Bou's Japanese stranglehold...
By TMX Archives on 4th Jun 08
TONI Bou went into the twin Japanese World Championship rounds holding a narrow, seven-point series lead over second-placed Takahisa Fujinami but Bou flew back to Spain a very happy chappy after scoring a brace of wins, which more than doubled his points lead over arch-rival Adam Raga and ended a profitable weekend 15 points clear of new second-placeman Raga. Bou, Raga and Fujinami finished in that order on the podium each day. It was a much better weekend for Britain's Dougie Lampkin as well as Doug brought the factory Beta two-stroke home in a clear fourth place each day. And on the second day especially, in drier conditions, he finished well clear of double fifth-placed man Jeroni Fajardo and on the pace of the top three rather than the chasing pack.
As in recent years the Japanese round of the World Trials series was staged at the Honda-owned Twin Ring Motegi race circuit with the sections set round the perimeter of the track. When riders previewed the sections on Friday the general feeling was that they were set too hard, with former World Championship ace Takumi Narita having advised on the sections.
Heavy rain, not unknown at previous trials at this venue, pushed sections that were already on the limit, over the top.
In these severe conditions Bou was able to show just why he is the undisputed number one, taking a 21 mark lead after the first of the two laps of 15 sections. Fujigas did have a problem when he holed a clutch case and lost valuable time replacing it but it's fair to say it didn't cost him too dearly.
As he often does these days, Adam Raga started relatively poorly but hit back strongly on the second lap when there was actually only six marks between him and day one winner, Bou.
But for every rider, apart from Bou, by far the busiest column in the results sheet was the one reserved for fives. Albert Cabestany had a pretty torrid time on the four-stroke Sherco and he clocked-up 11 maximums on each lap from the 15 sections tackled.
Sixth place was actually taken by Japanese wild card Kenichi Kuroyama on the Scorpa. Kenny was a regular in Europe for many years but the fact that he scored only three cleans tells it all about the severity of the sections.
Michael Brown pipped James Dabill by a single mark in this battle for survival as the two Brits made it home in ninth and tenth ahead of Marc Freixa and a gaggle of Japanese wild cards.
With better conditions on Sunday the more skilled riders were able to forge ahead and once again Raga made the poorest first lap of the top three before typically bouncing back to post the lowest lap score of the weekend with a superb effort of just 13 which included 11 cleans and just a single maximum. It was not quite enough to pip Bou though who, despite making one more maximum, managed a lap of 17 to take the win - but by just two marks.
Dougie kept Fujinami honest and gave his former team mate a real scare for the final podium place with a grat final lap but in the end had to give best by just six marks. Dibs managed to squeeze up to eighth, jamming Tomoyuki Ogawa and Marc Freixa in between himself and Michael Brown.
For full report and pictures see T+MX NEWS, Friday, June 6, 2008
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Twin-Ring Motegi, JAPAN
DAY ONE
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 31 + 39 + - = 70
2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 52 + 45 + - = 97
3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 53 + 49 + - = 102
4 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) 57 + 52 + - = 109
5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 63 + 52 + - = 115
6 Kinichi Kuroyama (J - Yamaha) 56 + 62 + - = 118
7 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 61 + 59 + - = 120
8 Tomoyuki Ogawa (J - Honda) 64 + 57 + - = 121
9 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 61 + 65 + - = 126
10 James DABILL (GB - Montesa) 68 + 59 + - = 127
11 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 66 + 62 + - = 128
12 Fumitaka Nozaki (J - Yamaha) 66 + 62 + - = 128
13 Daniel Oliveras (E - Sherco) 73 + 69 + - = 142
14 Tsuyoshi Ogawa (J - Honda) 71 + 71 + - = 142
15 Masataro Iuchi (J - Beta) 69 + 75 + - = 144
DAY TWO
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 23 + 17 + - = 40
2 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 29 + 13 + - = 42
3 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 23 + 28 + - = 51
4 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) 32 + 25 + - = 57
5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 35 + 46 + - = 81
6 Fumitaka Nozaki (J - Yamaha) 54 + 36 + - = 90
7 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 47 + 47 + - = 94
8 James DABILL (GB - Montesa) 59 + 36 + - = 95
9 Tomoyuki Ogawa (J - Honda) 49 + 46 + - = 95
10 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 55 + 47 + - = 102
11 Michael BROWN (GB - Beta) 59 + 44 + - = 103
12 Kinichi Kuroyama (J - Yamaha) 55 + 50 + - = 105
13 Masataro Iuchi (J - Beta) 65 + 65 + - = 130
14 Tsuyoshi Ogawa (J - Honda) 69 + 70 + - = 139
15 Kazuhiro Onishi (J - Honda) 73 + 67 + - = 140
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 Bou 114 points, 2 Raga 99, 3 Fujinami 97, 4 Cabestany 66, 5 LAMPKIN 66, 6 Fajardo 66, 7 Freixa 51, 8 DABILL 48, 9 BROWN 38, 10 Oliveras 29, 11 Ogawa 15, 12 Nozaki 14, 13 Kuroyama 14, 14 Jerome Bethune 10, 15 Daniele Maurino 7, 16 Shaun MORRIS 6, 17 Iuchi 4, 18 Ogawa 4, 19 Jordi Pasquet 3, 20 Carsten Stranghoner 3, 21 Onishi 1, 22 Henri Himmanen 1.
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 4 – Twin-Ring Motegi, JAPAN
DAY ONE
1 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 48 + 48 + - = 96
2 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa) 57 + 51 + - = 108
3 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 60 + 50 + - = 110
4 Sam HASLAM (GB - Gas Gas) 54 + 58 + - = 112
5 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 66 + 55 + - = 121
6 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 55 + 66 + 1 = 122
7 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 66 + 52 + 6 = 124
8 Yoshiaki Nomoto (J - Beta) 65 + 64 + - = 129
9 Akio Saito (J - Honda) 70 + 65 + - = 135
10 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa) 65 + 73 + - = 138
11 Akira Shibata (J - Honda) 68 + 71 + - = 139
12 Kyohei Nagakubo (J - Sherco) 70 + 71 + - = 141
13 Ewoud Lalkens (NL - Gas Gas) 73 + 72 + - = 145
DAY TWO
1 Alexz WIGG (GB - Montesa) 22 + 23 + - = 45
2 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 33 + 29 + - = 62
3 Sam HASLAM (GB - Gas Gas) 35 + 28 + - = 63
4 Loris Gubian (F - Sherco) 37 + 27 + - = 64
5 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 45 + 38 + - = 83
6 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 47 + 42 + - = 89
7 Laia Sanz (E - Montesa) 51 + 45 + - = 96
8 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 47 + 50 + - = 97
9 Akio Saito (J - Honda) 56 + 55 + - = 111
10 Akira Shibata (J - Honda) 53 + 63 + - = 116
11 Yoshiaki Nomoto (J - Beta) 67 + 55 + - = 122
12 Kyohei Nagakubo (J - Sherco) 71 + 61 + - = 132
13 Ewoud Lalkens (NL - Gas Gas) 71 + 69 + - = 140
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 WIGG 105 points, 2 Gubian 97, 3 HASLAM 83, 4 Gomez 78, 5 DANBY 75, 6 Grattarola 68, 7 Laniel 53, 8 Sanz 29, 9 Fredrik Johansson 23, 10 David Millan 23, 11 Jochen Schaefer 18, 12 Cody Webb 16, 13 Saito 14, 14 Lee SAMPSON 14, 15 Nomoto 13,... 22 George MORTON 3,... 24 James FRY 1.
FIM YOUTH TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
DAY ONE
1 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 55 + 55 + - = 110
2 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 54 + 57 + - = 111
3 Patrick Smage (US - Sherco) 61 + 58 + - = 119
4 Jake Whitaker (NZ - HM) 67 + 59 + - = 126
5 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 60 + 66 + - = 126
6 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 69 + 66 + - = 135
7 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 71 + 64 + - = 135
8 Kota Fujimaki (J - Gas Gas) 63 + 75 + - = 138
9 Hikaru Takiguchi (J - Scorpa) 71 + 75 + - = 146
10 Yuicji Oota (J - Scorpa) 75 + 75 + - = 150
11 Ryuji Matsumoto (J - Scorpa) 75 + 75 + - = 150
DAY TWO
1 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 41 + 38 + - = 79
2 Patrick Smage (US - Sherco) 45 + 49 + - = 94
3 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 53 + 43 + - = 96
4 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 56 + 52 + - = 108
5 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 60 + 48 + - = 108
6 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 68 + 48 + - = 116
7 Jake Whitaker (NZ - HM) 64 + 54 + - = 118
8 Kota Fujimaki (J - Gas Gas) 71 + 62 + - = 133
9 Hikaru Takiguchi (J - Scorpa) 75 + 73 + - = 148
10 Ryuji Matsumoto (J - Scorpa) 75 + 75 + - = 150
11 Yuicji Oota (J - Scorpa) 75 + 75 + - = 150
SERIES STANDINGS: 1 CHALLONER 111 points, 2 Smage 99, 3 Moret 88, 4 Ferrer 71, 5 Dagnicourt 62, 6 Adrian Pastoriza 49, 7 Borrellas 46, 8 Pau Botella 44, 9 Whitaker 37, 10 Jonathan RICHARDSON 30, 11 Fujimaki 16, 12 Takiguchi 14, 13 Matsumoto 11, 14 Oota 11, 15 Tanguy Mottin 10,... 23 Adam JONES 4,... 25 Jonathan WALKER 3,... 28 Jack THOMPSON 1.
NEXT ROUND: Jun 22 – Maisse, FRANCE.