Albert Cabestany – Sherco bounced back from his poor performance at the opening round of the 2009 SPEA FIM Indoor Trial World Championship with a late and dramatic win in Marseille. Championship leader Toni Bou – Repsol Montesa HRC had dominated the event until the penultimate section, when a small error provided Cabestany with a great opportunity. Albert accepted and took the win just ahead of Bou, to leave Adam Raga – Gas Gas in third spot for the second round in a row. Bou remains at the top of the overall standings and has extended his advantage slightly. Cabestany’s latest result sees him move into second spot in the series one point ahead of both Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC and Raga. The Japanese rider could only manage fourth position on the night and could not repeat the kind of performance he had produced in Sheffield. The qualifying round saw wildcard Loris Gubian – Gas Gas eliminated from the Trial itself as he failed to beat his close rival Michael Brown – Sherco, who in contrast booked his place in his first Trial thanks to some confident riding. Bou was the best of the qualifiers on five marks; this was two ahead of Raga, who in turn was one better than Cabestany. Both Bou and Cabestany started the Trial strongly; the Spanish pair each taking a win in the dual lane race against their respective opposition. With Raga’s challenge fading fast even through the initial three observed sections, it was Cabestany who was keeping Bou true and only trailed the reigning champion by two marks as the starting order was re-shuffled for the climax. Cabestany’s final attack started on the up-turned boats, him being the only rider to clean this hazard, whilst Bou needed a hefty dab very early into the zone. Tasting the victory Albert really applied the pressure with a stunning and yet another unmatched clean on the massive and slippery logs where Toni lost one dab and one on time. With the live TV broadcast adding extra tension Cabestany took a safe dab in the last section, knowing that Bou would have to at least clean it to have any chance of snatching the win. Toni equalled Albert, but this was only enough for second place on this occasion.

Round 2 – Marseille – France

24 January - Saturday

Results:

1: Cabestany 4

2: Bou 5

3: Raga 11

4: Fujinami 14

5: Fajardo 23

6: Brown 26

Qualifying

1: Antonio Bou (SPA-Montesa-HRC) 5,

2: Adam Raga (SPA-Gas Gas) 7,

3: Albert Cabestany (SPA-Sherco) 8,

4: Takahisa Fujinami (JPN-Montesa-HRC) 10,

5: Jeroni Fajardo (SPA-Beta) 15,

6: Michael Brown (GBR-Sherco) 21

Non-Qualifiers:

7: Loris Gubian (FRA-Gas Gas) 27

Current FIM championship standings:

1: Bou 14, 2: Cabestany 11,

3: Fujinami 10, 4: Raga 10, 5: Fajardo 5,

6: Lampkin 4, 7: Brown 3, 8: Gubian 1