Jorge Casales comes in sixth place in the challenging X-Trial Bilbao

Michelle Liew

February 17, 2020

Jorge Casales’ hopes of a podium win falter with a sixth-place finish in Bilbao.

Jorge Casales | Photo credits: GasGas Factory Racing

GasGas Factory Racing rider Jorge Casales has managed to complete Round 5 of the 2020 FIM X-Trial World Championship at sixth place in Bilbao, Spain. The Spaniard came into Bilbao after a career-first X-Trial podium at Round 4 of the series in Barcelona. Not to mention, he also topped the opening round of the 2020 Spanish Trials Championship. Casales was unable to keep up with the podium momentum and came in sixth this time. He now sits level on points in the standings at fifth place with Benoit Bincaz, who is at fourth place.

Casales went up against compatriot Jeroni Fajardo and Briton Toby Martyn. He rides well in the opening section and scored fives in sections two and three before finishing positively. Casales was confident in the first round but was unable to keep it up in the second round as he dropped 13 marks.

Photo credits: GasGas Factory Racing

In Round Two, Casales faced series leader Toni Bou and Frenchman Benoit Bincaz. It was rather difficult for Casales to produce a similar performance as he dropped maximum marks in each section. He ended the round on 25 marks lost and was not able to quality into the runner-up final or final.

Jorge Casales and the GasGas Factory Racing team will proceed to the Round 6 of the 2020 X-Trial World Championship- the X-Trial Wiener Neustadt inside the Arena Nova, Austria on March 21.

Jorge Casales (GasGas Factory Racing)- As It Happened

Photo credits: GasGas Factory Racing

“It’s not been a good night for me. We were coming into Bilbao after a good run of results but for some reason I wasn’t feeling like myself tonight – I didn’t find my flow with the zones. They were quite hard to be honest, but the bike was working great and the team did a great job. I just wasn’t myself tonight. Even not feeling very comfortable I managed to go to the semi-finals, where I had to open track. I made some very unnecessary mistakes, which totally compromised my position for the overall. We go home with a sixth overall position, not happy with my riding but looking forward to come back stronger in the next races,” says Casales as quoted from GasGas Factory Racing.