Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC sits at the head of the initial series standings as the reining champion claimed victory on day two of the opening round of the 2012 FIM Trial World Championship held at La Bresse, France.

Bou had had to play second fiddle to Adam Raga – Gas Gas on day one, but bounced back brilliantly to take control of his sixth straight title assault. Unfortunately it was not the best of starts for Bou’s team mate Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa who could only manage fifth and fourth places over the two days of competition. Albert Cabestany – Sherco was third on both days, as Jeroni Fajardo – Beta completed the Spanish podium lock out by finishing as runner up to Bou on the second day of the trial.

The French town of La Bresse is the east of the country and close to the Swiss and German border was the scene for the opening two-day encounter of the FIM Trial World Championship. The small riverside dwelling last hosted a Trial Grand Prix back in 1997 and also was the setting for the 2001 FIM Trial des Nations. As was the case on those two previous occasions the main action took place at a purpose developed trial park high on the hillside over La Bresse. Here fourteen of the fifteen sections could be found, all being located closely together in an area that once had been a quarry. The final and man-made hazard was situated back in the town square and close to the paddock.

Slight rain early on Friday evening had little effect on the course, as brought bright sunshine and hot weather that instantly dried the soil between the rocky out crops. Given these conditions scores were predicted to be low, however this did not prevent Bou dropping his first mark of the season in the very first section of the day. From this point forward his rival Raga held the advantage, with the Gas Gas rider not incurring his initial loss until the ultra difficult eleventh hazard, but here again his single dab ride was one better than the two dropped by Bou.

At the halfway point on Saturday Bou trailed Raga by one, whilst Fujinami was back in joint fifth on a hefty twenty marks after a far from convincing opening lap showing. Bou pretty much sealed his own fate as a lack of concentration saw him come to a totally uncharacteristic stop at the easy first step in section two on his second lap. The reigning champion was unable to recover from this mistake and would end up second and two marks behind Raga who was strong throughout the day. Takahisa faired little better during is closing lap to finish a distant fifth.

Rain threatened on Sunday morning, but despite the odd few spots never actually materialised and thus allowed the organisers to modify some of the sections to slightly increase the severity for the second and final day. In truth this had little impact on the front runners, as they became locked in a tight and nervous battle for the second day running. As per Saturday the score remain low with Fajardo holding a one mark lead over Bou at the end of the first lap, and with day one winner Raga still very much in contention.

Bou held his nerve brilliantly as both Fajardo and Raga made mistakes, thus allowing him to record his first victory of the season. Raga’s challenge fell away badly, leaving him down in fifth place on day two, as a result of which Bou now heads the general standings by six points after the initial two counting days at the French GP.

The championship now takes a four week break, before making its maiden voyage to Australia at the back end of May for its second two day event in a row and before moving on to Japan a week later for a third successive double header.

Toni Bou (Repsol Montesa)
Trial result: 2nd / 1st - Championship position: 1st

“Overall I am happy with how things have ended up this weekend. Yesterday I made a big mistake due to a lack of concentration, which cost me the win. It is never easy when the scores are low, so today I had some extra pressure to try and recover my error from yesterday. In the first lap today all the Spanish riders were riding really well, so I knew it was going to be a tough fight. In the end they made some mistakes today, and that allowed me to take the win. With Raga in fifth place today, I have a good advantage in the championship standing before we go to Australia.”

Takahisa Fujinami (Repsol Montesa)
Trial result: 5th / 4th - Championship position: 5th

“Saturday was not good for me at all. I had no confidence on the bike and even when we changed the settings, I still did not have the right feeling. We made some more changes for Sunday, and this was definitely better. My riding was better today, but still I made some mistakes. From my scores you can see my best performance was on the second lap today. So at least we have finished in a positive way and can go to the next round with much more confidence. My results have not been what I wanted this weekend.”

2012 FIM Trial World Championship
Round 01: La Bresse – France