On The Pegs June 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 6 | Page 84

On The Pegs
It was a case of business as usual for de-
fending champion Toni Bou at the TrialGP
in Spain, round one of the 2018 FIM Trial
World Championship.
Competing on home ground in the
foothills of the Pyrenees at the spectacular
Camprodon venue, the thirty-one-year-
old Repsol Honda rider - who is bidding
for an unprecedented twelfth straight
World crown this year - overcame Sat-
urday’s small, but very costly mistake in
qualification that forced him to start to-
day’s event as fifth man away.
With the mostly natural sections pro-
viding a tough season-opening test,
torrential rain at the end of the first lap
continued all afternoon turning it into a
high-scoring event as the steep banks,
imposing rocks and technical streams be-
came increasingly slippery and even Bou’s
winning total of forty-three was punctu-
ated with four maximums on the second
lap. The rapidly deteriorating conditions
also inevitably slowed progress with all
but one of the fifteen-strong field incur-
ring time penalties.
“Yesterday didn’t go well, but on the first
lap today I was feeling good and riding at
my best,” says Bou, who fractured three
vertebrae at an indoor event in France in
February. “After my injury I’m very happy
to start the championship with a win.”
Bou had dominated the first lap on just
thirteen marks, twelve ahead of second-
placed Jaime Busto - Gas Gas, but several
JAIME BUSTO