Toni's Sheffield steal
By TMX Archives on 14th Jan 11
TONI BOU proved, if proof was needed, just why he is the undisputed number one trials rider in the world by annihilating the opposition in the 2011 Sheffield Indoor Trial, staged in the Sheffield Arena on Saturday evening in front of an appreciative 6000 fans.
The reigning World Champ defeated fellow Barcelona rider Adam Raga and Barcelona-based Takahisa Fujinami in the final, leaving the hard-riding Brit-pack off the podium.
The British order ended as James Dabill, Michael Brown and Jack Challoner with Challoner proving to be the surprise of the night. The Yorkshire youngster, he turned 20 on New Year's Day, was only riding in his second ever Indoor on his TTT Beta but really looked the part right from the off - and was actually leading Qualifying after everyone had completed two sections. Jack faded to sixth behind Dabill and Brown in the end, but not before proving that he really can deliver at this level.
It was a disappointing night for Sheffield favourite Dougie Lampkin though. In his first ride on Gas Gas Doug, the only rider to have ridden Sheffield every year since its inception in 1996, failed to qualify after a couple of punctures didn't help his chances in what proved to be a really tough qualifying round. With Ossa having pulled Jeroni Fajardo out of the event it was down to a six-man field and Alexz Wigg, in his first ride for Sherco had a torrid time of it and joined Doug as the second non-qualifier.
Following an incident-packed qualifying session the evening eventually settled down and the final was a totally gripping affair with some exciting riding by all the qualifiers - and a stunning display by eventual winner Bou!
Following the usual rousing Sheffield introduction from commentators Wayne Kershaw and Martin Crosswaite, with the evening's competitors making their arrival along the mezanine level before dropping down through the spectator aisles onto the arena floor, it was straight into the Qualifying action with Jack Challoner the first rider into action and although the Beta rider fived the long, difficult, yellow skips he looked composed and confident with no sign of nerves as you would expect.
The Qualifying format is Sheffield's own and each rider tackles a different section first, to make it as fair and equal as possible as everyone gets the chance to see another rider on all but the section that they pioneer.
It is a much more fair system than one rider having to tackle the entire course first. So it was Alexz Wigg in action next, all in blue for his Sherco debut, and he got to tackle the PJ1 oil bottles but this too resulted in a five.
Then it was Michael Brown's turn and he too was a debut man, with a striking all-red outfit to match his immaculately prepped Gas Gas. It was an unfortunate start for Browny though with a big crash off the boxes.
And things didn't improve when Dougie Lampkin received a huge cheer for his Gas Gas debut (with all-white riding gear) but took a massive crash off the unique ‘roller-coaster' section that could have ended with worse consequences. Doug took a big hit - and was definitely feeling it the next day, but lived to ride again on the night.
And the maximums continued when James Dabill, the final man out on new machinery with retro riding kit for his debut factory Beta ride, but failed on the long, technical tree-based hazard.
The sections were proving to ride much more difficult than they looked and tougher than Martin Lampkin has envisaged. "It isn't the start that I was looking for..” mused Martin as he watched Doug's crash-landing.
Then it got worse as Fujinami had a spectacular dismount, throwing away the factory Montesa on the big skip-climb and although Fuji jumped back out of the way, the errant bike knocked his minder, Josep, off the skips and onto the floor, with bike landing on man and Josep was led away with a broken wrist.
SHEFFIELD INTERNATIONAL INDOOR TRIAL, Sheffield Arena, Sheffield (Avondale Management)
FINAL RESULT
Toni Bou (E - Reposl Montesa) 2
Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 15
Takahisa Fujinami (E - Reposl Montesa) 21
James Dabill (GB - Beta) 29
Michael Brown (GB - Gas Gas) 30
Jack Challoner (GB - Beta) 37
QUALIFICATION ROUND
Toni Bou (E - Reposl Montesa) 13
James Dabill (GB - Beta) 13
Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 18
Jack Challoner (GB - Beta) 19
Michael Brown (GB - Gas Gas) 21
Takahisa Fujinami (E - Reposl Montesa) 21
Doug Lampkin (GB - Gas Gas) 23
Alexz Wigg (GB - MRS Sherco) 30
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX JANUARY 14