Second for Bou on first day in Andorra

On Jul 4, 2015

Trial 2015 Round T6 , Trial 1

Second place for Bou on the first day of the GP Trial of Andorra

Two faults on the final lap of an excessively easy trial undid Toni Bou’s previous good work on the first day of the Andorra Trial GP. The Repsol Honda Team rider had to settle for runner-up spot. Jaime Busto finished sixth and Takahisa Fujinami eighth.

After a look over the sections yesterday, Toni Bou correctly speculated that today’s race would be decided by a minimal margin due to simplicity of sections. He hit the nail on the head. After holding the lead – in a very tense trial thanks to the closeness on the scoreboard – a final disastrous round on the Montesa Cota 4RT, with two consecutive five-point faults, ruled out the chance of victory for Bou. Toni had finished the first lap with two marks and six on the second (including a fault in section eight) which left the Spaniard at the head of the table. The eleven marks of the final lap relegated the champion to second position some four points behind Adam Raga, the day’s eventual winner.

Toni Bou does, however, maintain a great margin at the top of the general rankings, 31 points ahead of second-place Raga.

Second for of the Repsol Honda Team squad today was rookie Jaime Busto, taking sixth place after a somewhat irregular trial which saw him score well on the second lap, but pick up too many marks on an error-filled final lap.

Takahisa Fujinami was ill-at-ease in the high-altitude sections and struggled to find the form in certain zones that he had demonstrated in previous outings. At one point in the battle for fifth place, the Japanese rider ended up in eighth overall after a disaster start of the last lap.

Tomorrow fans can look forward to the second and final day in Andorra, the sixth GP of the season, where riders will once more complete three laps of the twelve kilometre circuit in Sant Julià de Lòria. The organization has already announced changes to some of the twelve sections to make the route more demanding.

Toni Bou ¹

RACE: 2ND CHAMPIONSHIP: 1ST

Obviously I made more than the permitted amount of mistakes. In the first lap everything went well. But in the second and third, I made a couple of errors. All the riders are a bit annoyed because the judges didn’t apply the rules well either. The sections were too easy, and we don’t like that. Second place isn’t negative at all, because these are some important points for the championship.

Jaime Busto ¹⁵

RACE: 6TH CHAMPIONSHIP: 6TH

A sixth place wasn’t a bad result, but I wanted to do better. I scored a few faults in what were easy sections and I improved a bit in some of the more difficult ones. I think that maybe the altitude and the heat had an effect and I’m not happy with the way I took some of the sections. Tomorrow I will try and improve on things and consequently get a better result.

Takahisa Fujinami ⁵

RACE: 8TH CHAMPIONSHIP: 5TH

This Andorra Trial at altitude and high temperature was pretty difficult for all of us. The sections were changed around on every lap and the route was tricky. It’s my worst result this season and after the great spell that we’ve had, I didn’t expect to finish so far back. Tomorrow I hope to recuperate, to make it through the hazards well, so as not to pick up too many marks. The knee, however, has been perfect.

Miquel Cirera

Team Manager

The trials make themselves complicated when they are too simple and easy. Errors cost dearly because it’s not possible to pull back from them. Today Toni made two faults where he shouldn’t have and he couldn’t make it up after. Adam continues to pressure, pushed hard and won it today. Tomorrow we will have to fight harder and better than this one.
Things didn’t work out well for Fujinami. We congratulated him for his effort in France, but we can’t do the same today. The races at altitude are never easy, but they are the same for everyone. There can be no excuses. As far as Busto is concerned, he’s at this level and is learning. He’s not happy because he didn’t do so well, and that’s a good thing. More effort tomorrow. He’s still in the leaning phase, so sixth isn’t bad.
Tomorrow we have to win. The team is in this championship to win races. They’ll have to come out more motivated and more forceful. Everyone has got to do better.

Results Day 1 GP Trial Andorra

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	L1	L2	L3	T3	Points	Team	Time/Gap
1	RAGA Adam	2	SPA	6	4	3	1	20	Gas Gas	14
2	BOU Toni	1	SPA	2	6	11	1	17	Repsol Honda Team	20
3	FAJARDO Jeroni	4	SPA	8	11	8	2	15	Beta Factory Racing	29
4	CABESTANY Albert	3	SPA	1	21	10	2	13	Sherco Factory Team	34
5	CASALES Jorge	7	SPA	17	16	25		11	Beta Factory Racing	58
6	BUSTO Jaime	15	SPA	21	15	26		10	Repsol Honda Team	62
7	FERRER Alexandre	8	FRA	24	8	22	9	9	Sherco Factory Team	63
8	FUJINAMI Takahisa	5	JPN	18	21	26		8	Repsol Honda Team	65
9	MORET Francesc	18	SPA	32	26	27	2	7	Vertigo	87
10	TARRES Pol	9	SPA	32	30	31		6	Sherco Factory Team	93
11	KADLEC Franz	16	GER	34	21	28	12	5	Beta Factory Racing	97
12	DABILL James	6	GBR	31	31	40	8	4	Vertigo	110
13	KARLSSON Eddie	14	SWE	36	40	45	4	3	Montesa Team Karlsson	125
14	SHEPPARD Jack	13	GBR	46	34	36	13	2	Jgas	132
15	PEDERSEN Hakon	12	NOR	43	52	45	11	1	Ossa Pedersen	151

Rider Standings

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Points	Team
1	BOU Toni	1	SPA	214	Repsol Honda Team
2	RAGA Adam	2	SPA	183	Gas Gas
3	FAJARDO Jeroni	4	SPA	155	Beta Factory Racing
4	CABESTANY Albert	3	SPA	138	Sherco Factory Team
5	FUJINAMI Takahisa	5	JPN	134	Repsol Honda Team
6	BUSTO Jaime	15	SPA	111	Repsol Honda Team
7	DABILL James	6	GBR	84	Vertigo
8	FERRER Alexandre	8	FRA	83	Sherco Factory Team
9	KADLEC Franz	16	GER	57	Beta Factory Racing
10	KARLSSON Eddie	14	SWE	55	Montesa Team Karlsson
11	CASALES Jorge	7	SPA	35	Beta Factory Racing
12	SHEPPARD Jack	13	GBR	34	Jgas
13	TARRES Pol	9	SPA	32	Sherco Factory Team
14	PEDERSEN Hakon	12	NOR	22	Ossa Pedersen
15	OGAWA Tomoyuki	18	JPN	16	Honda Team Mitani
16	KUROYAMA Kenichi	20	JPN	14	Yamaha
17	SORENSEN Ole Kristian	19	NOR	14	Sherco
18	MORET Francesc	18	SPA	13	Vertigo
19	NOZAKI Fumitaka	19	JPN	8	Yamaha
20	OGAWA Tsuyoshi	21	JPN	7	Beta
21	BROWN Michael	11	GBR	5	Gas Gas
22	NOMOTO Yoshiaki	22	JPN	2	Beta
23	SATO Yuki	25	JPN	1	Honda