The two Repsol Honda riders made it onto the rostrum after a tough trial on the first day of the Japanese GP. Toni Bou keeps hold of the top spot in the overall standings, while Fujinami is poised to make trial world championship history.

The FIM Trial World Championship second round in Japan, with Toni Bou defending first place in the general rankings, finished with the incumbent champion clinching second place on the day. A positive result considering that the Spanish rider is still carrying an injured right shoulder ligament and is unable to ride in his usual fashion.

Today’s race conditions were hardly favourable to the world championship leader either, after Thursday’s rain left much of the course a muddy, slippery quagmire and making sections far more physically demanding. The exertion from the previous championship outing was taking its toll on Toni Bou – as always aboard the Montesa Cota 4RT – who had to accept runner-up spot. Bou, however, still maintains his place at the top of the general rankings.

Takahisa Fujinami gave a display of strength today in Motegi, showing that he still has the same spark that he did on his debut. Tomorrow will be his 300th world championship event. The former champion was able to anticipate the celebrations of this historic landmark by taking a podium place in front of the home crowd. Today marked the Repsol rider’s 154th world championship podium finish. The crowd got behind Fujinami after a below par first lap that saw the rider in sixth place after a fall which damaged the front end of the Montesa Cota 4RT. After changing the front forks, Fujinami put in an excellent second lap, reducing the points and moving up into a potential podium position, which he continued to hold until the end of the trial.

Jaime Busto started the Japanese GP well and was soon up in a podium position too, but as had previously occurred in the Catalan GP, a series of errors gradually eroded the earlier good work. The Spaniard battled with team-mate Fujinami, who in the end was able to sneak onto the podium by a single point.

Tomorrow will see the second and final day of the Japanese GP and should feature the same characteristics as today’s with twelve sections to be completed over twelve laps. The last rider to take the start will do so at 11:00 hrs local time.

Toni Bou

TRIAL: 2nd CHAMPIONSHIP: 1st

I arrived here in slightly better physical condition than in the last race, but I had a lot of difficulty to get over the huge physical effort that I had made in the previous GP. So, once again, I wasn’t at 100%. Today the trial has been much more demanding and I had already hurt myself by section one with a triple boulder. I started to sweat and the tape on my shoulder moved and we were unable to put it back properly. I suffered, but I’m happy with the second place. We hope to keep fighting tomorrow and come away from here with a good result.

Takahisa Fujinami

TRIAL: 3rd CHAMPIONSHIP: 5th

Things didn’t begin too well, but I’m super-happy about the way that they finished! I fell in section three on the first lap and hit the bike really hard. I bent the handlebars and the suspension, but didn’t have time to change it and I continued as best I could. We were able to change the front end before the second lap started, so things went much better. I recovered and I was able to finish calmly even though Jaime was really pushing. I’m very pleased with this podium finish in Japan. It is important not just for me but also for the team, for Honda and for all the fans of trial who have come down to Motegi to see us.

Jaime Busto

TRIAL: 4th CHAMPIONSHIP: 4th

I think that things have gone really well today. Yeah, it is a shame that once again I missed out on the podium by a point, but I think overall it hasn’t been that bad. I made a few mistakes that I think that I can rectify for tomorrow. Today the sections were quite slippery and they changed on every lap because they were getting very rutted, so I had to give it a lot of gas…. I liked that. I felt comfortable and I hope to improve tomorrow.

Trial 2016
Trial Round T2 , Trial 1   Motegi

Results GP Japan Trial Day 1

Pos. Rider Num Nation L1 L2 L3 T3 Champ Team Constructor Points
1 Raga Adam 2 SPA 18 12 22 20 TRRS Factory Team TRRS 52
2 Bou Toni 1 SPA 30 17 21 17 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 68
3 Fujinami Takahisa 5 JPN 37 7 31 15 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 85
4 Busto Jaime 6 SPA 31 28 27 13 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 86
5 Cabestany Albert 4 SPA 40 24 30 11 Sherco Factory Team Sherco 94
6 Grattarola Matteo 18 ITA 37 25 33 10 Gas Gas FG Italia Gas Gas 95
7 Fajardo Jeroni 3 SPA 35 33 30 9 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 98
8 Dabill James 8 GBR 44 29 25 8 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 98
9 Ogawa Tomoyuki 13 JPN 34 34 37 7 Honda Team Mitani Honda 105
10 Kuroyama Kenichi 14 JPN 42 38 34 6 Yamaha Racing Yamaha 114
11 Karlsson Eddie 10 SWE 45 37 38 5 Montesa Team Karlsson Montesa 120
12 Nozaki Fumitaka 16 JPN 46 39 39 4 Team Nozaki Scorpa Scorpa 124
13 Kadlec Franz 11 GER 49 41 35 3 Gas Gas Gas Gas 125
14 Gelabert Miquel 20 SPA 49 42 34 2 RFME Spea Sherco 125
15 Casales Jorge 9 SPA 42 42 42 1 Beta Factory Racing Beta 126
16 Tarres Pol 12 SPA 50 42 39 0 TRRS Factory Team TRRS 131
17 Gubian Loris 21 FRA 42 46 48 0 Beta Factory Racing Beta 136
18 Brown Michael 17 GBR 48 46 45 0 Gas Gas Gas Gas 139
19 Pedersen Hakon 15 NOR 50 44 51 0 Gas Gas Gas Gas 145
20 Ogawa Tsuyoshi 22 JPN 58 43 46 0 Beta Factory Racing Beta 147
21 Shibata Akira 28 JPN 53 48 51 0 Vertigo Vertigo 152
22 Nomoto Yoshiaki 24 JPN 54 52 51 0 Beta Beta 157
23 Dagnicourt Benoit 19 FRA 56 51 51 0 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 158
24 Kira Yuya 27 JPN 58 55 49 0 Beta Beta 162
25 Tournour Gianluca 23 ITA 53 55 57 0 Gas Gas Gas Gas 165
26 Saito Akio 25 JPN 56 53 58 0 Honda Honda 167
27 Sunada Masahiko 26 JPN 58 55 55 0 Honda Honda 168
Location Information

Race format 12 sections x 2 laps

Twin Ring Motegi, Haga District, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan - View in Google Maps

Records

Podium 2019 -day2- Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2019 -day1- Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2018 -day2- Jaime Busto - Toni Bou - Adam Raga
Podium 2018 -day1- Jeroni Fajardo - Adam Raga - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2017 -day2- Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Albert Cabestany
Podium 2017 -day1- Toni Bou - James Dabill - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2016 -day2- Toni Bou - Adam Raga - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2016 -day1- Adam Raga - Toni Bou - Takahisa Fujinami
Podium 2015 -day2- Toni Bou - Takahisa Fujinami - Jeroni Fajardo
Podium 2015 -day1- Toni Bou - Jeroni Fajardo - Adam Raga
Podium 2014 -day2- Adam Raga - Toni Bou - Albert Cabestany
Podium 2014 -day1- Adam Raga - Toni Bou - Takahisa Fujinami