Toni Bou clinches an amazing victory in Barcelona

Takahisa Fujinami obtained his first podium of the season ahead Jeroni Fajardo

Toni Bou leads the Championship standings ahead Adam Raga. © Octagon Esedos. Montesa Honda rider Toni Bou has struggled after his poor result in Marseille and came back in style with an awesome win on Sunday evening at 30th Barcelona Indoor Trial. After taking his third victory of the season, the Spanish rider recovers leadership in the overall standings and gains full credit in his chase for the title. Japanese team-mate Takahisa Fujinai obtained his first podium place of the season with a second and Jeroni Fajardo completed the honour places at Palau Sant Jordi Stadium besides Repsol Montesa-HRC pair.

Bou completed a fantastic performance and showed great maturity throughout the race. At the beginning things were not easy for him when Bou was third in starting order after two wild cards. Besides him, Takahisa Fujinami and Jeroni Fajardo won surprisingly their ticket for the second lap but justified their pass for the final with an excellent riding.

"I feel very happy after this huge victory in Barcelona," said Toni Bou. "I was a little bit nervous at the beginning but I became more and more comfortable on the bike. In the final lap I did my best and tried to show a nice riding to the crowd."

Team-mate Takahisa Fujinami commented: "The mistakes Raga and Cabestany did during the qualification lap made me things easier. I return to podium places after a long string of races. It’s also a good day for Repsol Montesa-HRC team, with two of its riders on the rostrum."

Toni Bou with Takahisa Fujinami and Jeroni Fajardo. © Octagon Esedos. The hard and tough circuit catched two of the main candidates for the victory, GAS GAS rider Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany. The current World Champ, very unconsistant, failed four sections and also added two more points on the double lane race against Dougie Lampkin that sent him to sixth place.

Cabestany started at his maximum level, cleaning three first hazards. But the Sherco rider suffered a nightmare in the second half of sections, with four fives in a row. Having dropped in the first stages, the Spanish rider tied with Lampkin because of new failures in the race and final time let the Repsol Montesa-HRC rider to take the fourth position to Cabestany.

Jeroni Fajardo: "I should be satisfied with my final result in Barcelona, it’s my second podium of the season. But my riding at final lap was a big disaster. My bike and also my back were affected by the crash at one of the races and I couldn’t ride at my level in the last part of the circuit."

Shaun Morris made his debut at Indoor Series 2007 replacing Polish Tadeusz Blazusiak. His effort and will were not enough and the Briton rider was classified in seventh place adding the maximum penalty in all the hazards. Next Saturday Lisbon will host the fifth round of the FITWC 2007 calendar.

(Octagon Esedos)