Toni Bou Stretches Lead

Italy

www.fullnoise.com.au The Trials Italian Grand Prix, held in the town of Barzio marked the fifth round of the 2013 FIM Trial World Championship and saw Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa claim his fourth win of the year to slightly stretch his lead in the general standings. 

Bou now leads Adam Raga – Gas Gas by five points as the season moved into its second and decisive part. Raga who finished as runner had to fight off a strong challenge from Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa who would eventually complete the podium on a hot day of action in the Italian mountains. 

Bou was in awesome form and ran out an easy winner after the three laps of twelve sections, his winning margin over Raga was a convincing twenty-four marks. In contrast Raga had little room for any additional errors on his closing lap as he pushed Fujinami down the order by just four marks after a fierce day of competition. 

Toni signalled his intent from the outset and dropped a mere eight marks on the opening lap to carve out an early advantage over all of his rivals. This was a position he would not relinquish as the Trial played out under some intense sunshine. 

“It has been a great competition today, the sections have been at the correct level for a World Championship event." Bou commented after the event. "Yes they have been difficult, but they were also possible, but with the new no-stop rules it is almost possible not to make some mistakes. 

"In these conditions, this is when my riding is at its best and I can take a clear advantage over my rivals. It was great to win on the new bike and in front of the many bosses from Honda who were here this weekend. 

"I am pleased to be going to Czech Republic next weekend with a five point lead over Adam (Raga). ” Bou added. 

Jeroni Fajardo – Beta narrowly missed out on a rostrum placing when he was beaten into fourth spot by just two marks despite posting a far better last lap than Fujinami. 

Albert Cabestany – Sherco rounded out the top five on a day he will want to forget as soon as possible when he simply failed to find any kind of form and broke his recent run of podium finishes. James Dabill – Beta managed to keep home rider Matteo Grattarola – Gas Gas at bay as this paring finished sixth and seventh respectively. 

Michael Brown – Gas Gas showed that he is now on his way to recovery from the knee injury he sustained earlier in the year by only just losing out to Grattarola by a single mark. His eighth place put him just in front of Eddie Karlsson – JTG who claimed his first ever top ten placing by taking ninth spot. France’s Loris Gubian – Gas Gas ended up in tenth position on what was a tough day for the World Pro riders. 

In the Junior class the large Italian crowd celebrated a home winner as Giacomo Saleri – Beta produced his outstanding ride of the season to date by clinching a narrow victory over series leader Jorge Casales – Gas Gas. 

Top Image: Toni Bou on his way to his fourth win of the season in Italy. 
Credit: Honda Racing