A rough day for Repsol Honda Team in the trial back on home soil. The Spanish GP first day finishes in Teo, with recently-crowned world champion Toni Bou in second place. Busto and Fujinami see their efforts compromised by physical issues.
Toni Bou went into the season’s final trial with a more laid-back approach after having sealed his ninth consecutive world championship title last weekend. In spite of the title, the Repsol Honda Team ace was as hungry for victory as ever, but saw hopes of a win on the first day fade after completing the twelve sections with an excess of penalty marks. The trial turned out to be a relatively simple affair, although some overnight and early morning rain had left the terrain in a delicate state. Even so, Bou and Raga – today’s winner – were able to complete the second lap collecting just one mark each on the scorecard. A five-point fault on the first lap and some last lap slip-ups meant the Montesa Cota 4RT rider had to settle for second place.
Jaime Busto was unable to overcome some physical issues and posted a final eighth place. The Basque novice suffered a bout of intestinal troubles and had difficulty finding the verve necessary to tackle the more troublesome sections in the trial in Teo. Nevertheless, Busto has his sixth overall position assured in the championship.
Takahisa Fujinami also had a bad day in the office in Galicia. The Japanese was unable to shake off the back problems that hampered progress in last week’s trial. A sharp movement in section one was enough to cause a recurrence of the pain that lasted throughout today’s entire event.
Tomorrow, Sunday, sees the second day of the Spanish GP and the final day of the FIM Trial World Championship.
Toni Bou
It was a difficult day. Once again, we had a trial where there was no chance of making a mistake, but I committed a fault on the first lap, maybe because I was not as focused as I should have been. The second lap went well, but I made some unnecessary errors on the final one. But anyway, I have to hand it to Adam, who made things harder today. When you don’t win, a runner-up spot is a positive result. It’s important to enjoy the weekend of the last round of the world championship which has been so good and go all out for the win tomorrow.
Jaime Busto
I wanted to give it everything here, but I think that I must have eaten something bad yesterday that made me feel ill. This morning I woke up with problems and I didn’t manage to improve until the final lap, where I finished with a more decent result. It’s a pity but I continue to believe that I can finish the season with a great result.
Takahisa Fujinami
I wasn’t able to train during the week as the physiotherapist has been treating me for the back pain that arose in Portugal. But I did train yesterday and this morning and everything felt good, but a double-step in the first section caused a pain that left me physically weak. I didn’t have the confidence to be able to finish some of the more complicated sections and my only hope now is to recover a bit tonight and finish the year well tomorrow.
Private: Miquel Cirera
You can’t win them all, plus Toni’s rivals are tough. Whenever he misses a chance they are straight in there and today he gave them a lot of opportunities. Today things didn’t turn out right, but that happens sometimes in trials. Tomorrow we will try our best to battle as we always do. Finishing in second place isn’t a bad result, but when you are use to winning and then you don’t, the whole thing seems a debacle. The rival was really good and we shouldn’t detract from his work. Fujinami continues to have the back problems and they need to be sorted out. He’s lost his confidence and when that happens the trials don’t turn out the right way. Jaime too wasn’t at his physical best and even though the last lap wasn’t so bad, we will have to fix that too.
Results day 1 GP Trial Spain
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | L1 | L2 | L3 | T3 | Champ | Team | Constructor | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raga Adam | 2 | SPA | 9 | 1 | 2 | 20 | Gas Gas Factory Team | Gas Gas | 12 | |
| 2 | Bou Toni | 1 | SPA | 17 | 1 | 11 | 17 | Repsol Honda Team | Montesa | 29 | |
| 3 | Cabestany Albert | 3 | SPA | 20 | 10 | 13 | 15 | Sherco Factory Team | Sherco | 43 | |
| 4 | Casales Jorge | 7 | SPA | 24 | 14 | 16 | 13 | Beta Factory Racing | Beta | 54 | |
| 5 | Fajardo Jeroni | 4 | SPA | 26 | 18 | 12 | 11 | Beta Factory Racing | Beta | 56 | |
| 6 | Ferrer Alexandre | 8 | FRA | 32 | 15 | 11 | 10 | Sherco Factory Team | Sherco | 58 | |
| 7 | Dabill James | 6 | GBR | 30 | 23 | 22 | 9 | Vertigo Factory Team | Vertigo | 75 | |
| 8 | Busto Jaime | 15 | SPA | 40 | 30 | 18 | 8 | Repsol Honda Team | Montesa | 88 | |
| 9 | Tarres Pol | 9 | SPA | 45 | 21 | 19 | 7 | Sherco Factory Team | Sherco | 95 | |
| 10 | Fujinami Takahisa | 5 | JPN | 45 | 37 | 15 | 6 | Repsol Honda Team | Montesa | 97 | |
| 11 | Moret Francesc | 18 | SPA | 46 | 35 | 36 | 5 | Vertigo Factory Team | Vertigo | 117 | |
| 12 | Karlsson Eddie | 14 | SWE | 38 | 40 | 45 | 4 | Montesa Team Karlsson | Montesa | 123 | |
| 13 | Sheppard Jack | 13 | GBR | 46 | 40 | 37 | 3 | Jgas | JTG | 123 | |
| 14 | Kadlec Franz | 16 | GER | 52 | 42 | 39 | 2 | Beta Factory Racing | Beta | 133 | |
| 15 | Pedersen Hakon | 12 | NOR | 53 | 48 | 36 | 1 | Ossa Pedersen | Ossa | 137 | |
| 16 | Sorensen Ole Kristian | 16 | NOR | 56 | 50 | 55 | 0 | Sherco Sorensen | Sherco | 161 |
Location Information
Teo, La Coruña, España - View in Google Maps
