World Outdoor Trials Championship Hawkstone Park, Great
Britain
BOU EDGES EVER CLOSER TO HIS FIRST OUTDOOR WORLD
TITLE
 Toni
Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC took another step closer to
his first outdoor World title today with a win at the Grand
Prix of Great Britain over Adam Raga – Gas Gas who finished
second and Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC who
took third place.
Held at the famous Hawkstone Park Motocross circuit, the
British round consists of largely twisting sections set on
steep banks and with rain as recently as the night before
the event the sections were both muddy and very slippery,
however this was not to prove much of a challenge to either
Bou or Raga. Two scores of two on the fourth and fifth sections
of the first lap and a single dab in the twelfth section put
Bou in the lead over countryman Raga by a single point at
the end of the first lap.
The extremely slippery section five could have proved disastrous
for Bou after he dropped five on it, but with Raga also failing
to complete the section his single mark lead remained intact.
The young Spaniard then went on to complete the remaining
ten sections without being further penalised whilst Raga,
unable to maintain that level of performance dropped a further
six marks to unusually return a higher score for his second
lap than his first to finish the event on a score of seventeen,
six behind Bou’s score of eleven.
Bou now leads the championship by twenty marks over Raga
meaning victory at the next round in Andorra at the end of
September will assure him the 2007 World outdoor title.
In the Junior championship, Michael Brown – Beta, knew
that a finish in eighth place or better today would guarantee
him the 2007 Junior World title, but seemingly unaffected
by pressure or nerves, he turned in a convincing win, beating
second place Sam Haslam – Gas Gas with Nicolas Gontard
– Gas Gas taking the remaining podium position. With
two days of competition remaining, Brown has a forty point
lead in the championship standings, however as the Junior
championship riders can drop their two worst scores this means
Brown cannot be beaten and is 2007 World Junior Trial champion.
In the Youth catergory Alfred Gomez – Gas Gas found
himself in a similar position to Brown in that he could win
the Youth championship today. Again, seemingly unaffected
by the pressure, Gomez took his eighth victory of the season
over Ross Danby – Gas Gas with Alexis Cervantes –
Sherco finishing third.
Gomez has a thirty two point lead in the Youth championship,
but with the Youth riders operating the same system as the
Junior championship contenders where they can drop their two
worst scores, he cannot now be beaten.
The 2007 FIM SPEA Trial World Championship now takes its
traditional summer break. Competition will return with the
penultimate round of the season in Sant Julia De Loria, Andorra
on the second of September.
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