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