Toni Bou closes in on a ninth trial world championship title. Repsol Honda Team’s top gun clinched a decisive career win on the first day of the Portuguese GP that also saw Jaime Busto narrowly miss the podium.

Repsol Honda Team rider Toni Bou sent a clear message to pretenders, showing who the numero uno in trial really is. Bou dominated the first day in Portugal with one of the best performances this season – not an easy task given the simplicity of the trial – where mistakes prove costly and nerves have to be contained. Toni picked up a sole penalty mark in section two of the first lap and went on to complete a near-flawless trial, collecting only two points for excess time.
Today’s victory leaves Bou just a short step away from collecting his ninth title. The Montesa Cota 4RT star will mathematically guarantee the crown tomorrow, if he repeat’s today’s achievement.

Jaime Busto proved to be the biggest surprise of the day, repeating a fourth place finish as he had done once earlier this season in the Czech Republic. Repsol Honda Team’s Basque rookie was in rostrum territory throughout the first two laps and looking poised for the year’s personal best until an excess of errors on the final loop put paid to the rider’s ambitions.

Takahisa Fujinami was hit by an attack of lumbago shortly after the start of the trial which made life difficult. The Japanese ex-champ battled on in spite of the pain but saw his efforts hampered as penalty marks began to accumulate on the score-sheet. Fujigas made it through to the end in eighth spot.

The second day of the Portuguese GP takes place tomorrow, once again in Pacos de Ferreira, with the same 12 kilometre route of 12 sections to be completed over three laps.

Toni Bou

RACE: 1st CHAMPIONSHIP: 1st

The title is really close but today Adam made things hard. The most important thing is to have got the victory today and be in the fight for the same result tomorrow. I’m happy to be winning trials again. Battling with Adam brings out the best of me. We are riding like never before. We are at a point of near-perfection that will be difficult to beat, which is worth a lot more than the victory because we know there’s no room for error. I think that I’ve been improving in the easier trials and I showed it today.

Jaime Busto

RACE: 4th CHAMPIONSHIP: 6th

Today I was very motivated. I really wanted to get it right and I knew from this morning that it was going to be a good day. I remained very positive throughout the trial and I felt perfectly at ease on the bike. I was riding very well on the first two laps and I’m pleased about that. On the final lap I picked up a fault for stopping which meant I collected more marks, but it has been a great day for me all the same.

Takahisa Fujinami

RACE: 8th CHAMPIONSHIP: 5th

A tough day for me. I had a few back problems last week. I tried to soothe the pain but in the second section it came back and then, after that, the sections were like a lottery for me and I made a lot of faults. At the end of the second lap I started warming up and the pain let up a bit. I was unable to compete at high level and I feel bad for the team because for this trial you need a high level and I wasn’t up to it.

Private: Miquel Cirera

Team Manager

Today we managed to get a great result with Toni and Jaime. It was a pity that he just missed out on a podium place on the third lap. It was also a shame that Fujinami wasn’t in a condition to fight for a better result. We are really pleased to have obtained another constructor’s championship title and we hope to continue celebrating tomorrow with more good results helping Toni to get his ninth world championship title. Once again, I’d like to thank all the team for all the effort, in this, a hard trial with complicated conditions.

Trial 2015
Trial Round T8 , Trial 1   Pacos de Ferreira

Results Trial Portugal day 1

Pos. Rider Num Nation L1 L2 L3 T3 Team Constructor Points
1 Bou Toni 1 SPA 1 0 0 2 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 3
2 Raga Adam 2 SPA 2 0 1 4 Gas Gas Factory Team Gas Gas 7
3 Fajardo Jeroni 4 SPA 14 8 1 3 Beta Factory Racing Beta 26
4 Busto Jaime 15 SPA 8 7 16 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 36
5 Cabestany Albert 3 SPA 17 10 7 2 Sherco Factory Team Sherco 36
6 Casales Jorge 7 SPA 16 17 10 3 Beta Factory Racing Beta 46
7 Ferrer Alexandre 8 FRA 17 22 17 Sherco Factory Team Sherco 56
8 Fujinami Takahisa 5 JPN 33 22 10 Repsol Honda Team Montesa 65
9 Moret Francesc 18 SPA 27 30 17 2 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 76
10 Dabill James 6 GBR 29 24 22 2 Vertigo Factory Team Vertigo 77
11 Karlsson Eddie 14 SWE 30 11 29 8 Montesa Team Karlsson Montesa 80
12 Tarres Pol 9 SPA 39 19 27 3 Sherco Factory Team Sherco 88
13 Kadlec Franz 16 GER 33 24 28 8 Beta Factory Racing Beta 93
14 Sheppard Jack 13 GBR 51 39 47 1 Jgas JTG 138
Location Information

Paços de Ferreira, Portugal - View in Google Maps