On The Pegs August 2018 - Volume 3 - Issue 8 | Page 113

On The Pegs
Vol. 3 Issue 8 - August 2018
P 113
the reigning champion was back in front by section nine. With the entire field tak-
ing maximums on sections eleven and twelve on the opening lap, at the halfway
stage Bou led on thirteen marks, three ahead of Fajardo who in turn was nine in
front of third-placed Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Honda from Japan.
With lap two cut to fourteen sections after a rock shifted on section ten, the
leading pair remained locked together until they visited section twelve for the
final time. Bou produced a miraculous clean, Fajardo took a maximum and it was
game over with Bou’s total of twenty giving him a seven-mark winning margin.
A string of fives on the opening lap put Jaime Busto - Gas Gas back in fourth but
the twenty-year-old picked up the pace on lap two with a series of solid perfor-
mances - including the only clean ride of the Trial on section eleven - to take third
on thirty-eight, two marks ahead of fellow Spaniard Adam Raga - TRRS.
Championship runner-up for the last eleven years, Raga also had an expensive
first lap, but improved dramatically on his second visit to the sections to end the
day nine marks ahead of Fujigas with Albert Cabestany - Beta a further seven
marks back in sixth.