The X-Trial World Champion wins in the final Section and is one step away from securing another title
Toni Bou (Repsol Honda Trial Team) claimed his fifth consecutive victory of the season at a Weiner Neustadt event which he dominated from the start, but a struggle in the penultimate Section of the final opened things up for a close finish.
The World Champion, who had topped Q1 and Superpole, entered the fifth Section seven marks ahead of Jaime Busto (GasGas) and eight ahead of Gabriel Marcelli (Repsol Honda Trial Team), but while his rivals went clean through the Section Bou went down for a five, leaving the trio separated by three marks ahead of the final Section. Bou and Busto each dropped one mark in the finale, while Marcelli went down for five, dropping him from the fight for second place which went to Busto. Bou took his 90th career victory but will have to wait a week to mathematically secure his 19th X-Trial World Championship title.
Matteo Grattarola (Beta) who had been the best in Q2, was ruled out of a podium place after failing the first four sections. Bou finished on 13 marks compared to 15 for Busto, 20 for Marcelli and a maximum 30 for the Italian.
Jack Peace (Sherco) narrowly missed out on the Final, finishing an impressive fourth in Q1 and second in Q2. Behind him were Alex Canales (Montesa), a disappointed Benoit Bincaz (Sherco), and Marco Mempör (TRRS), the local rider competing in his second home World Championship event.
Toni Bou (1st): “I took my fifth consecutive victory in a Final that was practically a given from the fourth section onwards, but the mistake I made in the fifth, perhaps due to overconfidence, made the final outcome uncertain. The truth is that we did a very good job again, and that's the most important thing. The 19th title will have to wait a few days, but the important thing is to keep racking up the wins."
Jaime Busto (2nd): "It was a final in which I defended my chances of winning until the very last section, and the truth is that I felt good from Q1 onwards. I was close to achieving my second consecutive victory here, but this was a very positive event for me."
Gabriel Marcelli (3rd): "I'm happy with third place, which perhaps leaves me with a better taste in my mouth than others I've achieved so far. I even had a chance to fight for the win and I rode consistently from the start, but I also made some mistakes that I shouldn't make in the final."
The seventh round of the season will take place on March 22nd in Cahors.
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