BOU WINS AND FUJINAMI IS THIRD IN ITALY

2013-07-07 11:18
The Italian Grand Prix proved to be a good
hunting ground for the Repsol Montesa HRC team as
Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami placed first and
third the day after the pairing had personally
unveiled the two new variants of the production
version of the Cota 4RT in front of the World’s
press and eagerly awaiting fans. Aboard his own
new factory four stroke machine Bou ran out an
easy winner in hot conditions as he finished
twenty-four marks clear of his main championship
rival, Adam Raga – Gas Gas. Bou now heads Raga by
five points in the series standings with Fujinami
still in third spot thanks to his latest rostrum placing.

Nestling in the Italian hills just under one
hundred kilometres north of Milan, the small town
of Barzio had hosted a FIM Trial World
Championship event once before, that being back
in 2009. Four years later the course followed a
similar, but shorter route with the sections
being a mix of those in the river close to the
paddock and the others that were scattered around
and about on the local steep and testing rocky
outcrops. Thankfully the predicted rain never
arrived during the competition and only dampened
the podium celebrations, thus the conditions away
from the watery zones were dry and dusty throughout the day.

Bou destroyed his rivals with an incredible
opening lap performance, which only included one
five over a course that proved to be one of the
most difficult of the season to date. His first
lap score of eight marks put him ten clear of
Raga and allowed him to ride with confidence for
the rest of the day. The sight of his new factory
Cota 4RT powering its way to the top of one of
the many rocky outcrops with his feet firmly
welded to the footrests became a familiar sight as the competition wore on.

With Toni in a class of his own, Raga was left to
fight it out with Fujinami for second place. Just
two marks separated this pairing as they headed
out to do battle over the twelve rocky zones for
a third and final time. A crash in the sixth
hazard would damage Takahisa’s progress and his
bike, as running repairs were required to keep
him in the hunt. However, the time lost to carry
out the needed work would eventually impact on
his closing performance and saw Fujinami having
to settle for third spot on the day, after coming
so close to snatching an historic 1-2 for the
team to mark the new model launch.


In the end having two riders on the podium proved
to be the perfect celebration on this special
occasion and before the series moves on to the
Czech Republic for round six next weekend.


HONDA RIDER COMMENTS:


Toni Bou (Repsol Montesa)
Trial result: 1st Championship position: 1st
“It has been a great competition today, the
sections have been at the correct level for a
World Championship 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). ”

Takahisa Fujinami (Repsol Montesa)
Trial result: 3rd Championship position: 3rd
”I was quite happy with the way that I was riding
on the first and second laps and was happy to be
in a position to be fighting with Adam (Raga) for
second place as we started the final lap. I was
feeling very confident, but then I made a big
crash in section six and damaged the cover on the
left hand side of the engine. We lost nearly
twenty-minutes to make the repair so then I had
to rush the last sections and I made too many
errors especially in the very last section where
I made a terrible five because I was under too
much pressure. Anyway to be back on the podium is
good and to have two new bikes in the top three
is a great result for Respol Montesa HRC so I
want to thank all the team for their work.”


RESULTS:

TRIAL

SUNDAY

POS / RIDER / NAT / MOTORCYCLE / MARKS LOST

1/ Toni BOU / SPA / MONTESA / 43
2/ Adam RAGA / SPA / GAS GAS / 67
3/ Takahisa FUJINAMI / JPN / MONTESA / 71
4/ Jeroni FAJARDO / SPA / BETA / 73
5/ Albert CABESTANY / SPA / SHERCO / 86
6/ James DABILL / GBR / BETA / 90
7/ Matteo GRATTAROLA / ITA / GAS GAS / 102
8. Michael BROWN / GBR / GAS GAS / 103
9 / Eddie KARLSSON /SWE / JTG / 108
10/ Loris GUBIAN / FRA / GAS GAS / 111
11/ Daniel OLIVERAS / SPA / OSSA / 116
12/ Benoit DAGNICOURT / FRA / BETA / 117
13/ Jack CHALLONER / GBR / BETA / 120
14/ Alexandre FERRER / FRA / SHERCO / 121
15/ Pere BORELLAS / SPA / GAS GAS / 140


CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS TO DATE:
1 BOU 146, 2 RAGA 141, 3 FUJINAMI 109, 4
CABESTANY 105, 5 FAJARDO 102, 6 DABILL 79, 7
GRATTAROLA 57, 8 GUBIAN 46, 9 CHALLONER 43, 10
FERRER 39, 11 OLIVERAS 34, 12 BROWN 32, 13
DAGNICOURT 21, 14 KARLSSON 16, 15 BORRELLAS 16.


NEXT EVENT: ROUND 06 SUNDAY JULY 14 KRAMOLIN, CZECH REPUBLIC

Source: Honda Pro Image

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