Toni Bou achieved yesterday a new victory in the Marseille X-Trial, second round of the World Championship, in which Fujinami finished fourth. With that result, the Repsol rider will reach the halfway point of the competition, next February 6th in Barcelona, with a 13-points advantage in the overall classification.
The Marseille Sports Arena was the setting of the second round of the X-Trial World Championship (new name of the Indoor Trial World Championship) in which Toni Bou got an impressive success. The Repsol rider set the best score in each phase of the event, which was very demanding. The reigning champion finished the qualifying with only two points, four less than his closest rival. He also ended the semi-final with the same margin.
In the final part (three parallel races and three individual areas), Bou kept his lead and completed his exhibition in style in the last obstacle, where he already had secured the triumph. His team mate at the Repsol Montesa Honda Team, Takahisa Fujinami, ended a positive first part by qualifying for the final, but a crash in the third parallel race -against Toni Bou- forced him to retire due to an injury in the cervical area.
Bou will defend his lead in the X-Trial Championship next February 6th at the Barcelona Trial Indoor, that will take place at the Palau Sant Jordi and will bring to an end the first half of this championship.
Toni Bou
“I am very happy with this victory. It was important to win again, as the Championship is so short and offers little possibilities to recover from adverse results. I will also arrive to Barcelona as the leader and that is an extra bonus. It was a very difficult event and very hard physically. Moreover, when I saw that Fujinami was being treated on track after his crash, I was worried about him. Naturally, the incident made me lose concentration”.
Marseille X-Trial Results
1 Toni Bou 16 points
2 Adam Raga 29 points
3 Albert Cabestany 31 points
4 Takahisa Fujinami 40 points
5 Jeroni Fajardo 20 points
World Championship Classification
1 Toni Bou 40 points
2 Adam Raga 27 points
Albert Cabestany 27 points
4 Takahisa Fujinami 15 points
Jeroni Fajardo 15 points
