On The Pegs July 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 7 | Page 144
On The Pegs
proach to this imposing exit was where
the Trial was won and lost.
With Bou looking to be back in full con-
trol up to this point after his surprise slip
to fourth on the opening day, the eleven-
time champion took a maximum to bring
Busto back into contention.
It was actually Adam Raga - TRRS who
led after the opening lap. The two-time
World Champion’s inch-perfect clean on
section thirteen put him on a score of just
eight at the halfway point compared to
Bou’s eleven and Busto’s twelve, but his
hopes of victory began to unravel at the
start of the second lap when he too took a
five at section two.
Section fourteen had been almost uni-
versally cleaned on the opening lap while
section fifteen had taken maximums from
the entire field so when the Spanish trio
arrived at section thirteen for their second
attempts it was crunch time!
With Busto on a total of thirteen, Bou
and Raga on fourteen and Fajardo still in
with an outside chance on eighteen, the
tension - increased by thirty-degree heat -
was palpable.
Fajardo had looked out of contention
following his opening lap of eighteen. The
Spaniard had dragged himself back into
the hunt with a faultless final lap up to this
point, but his chances of a second victory
were finally derailed when he scored a
maximum and his compatriot Raga suf-
fered the same fate.
TONI BOU