TONI CLAIMS THE TITLE
It was no surprise to everyone that the 35-year-old trials superstar Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) won his 16th FIM TrialGP World Championship at the close of the season in Italy. Over the ten rounds, we have seen wins from Jaime Busto (Vertigo-ESP), Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) and, on day one in Italy, Matteo Grattarola (Beta-ITA), but the sheer brutal consistency of Bou has left everyone in the shadow of this incredible motorcycle athlete.
After building up a commanding lead in the opening six championship rounds, the action moved to Belgium. It was the fight between Toni Bou and Jaime Busto that stole the show from the very start. Bou was on the back step after an early stop on the third section as Busto remained calm and consistent, with well-placed marks keeping them very equal before a crash of the undercut step on section nine. Bou used all his experience to part with a three here but stopped on section 11, leaving Busto with a slight advantage with the scores at 12 and 15.
On the second lap, it was Bou in trouble as he stopped in section two, which Busto passed through for three; the exposed roots were very hit-and-miss. But, as we have seen before, Bou knew he would have to raise his game and, under pressure, that is exactly what he did as Busto started to lose marks. In the last five sections, Bou lost only six as Busto parted with 15 marks, making the Repsol Honda rider a clear winner.
As the action moved to France, Bou raised the bar once more, making clear his championship aspirations, and blew everyone away with an unmistakable win over a back-on-form Adam
Raga. As the action moved to Italy and the final two rounds, Matteo Grattarola found his form.
THE FINAL PUSH – ITALY
Unlike we have seen before during this season, the man on a mission to secure his 16th world title, Toni Bou, found himself down in an unfamiliar fourth place at the close of the opening lap. Bou incurred five stops and the 25 marks that went with it, but Matteo Grattarola, an
Italian rider on a Beta Italian machine, was leading at his home Grand Prix. He had fought hard to keep Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) behind him, and as the lap closed, the scores were at 19 and 21, with Bou on 28. However, as we have witnessed before, Toni Bou was not finished. Despite stopping only twice on the second lap for a score of 13 marks lost, he could not catch Grattarola, whose 14-mark loss secured him his first victory in the 2022 season. But, it did not matter for Bou as he became the champion for the 16th consecutive time.
On day two, weather conditions pretty much continued with a cool but dry start to the competition. Toni Bou came out with a point to prove to the Italian Grattarola, and just one thing was on his mind, and that was winning. As it turned out, Grattarola was having none of it, and both he and Bou became engaged in a fantastic fight for the win, closing the opening lap with Bou just in front on seven marks lost to Grattarola’s nine. With the confidence that comes when you are such a master of your chosen sport, Toni Bou raised the bar even higher to give the enthusiastic Italian crowd a demonstration of his incredible two-wheeled talent. He parted with just a single mark on the super-tough section ten as everyone else failed to pass the end cards; they knew they were watching a master at work.
At the close of the day, Bou signed off the 2022 season with another win with a clear advantage over second-placed Grattarola. As the championship was finalised, one thing was for sure, Bou was still the king. Behind Bou, Jaime Busto pushed Adam Raga down to third in the championship, with Grattarola finishing fourth, well in front of the fifth-place finisher Gabriel Marcelli. Nevertheless, he kept his cool to finish in front of Jeroni Fajardo by a single point.
The ‘Rookie’ in the championship, Great Britain’s Toby Martyn, has worked hard, and his final championship position does not reflect the hard work he has put in during a very challenging opening season at the cutting edge of the sport in TrialGP.
FIM TRIALGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND FOUR: BELGIUM, COMBLAIN AU PONT
RESULTS: 1: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) 27; 2: Jaime Busto (Vertigo-ESP) 35; 3: Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco-ESP) 36; 4: Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda-ESP) 42; 5: Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) 44; 6: Matteo Grattarola (Beta-ITA) 50; 7: Jorge Casales (ScorpaESP) 55; 8: Benoit Bincaz (GASGAS-FRA) 56; 9: Miquel Gelabert (GASGAS-ESP) 59; 10: Aniol Gelabert (Beta-ESP) 59; 11: Toby Martyn (TRRS-GBR) 81; 12: Luca Petrella (GASGAS-ITA) 83; 13: Teo Colairo (Beta-FRA) 103.
ROUND FIVE: FRANCE, CAHORS
RESULTS: 1: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) 12; 2: Raga 25; 3: Grattarola 27; 4: Marcelli 28; 5: Miquel Gelabert 30; 6: Busto 32; 7: Bincaz 41; 8: Fajardo 43; 9: Aniol Gelabert 49; 10: Martyn 51; 11: Casales 54; 12: Petrella 81; 13: Colairo 94.
ROUND SIX, DAY ONE: ITALY, PONTE DI LEGNO
RESULTS: 1: Matteo Grattarola (Beta-ITA) 33; 2: Bou 41; 3: Raga 45; 4: Marcelli 49; 5: Casales 53; 6: Miquel Gelabert 54; 7: Busto 58; 8: Bincaz 68; 9: Petrella 69; 10: Fajardo 71; 11: Martyn 79; 12: Aniol Gelabert 81; 13: Colairo (Beta-FRA) 90; 14: Andrea Riva (GASGAS-ITA) 92.
ROUND SIX, DAY TWO: ITALY PONTE DI LEGNO
RESULTS: 1: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) 8; 2: Grattarola 15; 3: Raga 24; 4: Busto 27; 5: Marcelli 31; 6: Petrella 45; 7: Miquel Gelabert 46; 8: Fajardo 49; 9: Casales 52; 10: Aniol Gelabert 54; 11: Martyn 57; 12: Bincaz 69; 13: Colairo 83; 14: Riva 87.
2022 FIM TRIALGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
POSITIONS: 1: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) 191; 2: Jaime Busto (Vertigo-ESP) 140; 3: Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) 131; 4: Matteo Grattarola (Beta-ITA) 126; 5: Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda-ESP) 109; 6: Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco-ESP) 108; 7: Miquel Gelabert (GASGAS-ESP) 102; 8: Jorge Casales (Scorpa-ESP) 90; 9: Aniol Gelabert (Beta-ESP) 72; 10: Benoit Bincaz (GASGASFRA) 69; 11: Toby Martyn (TRRS-GBR) 55; 12: Luca Petrella (GASGAS-ITA) 53; 13: Teo Colairo (Beta-FRA) 24; 14: Andrea Riva (GASGAS-ITA) 4.
MOST WINS: Toni Bou (Repsol Honda-ESP) 7; 2: Jaime Busto (Vertigo-ESP) 1; Adam Raga (TRRS-ESP) 1, Matteo Grattarola (Beta-ITA) 1.
MACHINES TOP 14: GASGAS 4; Beta 3; Repsol Honda 2; TRRS 2; Scorpa 1; Sherco 1; Vertigo 1.