Trial : Bou dans le livre des records / Bou in the record’s book

En décrochant sur ses terres son huitième titre mondial outdoor, Toni Bou (Montesa Michelin) entre dans la légende de son sport en devenant le premier pilote à obtenir autant de titres. Il fait mieux que Jordi Tarres et Dougie Lampkin, tous deux titrés à sept reprises.

Retrouvant ses bonnes habitudes à l’occasion de ce Grand Prix d’Espagne, Toni Bou a été littéralement imbattable et a porté un coup au moral de ses adversaires en les dominant dès la première des deux journées.

En s’intercalant entre Toni et Adam Raga (Gas Gas) son dernier rival pour le titre, Albert Cabestany (Sherco Michelin) avait fait les affaires du leader du Mondial, qui s’imposait avec vingt huit points de moins que ses rivaux groupés eux en quatre petits points !

Cabestany devançait Raga d’un point, ce dernier devançant Jeroni Fajardo (Beta Michelin) d’un point et Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa Michelin) de deux. Si les scores étaient beaucoup moins importants dimanche, Bou allait une fois encore dominer la situation, s’imposant avec quatorze points d’avance sur Raga et vingt cinq sur Fajardo. Victorieux de sept des douze journées de course cette saison, Bou clôt son championnat avec quinze points d’avance sur Raga.

Toni Bou: « Samedi fut la journée clé. Décrocher aujourd’hui mon huitième titre est une joie immense pour moi, je ne peux rien demander de plus! J’ai roulé différemment aujourd’hui, et j’ai pu à la fois me concentrer pour apprécier la course et la gagner. Le premier titre est toujours le meilleur, parce qu’on est champion du Monde et qu’on ne sait pas si on pourra le devenir une autre fois. Mais ce huitième titre est vraiment spécial, car mes adversaires m’ont mis la pression tout au long de la saison. »

Classement de l’épreuve :

Premier jour : 1.Bou (ESP, Montesa Michelin); 2.Cabestany (ESP, Sherco Michelin); 3.Raga (ESP, Gas Gas); 4.Fajardo (ESP, Beta Michelin); 5.Fujinami (JAP, Montesa Michelin); etc…

Second jour : 1.Bou; 2.Raga; 3.Fajardo; 4.Cabestany; 5.Fujinami; etc…

Positions au championnat : 1.Bou, 225; 2.Raga, 210; 3.Cabestany, 163; 4.Fajardo, 154; 5.Fujinami, 145; etc…

Claiming this weekend on his home soil his eighth Trial World Title, Toni Bou (Montesa Michelin) entered in the legend of his sport, as he became the first rider to be so successful. He did better that Jordi Tarres and Dougie Lampkin, both crowned seven times.

Back in his native Spain, Toni Bou was also back to his former habits and was unbeatable in this last GP of the season. In the first of the two days event, he destroyed the mental of his rivals as he beats them easily and got the support of Albert Cabestany (Sherco Michelin), who finished second and beats Bou’s last rival for the title, Adam Raga (Gas Gas).

If Bou beats his rivals by twenty eight marks, his rivals were closer than ever as Cabestany beats Raga by one mark, Jeroni Fajardo (Beta Michelin) by two marks and Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa Michelin) by three marks. On Sunday the scores were not so important but Bou remains unbeatable as he beats Raga by fourteen marks. Winner of seven of the twelve days this season, Bou ended the season with an advantage of fifteen points over Raga in the series.

Toni Bou: « Yesterday was the key day. Today being able to win the eighth title has been an immense joy for me. I couldn’t ask for anything more! Today, I rode in a different way and was able to concentrate on both enjoying the race and winning it. 
The first title is always the best, because you are the world champion and you don’t know if you are going to be able to repeat it. But this eighth title is very special, because my rival really put me up against it all season.”

WRC, Australie : 25 ans de Mondial / Celebrating 25 years since Rally Australia’s first WRC inclusion

25 ans de présence en WRC pour le Rallye d’Australie, 10e épreuve du championnat 2014, 250e rallye mondial pour l’équipe M-Sport, 50e départ en WRC pour Kris Meeke, 150e pour Mikka Anttila, 30 engagés, 20 spéciales et 315 kilomètres chronométrés…

De 1989 à 2006, le Rallye d’Australie s’est déroulé à l’ouest du pays-continent, à Perth. En 2009, l’épreuve a célébré son retour en WRC, sur la côte est cette fois-ci, en Nouvelle Galles du Sud, à 3500 km de là. Mais elle a conservé la plupart des difficultés qui ont fait sa réputation : des spéciales techniques et piégeuses, des virages masqués, une terre meuble et des conditions de grip changeantes…Nambucca (48,92 km) est la plus longue spéciale de cette édition 2014.

Pour ses 25 ans en WRC – 22^e édition – le Coates Hire Rally Australia n’offre que peu de changements par rapport à 2013 (deux nouvelles ES et quelques modifications), une édition mémorable puisque Neuville avait privé Ogier du titre grâce à sa 2^e place du général ET dans la Power Stage ! Avec 19 spéciales remportées sur 22, Sébastien Ogier avait pourtant ultra-dominé l’épreuve, mais il avait dû patienter un mois avant de savourer son premier titre…

Après avoir lancé les vendanges 2014 au Rallye d’Allemagne et vendangé chacun une belle opportunité au championnat Pilotes, Sébastien Ogier et Jari-Matti Latvala vont reprendre leur duel pour le titre. Les deux hommes sont séparés par 44 points au championnat, en faveur du Français. Le 3^e pilote VW, Andreas Mikkelsen, peut mathématiquement encore être titré.

Après son doublé historique en Allemagne, l’équipe Hyundai Motorsport n’a eu que peu de temps pour redescendre sur Terre et traverser la planète avant un Rallye d’Australie qu’elle n’a plus disputé depuis plus de 10 ans (2003) et pour lequel les essais sont prohibés sur place. Chris Atkinson, de retour depuis le Mexique, et Hayden Paddon ont effectué leurs tests en France (Vosges). Très loin de Coffs Harbour, donc…

Voilà près de 10 ans aussi que Citroën n’a plus gagné en Australie (Duval, 2005). En 2011, on se souvient du double abandon fracassant de Loeb et Ogier. L’an passé, Kris Meeke avait réalisé un festival avec une sortie de route quotidienne ! Cette année, le Britannique, qui a frôlé sa première victoire mondiale en Allemagne, va y célébrer son 50^e rallye WRC.

Les espoirs sont nombreux chez M-Sport qui fête son 250^e rallye mondial depuis 1997. Mikko Hirvonen avait ouvert son palmarès personnel en Australie en 2006 et compte trois victoires sur les quatre dernières éditions. Elfyn Evans va devoir mettre à profit l’expérience engrangée l’an passé au National Capital Rally sur une Ford Fiesta R2.

En WRC-2, six des dix leaders du championnat ont effectué le lointain déplacement en Australie avec Lorenzo Bertelli, Ott Tanak, Yury Protasov, Jari Ketomaa, Nasser Al-Attiyah et Yazeed Al-Rahji, tous sur Ford Fiesta.

In addition to celebrating the 25th anniversary of its being a WRC qualifier, Rally Australia is the 10th round of the 2014 championship, the 250th world class outing for M-Sport, the 50th WRC start for Kris Meeke and the 150th for Mikka Anttila. There are 30 entries, 20 stages and 315 competitive kilometres.

From 1989 until 2006, Rallye Australia was based on the continent’s west coast, in Perth. In 2009, it made its return to the WRC community in New South Wales, 3,500km to the east. Despite the move, it continues to offer the same challenging cocktail of tricky, technically demanding stages, blind corners, soft ground and frequently changing grip. This year’s longest stage is ‘Nambucca’ (48.92km).

To mark the 25^th anniversary of its WRC status, the Coates Hire Rally Australia will feature few changes (two new stages and some modifications) compared with 2013 when Neuville memorably deprived Ogier of the Drivers’ title by finishing second overall AND winning the Power Stage, despite the Frenchman’s domination of the event (19 stage wins from 22!). Ogier had to wait another month to wrap up the contest…

After they both wasted a chance to boost their championship chances in Germany, Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala will resume their battle for the title split by 44 points, in favour of the Frenchman. On paper, their VW team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen can still take the 2014 crown, but nobody else.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motorsport has been busy recuperating from its landmark one-two triumph in Trier ahead of the make’s first visit to Australia as a factory team since 2003. Its task is complicated by the fact that testing on site is not permitted. Hayden Paddon and Chris Atkinson, who last drove for the squad in Mexico, prepared for the event in France’s Vosges Mountains, a very long way from Coffs Harbour!

It’s been a decade since Citroën last won in Australia (Duval, 2005). Loeb and Ogier both memorably retired in 2011, while Kris Meeke went off once a day in 2013! This time round, the Briton will be making his 50^th WRC appearance after coming close to his maiden win in Germany.

Hopes are high, too, at M-Sport which will celebrate its 250^th world class start since 1997. Mikko Hirvonen claimed his first WRC victory in Australia in 2006 and has since won three times there these past four years. Elfyn Evans will be counting on his experience of the country’s National Capital Rally last year in a Ford Fiesta R2.

Last but not least, six of the WRC-2’s provisional top 10 are making the trip to Australia, namely Lorenzo Bertelli, Ott Tanak, Yury Protasov, Jari Ketomaa, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Yazeed Al-Rahji, all in Fiestas.

Coffee Run - a cafe racer journey

Coffee Run - a cafe racer journey from Caronte Cycles on Vimeo.

DE BOLEX MK 4

de Bolex are still relatively new on the scene, but from their 1st build to this; their 4th, each one has been superbly thought out and put together. Their talents are greater than just bike building though; they even tell their own story well, so enough from me, here’s the low down on the bike, the build and the owner straight from de Bolex themselves…. see you at the end.

“So you’ve invested your hard earn cash into some nice wheels to get from A to B and to and from the 9 to 5 grind but the luxury of the leather seats, air con and cd player some how doesn’t fulfill your needs. This was Alex before he became the very proud owner of the deBolex Mk4.”

“A week spent in Biarritz resulted in a bet between 2 mates to tick a few things off that ever increasing bucket list; Learn to play the saxophone, bite the bullet and get that tattoo, and finally get a bike license.

So 6 months later, 4 sax lessons down, 2 tattoo’s and a bike license in the wallet – fair to say Alex won the bet. With his shiny new license and the summer in the not too far distance Alex didn’t think twice about putting his once treasured car up for sale to fund his dream of owning a custom motorcycle.”

“Being a good friend of Calum the founder of deBolex has meant that Alex has seen first hand the deBolex builds from concept to reality and now he wanted his turn. He had a clear vision of what he liked so they sat down and created first sketches of what is now the Mk4. It was here that it became clear that the bike was going to harp back to a more classic era.

The bike needed to be reliable so the later Cb750f2n was to be the donor. To achieve that classic look we started with fitting an early, sleeker, cb750 tank, this was no simple task and modifications had to be made to the bottom of the tank for it to fit over the frame and to give the right lines between the tank and seat.”

“We gave the tank some extra shape by adding some knee scallops, the fuel cap was then relocated to allow for the classic leather tank strap to run through the middle. The rear cowling has been hand beaten from aluminum, with added scallops to match the fuel tank, this cowling is then removable to reveal the pillion seat – a must for chucking a little somebody on the back!

Why the Number 7? Besides being a nod back to a motor racing legend, it is also Alex’s Birthday. This enabled us to give the bike that additional classic race appeal, but also houses an aluminum storage box which is opened via a key catch, this encloses a nice space for any small luggage.”

“Sucking the air in comes through 4 stainless trumpets and is then exhausted through 2, 2 into 1 polished stainless pipes with reverse cone mega’s. A classic smiths speedo keeps Alex’s speed in check while the recessed moto gadget led’s indicate the appropriate warning lights.

Lighting up the front is finished with the yellow lens and peak to keep to the classic appeal, the rear light housing was turned up and recessed into the rear tube and the indicators were kept small and subtle.”

“The classic brown leather was to be a feature throughout the bike; grips were wrapped and finished off with an aluminum bar end. Des our in house trimmer then took charge of trimming the seat in a diamond stitch pattern with the tank strap to match.

Alex was keen on the black on black finish, so we just highlighted the shaped features through the bike with a classic white pin striping.”

“We had a mad rush to get the bike completed (or so it felt!) for the bike shed event, but Alex was itching to get riding soon after, and its fair to say he is getting good use out of it, he totaled up over 3000 miles in just 4 weeks, riding come rain or shine.”

I’m sure you will agree that de Bolex have once again created a lovely bike, and for the 4th consecutive time. To see their past work check out their bikeshed page and visit them on Facebook and check out their website. Thanks for sharing this beauty guys, we look forward to seeing the MK5

via The Bike Shed