Toni Bou Rebounds For A Win On Day Two Of TrialGP Of Spain

After the disappointment of finishing second yesterday, defending champion Toni Bou was back on top on day two of the TrialGP of Spain – round one of the 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship.

But Bou found he could not fully shake off the challenge of his compatriot Jaime Busto who claimed Saturday’s win and the Spanish pairing head to round two in Portugal next weekend tied on points.

On a dry and dusty day in the north-west of Spain, a number of sections were changed overnight to increase the severity and the final scores reflected this with sixteen-time champion Bou parting with fourteen marks – one more than he lost on Saturday – and Busto’s total of seventeen a full ten marks more than his winning total incurred on day one.

The toughest hazard was the reworked section three thanks to the introduction of a double rock step with a short run-up. Bou scored two maximums here and although Busto recorded one of only two successful clean attempts alongside Aniol Gelabert, it was the big slabs of sections nine and ten where Bou pulled clear.

“I’m very happy with the weekend and with the victory,” Bou said. “In today’s race, I found felt better. I still have some discomfort in my arm, but we were able to fight at an impressive level. It is a victory that is very valuable because our rivals didn’t make it easy at all. Now it’s time to recover well after the weekend. We are tied on points with Jaime overall and we have seen that he is at a very high level, and both races have been very close. We will have to be strong in Portugal, but the first thing now is to recover and get back to 100% fitness.”.

Trailing Bou by nine after the opening twelve sections, Jaime Busto responded with a sensational second-lap total of one but it was too little, too late to reel in the record-breaking champion.

“It’s been a really great weekend for me. I didn’t expect it to be this good,” Busto reflected. “Yesterday I got the win, and it was amazing from section one and I felt incredible on the bike. I was able to make it happen on day one and this was a perfect way to start the season. Unfortunately today I made a mistake in one of the sections and as it was a low-scoring trial, it was impossible to recover from that. I pushed until the end and I was able to pull some points back so that’s good. I had an amazing feeling. Let’s hope when we go to Portugal I can repeat my form from day one.”

For the second day in a row, home riders dominated the premier positions with veteran Adam Raga taking third on a distant thirty-two – two ahead of yesterday’s third-placed rider Gabriel Marcelli – with Jorge Casales completing the top-five on a score of fifty-five.

Britain’s Toby Martyn withdrew following a crash on the opening lap which it is hoped he stages a speedy recovery from.

The focus now switches to Gouveia in Portugal on 21-23 April.