Toni Bou back in 2004...Reigning and already seven times FIM Trial World Champion Toni Bou – Repsol Honda is on the verge of making history as he heads to his home Grand Prix in Spain this coming weekend. Bou will bring with him a seven-point lead over his nearest rival Adam Raga – Gas Gas as he bids to capture an historic and record-breaking eighth successive outdoor title. Toni already has fifteen individual FIM World titles to his name (Eight FIM Indoor / X-Trial World Championships and seven FIM Trial World Championships), an outright record in itself, but Bou can beat the record of seven outdoor World crowns that he currently shares with Jordi Tarres and Dougie Lampkin if he can keep Raga at bay this weekend.
Bou joined the FIM Trial World Championship aged just sixteen years old back in 2003 and instantly made his presence felt as he scored a single point by placing fifteenth at his GP debut in Bangor, Ireland. However his first season was to show him he had much to learn as he only managed to rank thirteenth come the end of his initial campaign. 2004 saw Toni continue to make steady progress as he moved to inside the top ten and to wear the number nine bib for the following year. 2005 proved to be the real break through season for the then Spanish teenager as he claimed his first podium spot in the USA on route to taking fifth place in the final standings.
Aged nineteen years and five months Toni took his maiden Grand Prix win on home soil at the opening round of the 2006 FIM Trial World Championship held at Nigran, Spain. It was the first of two wins that season for Bou, the other coming in Japan and despite him finishing on the podium on three more occasions that season such was the competition that Toni was unable to improve on his previous year’s rankings and once again ended the campaign in fifth spot.
...and in 2014Few expected Bou to move away from his trusted Beta two-stroke, and when the news broke that the then twenty year old had signed to ride the four stroke Repsol Montesa for 2007, shock waves rippled through the sport with the general consensus being that the talented youngster had made a decision that could potentially wreck his promising career. Toni was to immediately silence those doubters with a run of five wins on the bounce to open the 2007 FIM Trial World Championship. In fact Toni was only beaten twice, once in Japan and once in the Czech Republic, on route to becoming the third youngest rider of all time to take the title, with only Gilles Burgat and Bernie Schreiber having achieved the feat at a more tender age.
Since 2007 Bou has been simply unstoppable, with him grabbing the FIM Trial World Championship a further six successive times in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 to set up an historic opportunity to take his tally to eight in front of his home fans this coming weekend. In the twelve years Toni has been a part of the series he has amassed an incredible sixty-two GP victories from his one hundred and fifty starts and only not scored points at two events. 2012 saw Bou record his biggest winning margin as he took the outdoor title by a massive sixty three points from Raga, whilst last season saw the closest title fight during Toni’s long reign as he won on the final day of the series to beat his perennial rival Raga by a mere ten points.
Once again it is only Raga who can dethrone Bou, as the Repsol Honda rider bids to become King Toni VIII this coming weekend.