Cycle News Staff | October 29, 2024
GasGas factory rider Jaime Busto was the overall winner in the penultimate round of the FIM X-Trial Championship in Estonia on October 26. It was his first win of the season, while Team Repsol’s Toni Bou, who had already clinched the 2024 title, had a rare off night at which he failed to qualify for the third and final round of the night’s competition.
Finally, someone other than Toni Bou won a round of the FIM X-Trial Championship. GasGas Factory Team rider Jamie Busto finished out the night in Estonia on top of the box.
However, Bou’s night started off well. He was among the top three riders who all shared on five points, but a big mishap during round two cost Bou a chance to move on to the third and final round.
This meant that Busto, Bou’s teammate Gabriel Marcelli and Sherco’s Benoit Bincaz would battle it out for the overall win. It ended up being a shootout between Busto and Marcelli, with Busto edging out Marcelli by one point to get the overall victory.
“It’s been an incredible day today!” said Busto. “Right from the first section, I felt good on the bike and on the second lap, I was so happy to clean it, as the scores were already so close. Going into the final, it was very tight, so I knew I couldn’t afford many mistakes. To take the win is amazing.”
“I felt good on the bike throughout the day, but perhaps I wasn’t as sharp as I was in Andorra [the last round],” said Marcelli. “We were fighting for the victory until the end, and it slipped away by just one point. The positive thing is that with each race, I am closer to winning, so we will continue to fight in the same way. We are six points behind Jaime in the standings, so it will be important to give 100 percent in Pamplona to have a chance of getting the runner-up spot.”
Jaime Busto
With one round to go, Busto leads Marcelli by six points for the battle for second place in the championship.
Bou came away with fourth overall on the day. “We missed out on the final due to a small mistake at zone three on lap two,” Bou said. “With the simpler trials, any small detail puts you out of contention, and these are things that can happen. We tried to salvage it, but it wasn’t possible. We take away the fact that we were lucky enough to win the world title at the previous round in Andorra, and we had nothing at stake here.” CN
OVERALL (Top 5)
- Jaime Busto (GG)
- Gabriel Marcelli (Mon)
- Benoit Bincaz (She)
- Toni Bou (Mon)
- Adam Raga (She)
