Repsol Honda Team open the 2017 X-Trial World Championship in Barcelona2017-02-03 07:29The 2017 FIM X-Trial World Championship season officially gets underway this weekend in Barcelona. Repsol Honda Team will line up Toni Bou, Takahisa Fujinami and Jaime Busto for the Trial Indoor opener in the Catalan capital on Sunday 5th February for the 40th edition of the event. The X-Trial season kicks off with the Barcelona Indoor Trial which over the years has become something of a ‘classic’ in the trial world. Toni Bou arrives eager to defend his reign of ten world titles. Repsol Honda Team’s incumbent X-Trial champion will start as favourite in a four-trial championship where riders will have to battle hard from the get-go and errors could prove costly. Toni will be looking to dominate from the start after having let last season’s opening date in the U.K. slip through his hands. Earlier in 2017, Bou again took part in the indoor event in Sheffield, U.K. clinching victory on the day, although points do not officially count towards the World Championship. Toni Bou won’t be alone in Barcelona. The ten-time victor – with the last eight wins on the trot – will appear alongside Repsol Honda Team stalwart Takahisa Fujinami and the promising Jaime Busto. The Japanese rider – who ranked third in the world in the 2016 outdoor discipline and fifth indoors – has yet to shine in the indoor discipline as he has done in the open air. ‘Fujigas’, as one of the most popular riders on the circuit, will have the crowd firmly behind him as always. Young Basque rider Jaime Busto returns to the Palau Sant Jordi intent on honing his indoor technique. The pressure to produce higher-level results has led to below-par performances on his two previous participations in Barcelona Indoor. This year the Spanish hopeful is on a mission to break the bad spell. Fans from around the globe will converge on the Barcelona event for a feast of thrilling competition and technique. In time-honoured fashion, the trial begins at 17:00 hrs on Sunday with eight sections to test the eight rider’s skill to the limit. CHECK THE VIDEO PREVIEW HERE 2017 X-TRIAL CALENDAR DATE STADIUM COUNTRY February 5 Barcelona Spain March 11 Wiener Neustadt Austria March 25 Marseille France March 31 Nice France FACTS AND FIGURES Barcelona Trial Indoor is the blue riband race in the discipline. The event has been disputed forty years consecutively but it’s, for very first time, the opening round of the World Championship. The first Barcelona Trial Indoor took place on a Thursday in the old Palacio de Deportes in Barcelona with free access to those in possession of the SoloMoto magazine which organized the event. Jaume Subirà, on a Montesa Cota 348, was the winner of the first trial which has since had 11 different winners. The first four-stroke bike to triumph in Barcelona was the Honda RTL of Belgian Eddy Lejeune, also the first rider to clinch a hat-trick of victories. Toni Bou is the rider with the most victories in Palau Sant Jordi: 10, with a recent consecutive run of eight wins out of the last eight disputed. Takahisa Fujinami has finished on the podium four times in Barcelona. Jaime Busto has taken part in the two most recent events as the organisation’s wildcard entry. Toni Bou 1 We have prepared the season with great care: working hard at physical fitness and preparing the bike. You have to keep motivated and be at 100% to take the title. The challenge is really complicated, above all after a great all-round year like the last one, but we want to achieve the victory again. It’s a four-trial championship where you won’t be able to make any mistakes. It will be tough, but we have worked hard in the preseason and we are at 100% to be able to pull it off. The trial in Barcelona will be a great way to start the championship. In addition, it will be the fortieth anniversary and there will be more sections. Let’s see what we find, as there are always surprises; but it is a worthy race to start the championship with. After, we are off to Vienna which will be the most difficult and the one that I like the most: it will be really important to get that one right. The Marseille trial is a fairly easy date, but recently they have included some more technical sections. The Pavilion in Nice is smaller and it will be complicated if the championship is decided there. Toni Bou Toni Bou Statistics Date of Birth 17th October 1986 Nationality Spanish Place of Birth Piera, Barcelona, Spain Residence La Massana, Andorra Weight 75kg Height 175cm More Statistics Takahisa Fujinami 5 I’m the most veteran in the paddock but I’ve still got the motivation and the results are good. How far can I go? Everything depends on the results…. I don’t set the limit. X-Trial is important, but I have to recognise that my preseason training for indoor hasn’t been so intense and perhaps I have focused more on outdoor. That way I arrive at the championship with no pressure. After finishing third outdoor and having finished one of the indoor events in fourth place, my aim for this year is to be on the podium in some of the season’s events. Takahisa Fujinami Takahisa Fujinami Statistics Date of Birth 13th January 1980 Nationality Japanese Place of Birth Mie Prefecture, Japan Residence Torroella de Montgrí, Girona, Spain Weight 68kg Height 171cm Hobbies Music and Tennis Source: Honda Racing Corporation Click here to visit our forums to discuss this story |
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