Twin Ring: Bou wins in Japan
By TMX Archives on 12th Jun 09
FOR the second round in a row Toni Bou recorded back-to back wins to move into a commanding position at the head of the 2009 SPEA FIM Trial World Championship. The 21 year-old reigning champion totally dominated Saturday's trial in Japan, before defeating his Repsol team-mate Takahisa Fujinami on a most cleans tie-break to take the win on Sunday. The Japanese rider twice followed Bou home and narrowly missed out on what would have been a highly popular win in front of his many thousands of home fans.
Whilst the Montesa duo were in control, Adam Raga looked completely out of sorts and had to fight for his podium place on both days. Raga's mistake-filled trip leaves him 19 points behind his Spanish compatriot in the title race with just four single day rounds remaining.
There were plenty of smiles in the healthy British contingent that had made the long trip east, with our homeboys packing the ranks in all three classes. Veteran campaigner Dougie Lampkin showed he has lost none of his hunger with two solid fourth places, which with a bit of better luck could have been a pair of rostrum finishes. Just four marks separated the 33 year-old from third place on Saturday, with Raga having to rely on a single clean to get the better of Dougie on Sunday.
British championship leader James Dabill was on equally good form on the first day, finishing fifth after having tied on points with Lampkin. However, Sunday was to see Dabill suffer his worst result of the campaign to date as he slumped to tenth position in the drier and warmer conditions.
This is the tenth time the World Championship has visited the purpose-built Motegi motorsport facility in as many years and the terrain has been exploited to the full over the last decade, with the steep bankings and imported boulders now offering little variation year on year. Thankfully heavy rain on Friday night added much needed severity to the zones for Saturday's trial, with many of the riders predicting a very low scoring event prior to the persistent down pour.
After the initial arena style hazard, the opening zones showed the effect the rain had had with the steep climbs being extremely slippery and the boulders becoming equally greasy. Lampkin was amongst a string of top riders who came unstuck at the final double step in section three. Despite this early setback Lampkin was quickly back on the pace to hold third spot come the punch card change, the Beta rider being one mark better than Raga. Bou was way out in front, losing just two dabs in the very difficult ninth hazard on his first lap, to head Fujinami by 10 clear marks.
Bou was simply in a class of his own and could afford to adopt a more cautious approach on his second visit to the slippery sections. Another two in section nine and two further dabs took Toni's tally to a mere six marks for the entire day to seal the victory over Fujinami by an impressive 15 marks. Raga staged a mini recovery and was helped on to the podium as Lampkin suffered back-to-back fives in sections eight and nine. Dabill produced a stunning last lap performance to draw level with Dougie, but lost the tie break by virtue of having five less cleans.
Sunday's sunnier and warmer weather saw the organisers making changes to five hazards overnight in an attempt to counteract the drying conditions. The first to have any impact was at the end of section six, where the narrowed exit ruled out the ‘cheat' route the riders had used 24 hours earlier. Lampkin joined Bou, Cabestany and Dabill to mention but a few who failed to successfully make it to the ends cards. This allowed Raga to move into an early lead with Fujinami chasing him closely.
Raga's reign was short-lived as he notched up three maximums in the closing five hazards to put himself back in fifth spot at the halfway point. In contrast Bou had ridden himself back into contention to trail Fujinami by six marks during the later part of the first lap to give himself an outside chance of victory. Toni applied the pressure brilliantly as Takahisa desperately clung onto a lead, which potentially could have given him both the day and overall win to repeat the single home GP win he recorded back in 2004. In the end the tension proved to be too much for Fujinami as he fived section eleven to put himself level with Bou with four hazards to go.
Neither Montesa rider lost any further marks during the dramatic finale, with Bou declared the winner for the second day running, this time by a single clean as he defeated his team-mate in the narrowest of tie breaks. In a similar way Lampkin allowed Raga to snatch third spot from his grasp as he once again failed at the short double step in section 12, where Adam only lost a single dab during his two visits.
Dougie now sits fifth in the championship standings, having been overtaken by Fujinami, but having moved within touching distance of Albert Cabestany who suffered a disastrous weekend. The Sherco factory rider was forced to switch to a second bike after the team was unable to cure an engine problem despite working late into Friday night.
Most of the top riders will enjoy a break this coming weekend before they head to Italy for the next round of the series on June 21. For Dougie there is no such respite, as he switches disciplines once again to take his place on the line at the Red Bull Erzberg extreme enduro in Austria this Sunday.
nIN the Junior and Youth classes it was a brilliant British whitewash with Alexz Wigg and Jonathan Richardson both earning important double victories to move well clear of their rivals at the top of the overall standings in their respective categories. It was a long and expensive trip but both contenders gained full benefit.
Alexz has now won an impressive six from the seven rounds held to date while young Yorkie Richardson is only just behind this strike rate with five from seven – ironically losing out on the wins in both his home rounds.
Jack Challoner also made his long journey to Japan very worthwhile as he twice finished as runner-up to Wigg in the Junior division to close in on the top three in the series.
Both Richardson and Wigg now look clear favourites to lift these two titles and have the luxury of dropping their two worst results with just four counting days to go.
Unfortunately Ross Danby, who has committed himself to the series whole-heartedly, did not enjoy the best of weekends with a disappointing, for him, showing despite having given it his best shot.
WORLD TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 4 – Twin Ring Motegi, JAPAN
DAY ONE
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) 2 + 4 + - = 6
2 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Montesa) 12 + 9 + - = 21
3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) 15 + 12 + - = 27
4 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) (19x0) 14 + 17 + - = 31
5 James DABILL (GB - Gas Gas) (14x0) 21 + 10 + - = 31
6 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 23 + 10 + - = 33
7 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco 15 + 19 + - = 34
8 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 30 + 16 + - = 46
9 Kenichi Kuroyama (J - Yamaha) 28 + 25 + - = 53
10 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 30 + 26 + - = 56
11 Michael BROWN (GB - Sherco) 37 + 40 + - = 77
12 Fumitaka Nozaki (J - Yamaha) (9x0,3x1) 46 + 32 + - = 78
13 Tomoyuki Ogawa (J - Honda) (9x0,2x1) 39 + 39 + - = 78
14 Henri Himmanen (SF - Beta) 43 + 45 + - = 88
15 Isao Shibuya (J - Honda) 51 + 43 + - = 94
DAY TWO
1 Toni Bou (E - Montesa) (23x0) 13 + 7 + - = 20
2 Takahisa Fujinami (J - Mont) (22x0) 7 + 13 + - = 20
3 Adam Raga (E - Gas Gas) (20x0) 19 + 12 + - = 31
4 Dougie LAMPKIN (GB - Beta) (19x0) 16 + 15 + - = 31
5 Jeroni Fajardo (E - Beta) 17 + 18 + - = 35
6 Marc Freixa (E - Gas Gas) 21 + 23 + - = 44
7 Kenichi Kuroyama (J - Yamaha) 20 + 22 + 7 = 49
8 Albert Cabestany (E - Sherco) 26 + 31 + - = 57
9 Loris Gubian (F - Gas Gas) 26 + 35 + - = 61
10 James DABILL (GB - Gas Gas) (14x0) 32 + 31 + - = 63
11 Michael BROWN (GB - Sherco) (9x0) 35 + 28 + - = 63
12 Tomoyuki Ogawa (J - Honda) 37 + 31 + - = 68
13 Fumitaka Nozaki (J - Yamaha) 46 + 34 + - = 80
14 Tsuyoshi Ogawa (J - HM Future) (9x0) 41 + 40 + - = 81
15 Daniel Oliveras (E - Gas Gas) (8x0) 41 + 40 + - = 81
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 Bou 137 points, 2 Raga 118, 3 Cabestany 86, 4 Fujinami 83, 5 LAMPKIN 80, 6 Fajardo 76, 7 DABILL 67, 8 Freixa 60, 9 Gubian 49, 10 BROWN 44, 11 Oliveras 26, 12 Kuroyama 16, 13 Henri Himmanen 12, 14 Shaun MORRIS 9, 15 Tomoyuki Ogawa 7, 16 Nozaki 7, 17 Tsuyoshi Ogawa 2, 18 Shibuya 1.
WORLD JUNIOR TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 4 – Twin Ring Motegi, JAPAN
DAY ONE
1 Alexz WIGG (GB - Beta) 14 + 10 = 24
2 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 18 + 13 = 31
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 22 + 14 = 36
4 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 22 + 16 = 38
5 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 29 + 21 = 50
6 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 32 + 25 = 57
7 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) 29 + 33 = 62
8 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 37 + 26 = 63
9 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 48 + 18 = 66
10 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) 29 + 40 = 69
11 Akira Shibata (J - Honda) 38 + 43 = 81
12 Yoshiaki Nomoto (J - Beta) 40 + 42 = 82
DAY TWO
1 Alexz WIGG (GB - Beta) 6 + 5 = 11
2 Jack CHALLONER (GB - Beta) 9 + 5 = 14
3 Matteo Grattarola (I - Sherco) 6 + 11 = 17
4 Alfredo Gomez (E - Montesa) 14 + 5 = 19
5 Alexandre Ferrer (F - Sherco) 13 + 7 = 20
6 Benoit Dagnicourt (F - Beta) 18 + 7 = 25
7 Ross DANBY (GB - Gas Gas) 17 + 14 = 31
8 Guillaume Laniel (F - Gas Gas) 21 + 12 = 33
9 Francesc Moret (E - Gas Gas) (15x0) 23 + 22 = 45
10 Simone Staltari (I - Gas Gas) (14x0) 29 + 16 = 45
11 Akira Shibata (J - Honda) 35 + 24 = 59
12 Yoshiaki Nomoto (J - Beta) 35 + 32 = 67
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 WIGG 137 points, 2 Gomez 112, 3 Grattarola 105, 4 CHALLONER 94, 5 Ferrer 68, 6 Laniel 57, 7 DANBY 57, 8 Dagnicourt 52, 9 Moret 40, 10 Sam HASLAM 36, 11 Staltari 33, 12 George MORTON 20, 13 Patrick Smage 17, 14 James FRY 15, 15 Gyllenhammar 14,... 21 Craig ROBINSON 3,... 22 Ben WIBBERLEY 1.
FIM YOUTH TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 4 – Twin Ring Motegi, JAPAN
DAY ONE
1 Jonathan RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 13 + 7 = 20
2 Tanguy Mottin (F - Gas Gas) 16 + 11 = 27
3 Luca Cotone (I - Beta) 19 + 15 = 34
4 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sherco) 18 + 17 = 35
5 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) 29 + 18 = 47
6 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) 28 + 22 = 50
7 Carlos Traviesa (E - Gas Gas) 31 + 23 = 54
8 Matteo Cominoli (I - Beta) 30 + 25 = 55
9 Kota Fujimaki (J - Gas Gas) 39 + 23 = 62
10 Hikaru Takiguchi (J - Scorpa) 55 + 43 = 98
11 Yuya Kira (J - Gas Gas) (3x0) 50 + 52 = 102
12 Arro Castells (E - Gas Gas) (1x0) 53 + 49 = 102
DAY TWO
1 Jon RICHARDSON (GB - Sherco) 5 + 0 = 5
2 Maxime Warenghien (B - Sher) (21x0) 8 + 7 = 15
3 Tanguy Mottin (F - Gas Gas) (19x0) 9 + 6 = 15
4 Carlos Traviesa (E - Gas Gas) 11 + 6 = 17
5 Hakon Pedersen (N - Sherco) (19x0) 12 + 9 = 21
6 Pere Borrellas (E - Gas Gas) (17x0) 11 + 10 = 21
7 Luca Cotone (I - Beta) (17x0) 17 + 8 = 25
8 Matteo Cominoli (I - Beta) (15x0) 15 + 10 = 25
9 Kota Fujimaki (J - Gas Gas) 23 + 23 = 46
10 Hikaru Takiguchi (J - Scorpa) 39 + 36 = 75
11 Arro Castells (E - Gas Gas) 41 + 40 = 81
12 Yuya Kira (J - Gas Gas) 50 + 49 = 99
SERIES STANDINGS after 4 rounds: 1 RICHARDSON 132 points, 2 Mottin 97, 3 Warenghien 88, 4 Traviesa 87, 5 Cotone 78, 6 Borrellas 78, 7 Pedersen 60, 8 Jonathan WALKER 48, 9 Marc Horrach 45, 10 Ben MORPHETT 41,... 21 Josh BRAIN 2,...
NEXT ROUND: June 21 – Barzio Milano, ITALY
Dougie Lampkin enjoyed a good weekend's work with a pair of fourth places.