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© Bob Mullins   

WTC

Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC returned to the top of the podium today in the second day of competition at the USA grand prix, the fourth scoring day of competition in the FIM 2008 SPEA Trial World Championship. Winner of day one in the USA grand prix, Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC finished in second position with Adam Raga – Gas Gas taking third. Despite the course being virtually unaltered from day one, heavy rain overnight and into this morning made the sections considerably more difficult. Sections which were previously relatively straightforward became very slippery and treacherous. This was reflected as early as the second section of the day where all the championship class riders with the exception of Fujinami and Bou elected to take five marks instead of attempting the section.

Clearly confident after yesterday, Fujinami was the rider to beat on the opening lap with his riding style delighting the assembled spectators. After the first ten sections he had a lead of six marks over Bou and ten over Raga, however two fives in sections thirteen and fourteen, both of which he cleaned in the second lap, narrowed his lead at the end of the first half of the competition to just a single mark over Bou. It was to be Bou who was to prevail though dropping just ten marks on the second lap to Fujinami’s sixteen. Bou still heads the championship standings with a seven point margin over Fujinami who has climbed above Raga after this weekend. Raga is just two points adrift of Fujinami with much still to play for.

In the Junior championship, it was to be back to back wins for Loris Gubian – Sherco. The young Frenchman repeated his victory of yesterday and has now closed the gap on championship leader, Alexz Wigg – Montesa to just four points. Wigg had to settle for second position today with Sam Halsam – Gas Gas finishing third. The Youth championship continues to be very interesting with Jack Challoner – Beta returning to the top of the podium to repeat his win in Bangor three weeks ago. Young Spaniard, Adrian Pastoriza – Gas Gas turned in his best performance of the season and his first podium place by taking second place. Yesterday’s winner and home rider, Patrick Smage – Sherco failed to find his winning form and had to settle for third place. Challoner now leads the series by seven points over Smage with Francesc Moret – Gas Gas still in third place despite finishing off the podium today. The 2008 FIM SPEA Trial World Championship now takes a break until late May, when it will return with the first of two days of competition at the Motegi in Japan.

Day 2 Results: (2 Day event) World 1: Bou 33 2: Fujinami 38 3: Raga 54 Junior 1: Gubian 56 2: Wigg 59 3: Haslam 67 Youth 125cc 1: Challoner 19 2: Pastoriza 24 3: Smage 26 2008 FIM Riders Championship Current Standings: World 1: Bou 74 2: Fujinami 67 3: Raga 65 Junior 1: Wigg 68 2: Gubian 64 3: Haslam 55 Youth 125cc 1: Challoner 74 2: Smage 67 3: Moret 55 2008 FIM Manufacturers Championship Current Standings: 1: Montesa 141 2: Gas Gas 105 3: Beta 84 4: Sherco 74

FUJINAMI WINS – TO MAKE IT THREE DIFFERENT WINNERS

Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC today threw the FIM 2008 SPEA Trial world championship wide open by taking victory in the first of two days of competition held in Sequatchie, USA. Reigning World outdoor and indoor champion and Fujinami’s team-mate, Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC finished second with Albert Cabestany - Sherco taking the remaining podium position.

The Trials Training Centre in Tennessee, which last played host to the championship in 2006 is once more the host for the two days of competition here in the USA with the majority of sections split between two riverbeds, which provided a challenging combination of large rock steps and steep twisting hill climbs with no man-made sections. This was to prove an event which Fujinami dominated from the start, dropping just one single dab for the entire first lap and that was on the seemingly-impossible fourth section, which no rider was to clean all day. The Japanese former World champion finished with a three mark margin ahead of Bou at the end of the first half of competition with Cabestany some way back on fourteen marks. Boosted by his first lap performance, Fujinami went on to drop just eight marks on the second lap to assure himself of victory by a clear margin over Bou.

Adam Raga – Gas Gas launched one of his trademark recoveries on the second lap to equal Fujinami’s score of eight for the lap, but a poor first lap left him an impossible mountain to climb and he had to settle for fourth place. Bou still leads the championship by four points over both Fujinami and Raga, but with tomorrow’s competition being over the same course anything could happen. In the Junior class, French rider Loris Gubian – Sherco took his first win of the season with a ten mark victory over Ross Danby – Gas Gas. Matteo Grattarola – Sherco completed the Junior podium. Alexz Wigg – Montesa still leads the Junior championship, but saw his lead cut to seven points over Gubian after finishing in a poor fifth position today. Patrick Smage – Sherco delighted his home crowd in the Youth category with the narrowest of wins over Jack Challoner – Beta. The pair ended the day of competition tied on just six marks apiece forcing a most cleans tie-break in which Smage prevailed with twenty five cleans to Challoner’s twenty four. Alexandre Ferrer – Sherco recorded his best score of the championship to date by finishing third. Challoner maintains his lead in the championship standings over Smage, but today’s result saw this cut to just two points.

Day 1 Results: (2 Day event) World 1: Fujinami 9 2: Bou 16 3: Cabestany 28 Junior 1: Gubian 35 2: Danby 45 3: Grattarola 46 Youth 125cc 1: Smage 6 2: Challoner 6 3: Ferrer 17 2008 FIM Riders Championship Current Standings: World 1: Bou 54 2: Raga 50 3: Fujinami 50 Junior 1: Wigg 51 2: Gubian 44 3: Gomez 42 Youth 125cc 1: Challoner 54 2: Smage 52 3: Moret 45 2008 FIM Manufacturers Championship Current Standings: 1: Montesa 104 2: Gas Gas 79 3: Beta 63 4: Sherco 58

RAGA LEVELS CHAMPIONSHIP IN BANGOR

Adam Raga – Gas Gas took victory today at the second round of the FIM 2008 SPEA Trial World Championship held at the small coastal town of Bangor in Northern Ireland. Winner of last weekend’s opening round in Luxembourg and reigning World champion, Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC had to settle for second place with Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC taking the remaining podium position. Last playing host to the championship in 2004, Bangor offers a course that is mostly comprised of sections set on rocks along the sea front. These already difficult sections were made even more so by gale force winds, snow and high waves, this increased as the day progressed and as the tide rose. It was Raga who looked in the stronger position after an uncharacteristic five by Bou on the third section gave him the early lead. However, it was not to last as Bou delighted the amassed crowd by getting through the exceptionally tough fourth section for a single dab where all of his main rivals failed. It was to be the eighth section that was to prove decisive however, with Raga riding it clean and Bou failing to ascend what looked like a relatively straightforward hill climb. With Raga commanding a four mark lead at the halfway stage of the competition, it was Bou’s turn to fight back. Despite dropping the lowest score of the competition on his second lap – a mere nine marks, it was insufficient to overtake a confident Raga who finished the event with a seven mark lead over Bou and a fifteen mark advantage over Fujinami. This result means the competition is wide open with Raga and Bou tied on thirty seven points apiece in the general standings. Fujinami is a short distance behind on thirty points.

In the Junior championship Alexz Wigg – Montesa made it two wins from two starts to maintain his clean sheet in the competition to date. Sam Haslam – Gas Gas was second with Alfredo Gomez – Montesa finishing third. Wigg has an eight point lead in the championship standings over Gomez whilst Haslam, improving on his sixth place at the previous round in Luxembourg has climbed to third place, five points behind Gomez.

Even at this early stage the Youth championship is shaping up to be an interesting battle with several evenly matched riders competing for the 2008 title. Jack Challoner – Beta improved on his second place of last week to take top podium position. Patrick Smage – Sherco also improved on his previous result to take second place, however both of these gains were at the loss of last weekend’s winner, Francesc Moret – Gas Gas who failed to repeat his winning form and finished in third position. Challoner now has a narrow two point lead in the championship over Moret with Smage in third place a further three points behind.

Results: World 1: Raga 21 2: Bou 23 3: Fujinami 36 Junior 1: Wigg 27 2: Haslam 45 3: Gomez 56 Youth 125cc 1: Challoner 31 2: Smage 32 3: Moret 36 2008 FIM Riders Championship Current Standings: World 1: Raga 37 2: Bou 37 3: Fujinami 30 Junior 1: Wigg 40 2: Gomez 32 3: Haslam 27 Youth 125cc 1: Challoner 37 2: Moret 35 3: Smage 32 2008 FIM Manufacturers Championship Current Standings: 1: Montesa 67 2: Gas Gas 55 3: Beta 44 4: Sherco 36

BOU DRAWS FIRST BLOOD IN LUXEMBOURG

Reigning World indoor and outdoor champion Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC started the new outdoor series as he finished the 2007 season with a win at the opening round of the FIM 2008 SPEA Trial World Championship. His Spanish rival and runner-up in the 2007 series, Adam Raga – Gas Gas was second with Japanese rider Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC in third place.

The small town of Ettelbruck to the north of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg played host to the opening round of the 2008 championship with a challenging course, which was made considerably harder by recent rain and this was reflected by the high scores. Reigning champion Bou got off to a nervous start with two uncharacteristic fives in the opening lap. This, along with a single mark for failing to complete the lap in the allocated time meant there was a three way tie at the top of the scoreboard at the end of the first half of the competition. This was between Bou, Fujinami and a rejuvenated Dougie Lampkin – Beta, all of whom were on twenty-five marks apiece. Raga was a further five marks behind at this stage on a score of thirty. On the second lap, Raga attempted one of his trademark comebacks, dropping just fourteen marks for his second tour of the fifteen slippery sections. However despite his best efforts it wasn’t to be quite enough with Bou dropping eighteen marks on the same lap. This proved sufficient to secure him the win over Raga by a single dab. As a result, Bou tops the initial 2008 championship table with a three point lead over Raga and five points over Fujinami.

In the Junior championship, last year’s runner-up, Alexz Wigg – Montesa won by a clear ten mark margin over second place Alfredo Gomez – Montesa with Matteo Grattarola – Sherco taking the remaining podium position. Although nervous about his first World championship event since switching to the four-stroke Montesa, four cleans in the opening four sections clearly settled any fears Wigg had. The Youth championship was much closer with Francesc Moret – Gas Gas taking his first World championship win by a single mark over Jack Challoner – Beta. Young Amercian rider, Patrick Smage – Sherco had to settle for third position after collecting three time penalties on the second lap, which put him out of contention for the top podium place. The 2008 SPEA Trial World Championship moves swiftly on with round two being held in the seaside town of Bangor, Northern Ireland on the 6th of April, which happens to be next weekend. This event will also incorporate the opening round of the UEM Trial European Championship on Saturday, ahead of Sunday’s main competition.

Results: World 1: Bou 43 2: Raga 44 3: Fujinami 53 Junior 1: Wigg 29 2: Gomez 39 3: Grattarola 40 Youth 125cc 1: Moret 52 2: Challoner 53 3: Smage 55 2008 FIM Riders Championship Current Standings: World 1: Bou 20 2: Raga 17 3: Fujinami 15 Junior 1: Wigg 20 2: Gomez 17 3: Grattarola 15 Youth 125cc 1: Moret 20 2: Challoner 17 3: Smage 13 2007 FIM Manufacturers Championship Current Standings: 1: Montesa 35 2: Gas Gas 26 3: Beta 23 4: Sherco 17