VOL. 52 ISSUE 30 JULY 28, 2015 P105
that I took a safe one in the
first lap because Raga then
took a five there. I think it's a
very important moment for me
because the competition was
very close. Only two points
separated us in this moment."
Raga settled for second
place on the day, with Casales
taking third by turning in anoth-
er impressive lap. This marked
the Beta rider's first-ever po-
dium and, though he speaks
little English, he was obviously
thrilled with his finish.
Fourth on the day went to
Cabestany at 83 points total,
with Beta's Jeroni Fajardo
rounding out the top five at 91
points.
DAY TWO
A light rain during the morn-
ing on Sunday made all of the
sections a bit more difficult
and a few had to be modified
before the event began.
Despite the rain, day two
started much the same as the
previous day, with Bou taking
a strong lead at the end of the
opening lap, finishing the 12
sections with only 10 marks,
while Raga sat second with
20, just two points ahead of
Fajardo.
Section five was a difficult
one, and all of the top riders
with the exception of Repsol
Honda's Takahisa Fujinami
took fives there, while FujiGas
escaped with a one.
Bou shaved one point off
his first lap score on his sec-
the pack. After finishing eighth
best on the first lap, the
Spaniard moved all the way
up into fourth after the second
lap with a brilliant 16-point
lap, dropping Sherco's Albert
Cabestany to fifth after two
circuits of the course.
With the long loop and
complicated sections, most
of the riders were running
late on time when the final
lap got underway, and Bou
ripped off a string of six clean
rides to start the lap before he
fived the quickly deteriorat-
ing seventh section. A one
and another five were all the
Repsol Honda rider needed
to complete the course, giv-
ing him 11 for the lap and 37
for the day.
Raga, in the meantime,
picked up three more fives, a
two and a one to finish the lap
with 18 points and 69 total,
giving Bou his first win in four
events.
"This was a win I needed
and I felt I rode well, even
though the sections were
getting difficult," said Bou. "I
made a few mistakes, but the
bike was working good and I
felt good on the bike. I'm very
happy because it's a very dif-
ficult race and I like this race."
One of the sections Bou
struggled with was number
seven, and he talked about it
after the event.
"Yeah, it was a difficult sec-
tion, that number seven," said
Bou. "And it's very important
Bou's teammate
Takahisa
Fujinami was
consistent over
the weekend. He
rode his Honda
to 6-5 finishes.
