For the second time in as many rounds Toni Bou - Repsol Honda showed his teenaged team-mate Jaime Busto exactly who is boss by snatching the qualification victory at TrialGP Great Britain, round five of the 2017 FIM Trial World Championship at Tong near Bradford.
Following an almost identical script to France two weeks earlier, the nineteen-year-old Spaniard put in a blistering performance in scorching hot conditions to set a time of 0:32.24 that placed him over half-a-second ahead of home hero James Dabill - Gas Gas.
However, any hopes he had of starting tomorrow's main competition at the rear of the field were eclipsed by Bou who in front of a packed crowd attacked the huge rock slabs set into a steep banking. A mistake on the final downhill before the climb out looked to have been costly for the Spanish superstar but the reigning FIM Trial World Champion recovered quickly and leapt out of the section with an incredible time of 0:31.06.
"It is very important for me to get my second pole in a row because at the first three rounds I didn't ride as well as I would have liked in qualification," says Toni. "I didn't have the best feeling in the section because I had a little problem with the second step but I have the pole and it is very important to start last tomorrow."
With seventeen of the eighteen riders going clean speed was vital and it was Spain's Adam Raga - TRRS who claimed fourth behind Dabill and ahead of fellow countrymen Jeroni Fajardo - Vertigo and Arnau Farre - Gas Gas.
Sweden's Eddie Karlsson - Montesa produced his best performance so far to come home seventh, just ahead of Spanish veteran Albert Cabestany - Sherco who finally produced a clean ride in qualification after costly errors at the opening four rounds.
Japanese crowd-favourite Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Honda was ninth with France's Loris Gubian - Beta rounding out the top ten.
Riding an eased route Britain's Dan Peace - Gas Gas was a hugely popular winner of Trial2 qualification, squeezing out Norwegian Sondre Haga - TRRS by 0.19 of a second as Spain's Gabriel Marcelli - Montesa, who currently sits second in the title chase, claimed third.
Championship leader Iwan Roberts - Beta had a disaster in front of his home crowd and a maximum will see him start second tomorrow.
Victory in Trial125 went to Germany's Jarmo Robrahn - Gas Gas by over eight seconds from Britain's Duncan MacColl - Beta who was making his series debut. Spain's Martin Riobo Hermelo - Gas Gas was third.
Championship leader Lorenzo Gandola - Scorpa from Italy will start tomorrow at the front of the twenty-three-rider field after taking a maximum which could hand Britain's Billy Green - Beta, who's second in the series, a crucial advantage in the deciding event after he qualified ninth.
Photo Coverage
Trials Central gallery of images from qualifying session can be accessed by clicking here