Mission accomplished. Toni ‘Dynamite’ Bou is officially the greatest rider in the history of trial riding, surpassing the sport’s most legendary figures such as Jordi Tarrés and Dougie Lampkin. No less than eight consecutive titles.
It turned out to be a much less tense day than expected thanks to the 12 point advantage with which Toni Bou went into today’s grand finale; this effectively meant that even an eighth place on the day would have been enough to take the honours. But eighth place doesn’t feature much in Toni’s credo. More in keeping with the Bou manifesto, are the top scores that he marked up on the first, second and final laps. The points advantage allowed the Montesa Cota 4RT rider a fairly pressure-free race, that in little time saw him heading the leader-board; and that way it stayed until the chequered flag signalled the day’s final report-card; victory and title in the bag.
Takahisa Fujinami battled hard to keep climb the leader-table, but in the end was unable to outscore Jeroni Fajardo. Fujigas took fifth on the day, which means that he finishes the season with a fifth overall position.
The Repsol Honda Team wrap up the season with a tally of eight victories, seven of which featured Toni Bou on the highest step of the podium, after Takahisa Fujinami had opened the season with his 32nd win in Australia.
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Yesterday was the key day. Today being able to win the eighth title has been an immense joy for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more! This year as we joined HRC, I was a bit apprehensive about losing the title, but we’ve started the relationship in an excellent way. Today, I rode in a different way and was able to concentrate on both enjoying the race and winning it.
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I got off to a bad start and picked up a senseless penalty in the second section that should have been easy. I managed to pick things up after that in some of the more difficult sections. I was able to make up for the error on the same lap and on the second lap too. I was able to directly challenge my nearest rivals. However in the final lap I picked up two faults which ruled out the chance of meeting my goal. I’m a bit angry with myself, but I couldn’t do any more. .
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