to Loris Gubian – Ossa on a tie-break that went down to the best recorded time in the third hazard. Gubian’s inclusion in the final six was at least some consolation for being totally over shadowed by Bou in the closing pairing of qualification. As ever Bou was simply awesome as he remained un-penalised through the initial six hazards.

Raga turned the tables on Fajardo in the first of the semi-final pairings as this time it was him who dispatched of his compatriot. Jeroni was poor in this stage of the competition and would eventually finish in sixth spot to rule himself out of any chance of going through as the best loser and in the process kissed goodbye to any hope of fourth place in the series. Cabestany made light work of his duel with Dabill in the semi-final, however the British contender was to progress as the best loser. Gubian stood no chance against Bou, but the French rider still did enough to record his best placing of the campaign.

The final was very much a one-man show once again as Bou delighted his many home fans at this sell out closing event. His second clean round of the evening sealed his fifth straight win of the year, and was delivered with purpose plus entertainment and was greeted by a continuous wall of noise from the crowd. Cabestany and Raga simply had no answer to Toni, as they both twice failed where he was faultless. Tied on ten marks apiece, Cabestany would finally get the nod having qualified into the final in the better position. With Raga taking the lower step of podium, Dabill had to be content with fourth place for the fourth time in a row this season. Tonight’s top four coincidently matched the top four in the final championship standings, with this quartet having consistently been the best of the crop over this thrilling five round tour.


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bou vince anche l'ultima e Cabestany e' secondo in campionato

Non si arresta la serie incredibile di 26 vittorie consecutive di Toni, 5 su 5 in questo suo ottavo titolo indoor. Cabestany vince il duello con Raga per il secondo posto finale, raggiungendo la piazza d'onore anche stasera, di fronte al suo rivale. Quarto Dabill che si conferma anche quarto in campionato.

foto e news di press FIM