Takahisa Fujinami up close and personal with the home crowd for the first podium of the year

Japanese Repsol Honda Team rider Takahisa Fujinami finished on the podium on the first day of the TrialGP competition in Japan. ‘Fujigas’ overtook team-mate Toni Bou who posted fourth.

Takahisa Fujinami took his Japanese podium tally in top flight competition to twenty-seven – the 161st rostrum place in his lengthy career. Today the rider found the right rhythm and forgot about the right shoulder injury. Fujigas rode at leisure to achieve a fine third-place result. Undoubtedly, the great support from the home crowd, at every section along the route, was a decisive factor in the season’s first podium. In the general standings Fujinami climbs to fifth place.

Meanwhile, current champion Toni Bou wasn’t experiencing his most inspired day, feeling ill at ease on the bike and finding that the overly-simple sections of the course played to his disadvantage. Moreover, mistakes were paid dearly with little subsequent chance of making up on dropped points. Bou lies in second overall, two points behind the leader.

Tomorrow, Sunday, sees day two of the Japanese trial, to be battled over the same route as today, where Bou will be hoping to return to form and get back onto the podium.