The Repsol Honda Team rider takes second place at Round 2 of the X-Trial season. Gabriel Marcelli just misses out on a spot in the final.
The second round of the X-Trial World Championship took place in Wiener Neustadt (Austria) on Saturday. The Repsol Honda Team fought for top results, and Toni Bou was in contention for the victory until the end, finally being the second best rider of the day. Gabriel Marcelli was fourth, tied on points with the rider third in the fight to get into the final round.
Bou led both the first and the second stages, qualifying for the final in first position and with an advantage of 7 points over the second placed rider. However, two errors on two of the zones in the final round handed victory to rival Jaime Busto.
Marcelli started well, with only one more penalty point incurred than his teammate. The second stage was more difficult for him, as he dropped to fourth overall. Despite having obtained the same score as the rider in third, his higher number of penalties in the second phase left him out of the final.
After Round 2, Bou is still the leader of the series with 38 points and Marcelli is third with 24 points. The X-Trial series returns to Spain on March 25th in Pamplona.
Toni Bou: “It was a tough night, but we take away the positive that I was able to get on the podium with second place and score points for the championship. We won the first and the second round; it’s too bad I had problems in the final round on the second and fourth sectors. We have picked up points and that is important for the championship; our objective at the next round in Pamplona will be to maintain the lead.”
Gabriel Marcelli: “This was a more or less positive weekend, since we did not arrive in the best condition. We achieved fourth place, tying with the rider who was third on the second stage. I would have liked to have reached the final, but we are happy with the work we have done, we have scored points for the championship and we are going to go for more in Pamplona.”
