The TRIALS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Commentary by me. Im not complaining about anything, only observing this odd situation... Regardless of what specific brand of bike you favor, this is so curious that we are stuck with these five guys who dominate the sport for a decade, no matter what the FIM does to the rule books.. The two England rounds ended today.. (Three rounds left to the 2014 season championship) The five sacred monsters of the TRIALS world championship are still fighting it out and everyone else is just back there somewhere. (Actually Toni and Adam are doing the fighting for first place, and the three other monsters of Trials seem to be fighting to get on the third spot on the podium. And the other guys are fighting to break into the top five.) With the three rounds left this year. Toni Bou on the Million dollar unobtanium HONDA/Montesa factory works bike will likely win it again for the eighth year in a row. Adam Raga will likely be second as he has a huge lead over third place Albert Cabestany. These five guys will be the same five guys on top as always in almost the same order as always. Toni is an awesome rider and has been first or second all season. (Adam had one bad ride in the season opener with a fourth, but otherwise has also been first or second all season.) Adam now trails Toni by ten points. So, Adam has to win the next three rounds and Toni has to be at least third one time for Adam to win the championship. Three wins is 60 points, two seconds and a third is 49 points. With Tonis 10 point lead, this is the math for Adam to win by one point... Toni hasnt finished third in a very long time. If Adam keeps up his great fight he is locked-in for second also.. Since Cabestany is in third and trailing by 38 points behind Adam... Weird deal.... These five guys all now about 30 years old dominate this sport and have for the last decade.. Never before has it been like this. Jorge Casales who rides for GASGAS is the new guy out there but still has a long way to go.. The only foreseeable change is injury or age attrition... Takahisa Fujinami is now the oldest at 34 and has been nursing a knee injury. But, he is an animal and works for HONDA and is the Japan hero so he may stick it out a few more years. As long as he continues to finish top-five, why not? The rest of these five guys still going strong into their thirties.. And the youngsters are simply not out there. Odd indeed..... What will the FIM do next to try to shake this up? Set a ten year competition limit for GP riders and then they must retire? - NO PLEASE! Not that!
Posted on: Sun, 20 Jul 2014 21:33:20 +0000