Spanish Arnau Farrè (Gas Gas, photo1) clinched the 26th European title in the European Trial history. The Junior Cup went to Italian Manuel Copetti (Vertigo) and the Over 40 Cup to German Markus Kipp (TRS).
And this means that we did not have any surprises in this last round of the 2017 FIM Europe Championship, held in Lazzate, Italy. Indeed, all the leaders in the 3 different classes got their final prize.
All photos @Phototrial.itAfter the incredible hot weather of the day before, weather forecast announced possible showers for this second day and they were not wrong. After the start of the International classes a heavy shower dropped making the first sections more challenging. Luckily it lasted less than one hour and all riders could benefit of the quick drying of the rocks because the sun shone again soon.
The only one who celebrated the fresh crown with a convincing victory was Farrè, real dominant in his class. Farrè started when the shower was almost over as many others in his class and did not suffer any kind of pressure for being the leader. He rode calmly and built his victory section by section receiving claps from the public present for his modern style of riding, often wheeling from one rock to another. Behind him the fight was a British affair. Iwan Roberts (Beta) assured himself the runner-up position, which meant the same final place in the championship. In third and fourth position the two Peace brothers: Dan and Jack, both riding Gas Gas, ahead of the first leader in these series, Toby Martin (Vertigo). Martin kept the third final position in the championship.
Copetti (photo2) finished only in third place but grasped the Junior title, because his closer rival ended behind him, French Kieran Touly (Sherco), unlucky because starting very early, he faced the first sections in the worst conditions. On the other hand Copetti suffered a lot the pressure of being at one step from the title and made a lot of mistakes in the first part of the competition, but then he found the right rhythm and recovered until the podium position. The win went to Italian Sergio Piardi (Beta, photo3) who led from the beginning. To complete the Italian supremacy in this class, second was Luca Corvi (Scorpa) and behind Touly another “azzurro” rider, Michele Andreoli (Montesa), in total 4 Italians in the first five places. In the championship, Piardi overtook Touly and climbed on the runner-up position.
Also the champion in the Over 40 class, Kipp concluded the season without winning. He arrived at this competition lacking in training because he had had a light accident in his leg and he needed to recover.
Worried about the risk of loosing the title, he rode less precisely than usual, but being his advantage remarkable enough, even finishing only in fifth place, he got the final trophy.
Italian Marco Andreoli (Montesa, photo4) topped the podium and he was at his first appearance in this champs. Thanks to the second place Finnish Sami Kymalaien (Scorpa) reached in the final series Slovakian Vladimir Kothay (Beta) and beat him for having done his best result lately. The two were tied in points and in positions obtained, but the best result was reached too early in the season for Kothay.
Only one rider in International class 1 , Danish Opstrup Andersen Morten (Beta).
In International class 2 German Philipp Emonts (Beta) triumphed again.
Full results on FIM Europe website: http://www.fim-europe.eu/events/420
