SHEFFIELD INDOOR BOU WINS AGAIN!

This year marked the dominant Toni Bou’s 14th win in total at Sheffield. It was his fourth consecutive victory, having last been beaten at the famous Yorkshire venue by his constant rival Adam Raga (TRRS) back in 2016. Once again it was Raga who was Bou’s closest challenger on the night, finishing as the eventual runner-up after having thrown the gauntlet down in the qualifying heat by pushing his fellow Spanish rider down to second.

CHALLENGING

Using its own rules and a separate format — as it is no longer included in the FIM X-Trial World Championship series — it still provides a very challenging and intense night of competition. The six man-made hazards are made from a selection of natural materials including some local Sheffield-manufactured steel, huge Michelin tyres, Rock Oil steel drums, rocks and logs, which are all located to make the passage of the riders as testing as possible. A dual-lane race is also included to decide starting positions, which adds to the evening’s entertainment.

A new format for the event would see the action open with the four young riders Toby Martyn, the Peace brothers Dan and Jack joined by the Spanish rider Pau Martinez, to battle it out for two places in the main event alongside the six pre-selected riders. These eight riders would then compete in the heats where the best four would proceed to the final. A one-minute time allowance also added to the action, with riders penalised a single mark for every minute that exceeded this allowance. These same hazards would be ridden in the reverse direction in the final, where a dual-lane race again decided the starting positions.

QUALIFYING

In the four-rider opening ‘shoot-out’ it was Cornwall’s Toby Martyn (TRRS) who had the patriotic crowd shouting for him and his fellow Brit, Jack Peace, who made their way through to join the other six riders in the qualifying. The hazards proved more demanding than in recent times, and soon the atmosphere became more tense as everyone knew a drop in form could see them fall outside of the top four positions that would proceed to the final. As the eventual top-three finishers, Toni Bou, Adam Raga and Jaime Busto, all made mistakes conceding five-mark penalties in their total scores on the way to the final, the crowd knew the action would be close.

The patriotic crowd wanted to see a good showing from the British Trials Champion Jack Price (Gas Gas) and James Dabill (Beta), but along with Spain’s Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco) they failed to make an impact at the event. Great Britain’s young star Toby Martyn (TRRS) would be the fourth rider to make the final. The young British rider had successfully passed through the qualifying phases to make it to the final four in the fight for the podium, finishing the qualifying in third position.

Jaime Busto only just made it into the four-rider final by beating local hero Dabill in a nail-biting tie-decider that brought a premature end to Dabill’s night. It was decided by the time element, where Busto was just 7.6 seconds faster than Dabill over the fourth hazard.

Adam Raga had pushed Toni Bou off the top spot by two marks in the qualifying despite losing three time-mark penalties, making for what looked like a very competitive four-rider final.

FOUR RIDER FINAL

With the hazards ridden in the reverse direction, some would prove harder and some easier, as we would soon find out. Busto would be the first to go followed by Martyn, Bou and then Raga, who had the advantage of watching his main rival. Adam was in immediate trouble though, as he stopped in the opening hazard while Bou remained ‘feet up’ and was looking very confident.

In the second hazard, Adam tried to fight back, but once again, Toni was edging out an advantage with his controlled riding. Adam knew the stop in the opening hazard would be critical, and he was proved correct as he could not pull back the advantage Bou had. Looking very confident the undisputed King of Sheffield remained calm and his single-mark loss in the final hazard secured victory as Raga failed to pass through it.

SHEFFIELD INDOOR TRIAL 25TH ANNIVERSARY

FINAL: 1: Toni Bou (Repsol-Honda-ESP) 10; 2: Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) 17; 3: Jamie Busto (Vertigo-ESP) 25; 4: Toby Martyn (TRRS-GBR) 28. QUALIFICATION: 1: Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) 14; 2: Toni Bou (Repsol-Honda-ESP) 16; 3: Toby Martyn (TRRS-GBR) 25; 4: Jamie Busto (Vertigo-ESP) 26; 5: James Dabill (Beta-GBR)

26; 6: Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco-ESP) 27; 7: Jack Price (Gas Gas-GBR) 30 and Jack Peace

(Sherco-GBR) 30. SHOOT OUT: 1: Toby Martyn (TRRS-GBR) 0; 2: Jack Peace (Sherco-GBR) 2; 3: Pau Martinez (Vertigo-ESP) 6; 4: Dan Peace (Sherco-GBR) 11.