CHALLENGING TRIALGP OF SPAIN FOR JORGE CASALES.
GASGAS FACTORY RACING TEAMSTER ENDURES FRUSTRATING HOME GP AS TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP REACHES HALFWAY POINT.
The second round of the 2020 FIM Trial World Championship, the TrialGP of Spain held in Pobladura de las Regueras in the north west of the country, proved to be a frustrating one for GASGAS Factory Racing’s Jorge Casales who saw a number of issues prevent him from challenging for a podium result. Hoping to build on his performances from the opening round of the series in France, Jorge ended day one in Spain in 10th position before placing eighth on day two.
Serving up some truly spectacular sections, big steps and super slippery terrain, the TrialGP of Spain saw notably higher scores from all TrialGP class riders compared to the first round of the championship in France. Wanting to make a strong start to the opening day, Casales completed the first lap with the sixth best score and 34 marks lost. Improving to 31 marks lost on lap two, an issue with his bike during lap three resulted in the Spaniard collecting maximum scores of five in each of the 10 sections, ending the day in 10th overall.
Despite some impressive riding during the early part of day two, a significant crash held Casales back on the second day of competition. Collecting 27 marks at the end of his first lap to ensure he was well in contention for a strong end-of-day result, on lap two he dropped just 17 marks, only two more than eventual day winner Toni Bou. Frustratingly, it wasn’t to be for Casales who was unable to ride at his best throughout lap three following his lap-two crash. Bravely riding on, he completed the lap for 31 marks lost, ending his day in eighth yet having performed much better than his final result suggests.
Enjoying a positive TrialGP of Spain, GASGAS supported Miquel Gelabert delivered two strong and consistent performances, placing fifth on each day of competition to ensure a positive improvement over his 8-7 results from the series opener in France. Gelabert sits fourth in the TrialGP standings with two events remaining.
Jorge Casales and his GASGAS Factory Racing team now head to Andorra for a third consecutive weekend of FIM TrialGP World Championship competition, round three of the 2020 series being held in Sant Julia, Andorra on September 19-20.
Jorge Casales:“It’s clear that this wasn’t my best weekend, and certainly not the results we were hoping for. Things started ok on day one – I felt good and things were going ok, but around midday I had some issues with my bike. I tried to fix it, but we couldn’t make the changes we needed to, so the day didn’t end well. Everyone in the team put that behind us for day two and I honestly felt great during the first and second laps. Frustratingly, I had a big crash in section five, which was one of the toughest sections of the event. I hurt my leg when I crashed, which made the next one-and-a-half laps really tough. I had some other misfortune towards the end of the day as well, which added another five marks to my score, so all-in-all not the event I had hoped for. I’ll be working hard to come back strong next weekend in Andorra.”
Results: FIM Trial World Championship 2020, Round 2
TrialGP – day 1
1. Toni Bou (Montesa) 28; 2. Jaime Busto (Vertigo) 49; 3. Adam raga (TRRS) 57; 4. Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) 68; 5. Miquel Gelabert (GASGAS) 69; 6. Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco) 69… 10. Jorge Casales (GASGAS) 115
TrialGP – day 2
1. Toni Bou (Montesa) 48; 2. Adam Raga (TRRS) 56; 3. Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) 62; 4. Benoit Bincaz (Beta) 66; 5. Miquel Gelabert (GASGAS) 68; 6. Jaime Busto (Vertigo) 69… 8. Jorge Casales (GASGAS) 75
Championship standings: FIM Trial World Championship 2020, (after round 2)
TrialGP
1. Toni Bou (Montesa) 75 points; 2. Adam Raga (TRRS) 65; 3. Jaime Busto (Vertigo) 61; 4. Miquel Gelabert (GASGAS) 39; 5. Jeroni Fajardo (Sherco) 38; 6. Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) 38; 7. Jorge Casales (GASGAS) 36
Text/Bild: GasGas