Toni Bou wins his 12th world championship in trials riding

By Réhann Coetzee

 

The 31-year-old Spaniard Toni Bou won his twelfth consecutive FIM Trial World championship earlier this month when he won the trial event in Great Britain.

Since clinching his first world championship title in 2007 on HRC’s Montesa COTA 4RT factory bike, Bou has now increased his unparalleled consecutive championship titles to 12. He has also won his 12th consecutive X Trial World Championship, an indoor competition raced on artificially prepared sections.

Overcoming injuries in the pre-season X Trial World Championship, Bou started off the season in style, winning the TrialGP Spain 18. He then went on to finish fourth and second in Japan but bounced back by winning the next four rounds.

Worries of his injuries were unfounded as the Spaniard dominated the season, including his 100th Trial World Championship victory in Round 4, Portugal. Bou has won the championship with the final round, TrialGP Italy 18 yet to be raced on September 16.

He rides a Montesa COTA 4RT, a bike that weighs only 70kg. It has a 259cc single-cylinder four-stroke engine with four valves running off a single overhead camshaft. It has a four-speed gearbox, basically no seat and only carries 1,9 litres of petrol.