Bou has won his eighth consecutive Indoor Trial world title after winning all five races of the 2014 season. Bou arrived in Oviedo, the site of the last race after the cancellation of Madrid, with the title mathematically in his possession.
A packed Palacio de Deportes de Oviedo was ready to welcome the best riders in the Trial world, something that had not happened since 1996, so the atmosphere throughout the night was extraordinary.
CLASSIFICATION
In this first phase the pairings were: Fujinami VS Dabill, Fajardo VS Raga, Casales VS Cabestany and Gubian VS Bou. The riders eliminated in this first pass through the zones were Fujinami , who committed the maximum penalty in all of them, and Jorge Casales, who led the unfortunate Japanese by two points.
SEMIFINALS
The fight between Bou, Cabestany and Raga in this second round was very intense. Bou made the difference by being the only one to get through the first zone, but he lost his lead in zone 3, where he did commit the maximum penalty and his closest rivals overcame it without problems.
The result was a very tight score: Bou 6 points, Cabestany 6 points (second in the time tiebreak) and Raga with 7 points. Behind, an extraordinary Dabill snuck back into the final, snatching this position from his leader, Jeroni Fajardo.
FINAL
In the last round this equality was undone in favour of Toni Bou, who gave no respite and completed the four sections without penalty. The fight was between Raga and Cabestany, who were tied at ten points, with a final tiebreaker in favor of the latter, thus consolidating his world runner-up in the current campaign. Raga would complete the podium and also finish in third position in the championship. Fourth position for Dabill with twenty points.
DECLARATIONS
Championship Toni Bou: “Winning creates addiction, and the more you do it, the more you like it, the more you enjoy it, and the more you want even more. And I am lucky enough to live and enjoy these special moments. That’s four years in a row winning all the rounds of this championship, with 26 consecutive victories. There is no doubt that we have worked hard and well and the best reward is this, to be able to enjoy all these moments to the fullest. From now on, we are going to approach the outdoor trial season with the same desire to win more titles”.
Takahisa Fujinami: “Too bad, I don’t have any further explanations. I had to start first, I started badly and it was precisely in the last indoor of the championship where I got the worst result. I’m going to try to forget about it and concentrate on the outdoor season, which I’m convinced will be much better for me.”
Adam Raga: Today I started badly in qualifying, with two important mistakes, but still, I think I was going quite well on the bike. For the next phases of the race I gained more confidence. I did well in the semi-final and also in the final. It was a shame, because I was very close to getting an excellent result. I saw that it was difficult for me to finish second in the championship and only by winning did I have a chance. I tried it until the end, but it wasn’t possible. Still, I have to be happy with how it went, in terms of technique and form, even better than last year, although finishing third was not my goal. I’ve carried the bad result in Sheffield all season and it’s been difficult to get it back.
Jorge Casales: I think I had a pretty good race in Oviedo, despite the result. I was going well, with a fine ride. It’s a shame that we always came up short in the semi-final, and yesterday I drew with Gubian, and he went through by zeros. But I’m happy with how I did the rocky section, one of the most difficult of the race. This has been my first year in the X-Trial, it has been a great experience and hopefully I can repeat next year; It will be difficult because I’m Spanish and there are quotas, but I hope to have a good outdoor season.
CLASSIFICATIONS
Trial Indoor Oviedo
1. Toni Bou, 0 points
2. By
bert Cabestany, 10 points
3. Adam Raga (Gas Gas), 10 points
4. James Dabill, 20 points
5. Loris Gubian, 15 points* -Semifinal-
6. Jeroni Fajardo, 16 points* -Semifinal-
7. Jorge Casales (Gas Gas), 23 points
Championship Final
1. Toni Bou, 100 points
2. Albert Cabestany, 69 points
3. Adam Raga (Gas Gas), 60 points
4. James Dabill, 41 points
5. Jeroni Fajardo, 35 points
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