On The Pegs January 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 1 | Page 53

On The Pegs
VOL. 5 ISSUE 1 - JANUARY 2020
53
25 th SHEFFIELD INDOOR TRIAL
Spain’s Toni Bou - Repsol Honda confirmed himself as the undisputed King of
Sheffield by winning the 25th anniversary edition of the Sheffield Indoor Trial
held at the FlyDSA arena. After having had to settle for second spot in the earlier
part of the competition, Bou made amends for the mistakes he suffered in the
qualifying heat to run out a comfortable victor in the final.
This marked Bou’s fourteenth win in total at the Steel City, and his fourth on the
bounce having last been beaten at the famous Yorkshire venue by Adam Raga
- TRRS back in 2016. It was Raga again, himself already a two-time winner of this
event, who was Bou’s closest challenger on the night, finishing as the eventual
runner up after having topped the qualifying heat.
Vertigo’s Jaime Busto rounded out the podium in third place, after having only
just made it into the four-rider final by beating local hero James Dabill - Beta in
a nail-biting tie-decider that brought a premature end to the night for one of
the home crowd’s favourites. Dabill finished in fifth spot, just one mark ahead of
Jeroni Fajardo - Sherco in sixth place, who failed to show his best form in his new
colors.
While the typically noisy British fans were obviously disappointed by the early
exit of Dabill, Jack Price - Gas Gas and Jack Peace - Sherco, the latter having been
one of the two riders to successfully progress from the Young Guns Shoot-Out,
they still had plenty to cheer about as nineteen year-old Toby Martyn - TRRS pro-
duced one of the best performances of his young career on this big stage.
Despite their best efforts, Dan Peace - Sherco and Pau Martinez - Vertigo were
out shone by Martyn and Jack Peace in the evening’s opening shoot-out. Having
won this initial four-way head to head race format encounter Toby then followed
this up with a hugely impressive ride in the qualifying heat to secure third spot
and a place in the final alongside Raga, Bou, and Busto - the latter who he had
just demoted into fourth position.
As has so often been the case in more recent years, Bou proved too strong for
his challengers as the six sections were ridden in the reverse direction in the final,
with him taking win number fourteen by a seven-mark margin. Raga was a wor-
thy runner up on the night, and Martyn can count himself slightly unfortunate
not to have secured a podium place, as Busto just edged the British teenager off
the box in what was a fitting finale to the 25th anniversary of this great event. n