campionato spagnolo

La gara Junior la di Laia ha estato dificile con belle ma complicate zone. Laia ha finito quarta.
Jesùs Sanz Rubies

Team Josepmanzano:
Last Sunday, March 24th, the second round of the Spanish Championship was held in Baiona (Pontevedra). The 15 sections were scattered over the beautiful natural places of the Rias Baixas, in the Galician Atlantic coast. The last one was 8 Km away from the first.

The two first sections were in the seashore, and riders had to climb slippery rocks, splashed by the waves. Next sections were among forests and over waterfalls, being both difficult and spectacular.

Riders had 4 hours to complete the first lap, but with a so difficult and long round, it was not enough, and many riders were penalized for exceeding it. However, the two and a half hours allowed for the second lap were enough for all of them.

This time World Champion Dougie Lampkin could not take part, due to the coincidence with a round of the British Championship, where he finished second, after Graham Jarvis.

The first lap was clearly dominated by a David Cobos on top form, with 11 points, followed by Adam Raga with 16, although Raga was the one most affected by time, with 9 additional points. Third he was the new 2002 Indoor World Champion, Albert Cabestany, who was involved in an incident when he was penalized 5 foints in section 5. His protests cost him a yellow card and an additional 5-pont penalty.

Josep Manzano, also with time problems, made a medium first lap, with 38 points, that placed him in ninth position.

Things changed for Manzi in the second lap. He found the syntony with his bike and began surpassing sections easily.
After the 10 first sections, he had only penalized two points, same that Albert Cabestany, with whom he shared the partial leadership of the lap. Pity that two fiascos in sections 11 and 13 broke this rate, but even so he obtained a 6th partial place, with 11 zeros.

Cabestany won the second lap, but the 5-point penalty left him second in the round. Cobos, in spite of a not so good second lap, won the round, and Marc Colomer completed the pódium, in third place.

Manzano finished in the 8th place, the same one that he occupies in the championship standings. After finishing the round, Manzi said he was satisfied for two reasons: "On the one hand, I've gone up one place, and my main objective this year is to keep improving steadily. And on the other hand, the second lap has proved me that I'm able to obtain very good results".

Now the following round of the championship will be on April 28th in Sotillo de la Adrada (Àvila). Before this, Manzi will participate in the Three Days of Santigosa (Sant Joan de les Abadesses), on March 29th, 30th and 31st. Then, on April 12th and 13th, the World Championship begins in Calvià (Majorca).

The round's results could be followed live in the Josep Manzano official web (http://www.josepmanzano.com) where they were published at the same time that riders arrived. Even, at 12:30, info about the section 5 incident was given from the very section. This flexibility is possible due to the fact that the web updating is made directly from a mobile phone without a computer, with a technology developed by the Team.

Round results:
1. Cobos: 11 + 10 + 3 = 24
2. Cabestany: 21 + 5 + 2 = 28
3. Colomer: 19 + 11 + 4 = 34
4. Raga: 16 + 9 + 9 = 34
5. Freixa: 20 + 15 + 2 = 37
6. Fujinami: 26 + 8 + 7 = 41
7. Alcaraz: 28 + 16 + 3 = 47
8. Manzano: 38 + 12 + 4 = 54
9. Fajardo: 35 + 22 + 0 = 57
10. Pascuet: 45 + 22 + 2 = 69

Championship standings:
1. Albert CABESTANY: 34
2. Adam RAGA: 33
3. David COBOS: 30
4. Marc FREIXA: 26
5. Marc COLOMER: 24
6. Takahisa FUJINAMI: 21
7. José-Manuel ALCARAZ: 17
8. Josep MANZANO: 15
9. Dougie LAMPKIN: 13
10. Jeroni FAJARDO: 11

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mail: team@josepmanzano.com
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