British battlers take titles as 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship wraps up in France - full report and series standings
By Team TMX on 4th Sep 23
News Trials Trial World Championship
Three British world champions crowned on day two the TrialGP of France in Vertolaye.
The 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship came to a thrilling, nerve-jangling conclusion at Vertolaye yesterday when day two of the TrialGP of France saw four champions crowned as the series signed off in fine style. Toni Bou (Montesa) had secured his seventeenth consecutive TrialGP title on the opening day.
Following a tense day of top-flight competition, Emma Bristow (Sherco) retained her TrialGP Women Championship, Billy Green (Scorpa) clinched the Trial2 crown, Alycia Soyer (TRRS) secured the Trial2 Women title and George Hemingway (Beta) replaced his older brother Harry as King of the Trial3 class.
Emma Bristow started Sunday with a thirteen-point lead and underlined her position as the best female rider on the planet with her eighth straight win of the season ensuring her ninth title in ten years.
Spain’s Berta Abellan (Scorpa) has fought hard all year, shocking Bristow at the series opener in April with a double victory, but she had no answer to the reigning champion’s silky-smooth skills as on a low-scoring day as the British star followed up an opening lap of four with a second-lap total of seven to run out winner by four marks.
“Today was good,” said Bristow. “I feel like I have been riding well all weekend and have had a good feeling with the bike. I have been quite relaxed and super-positive and I couldn’t be happier with the bike and the team.”
Italy’s Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) was a further twenty marks behind in third to retain her third-placed ranking ahead of Naomi Monnier (GASGAS) who, after Saturday’s home podium finish, slipped to fourth on thirty-eight with Norway’s Huldeborg Barkved (TRRS) rounding out the top five on the day on fifty-two.
The outcome in Trial2 hung in the balance almost all through Sunday, which was an accurate reflection of a season that has been closely-contested, hard-fought and at times completely unpredictable.
Billy Green started Sunday as Trial2 series leader, but slipped to third in the standings after finishing out of the points as fellow British rider Jack Peace (Sherco) and Pablo Suarez from Spain moved into the joint lead.
While Spain’s Arnau Farre (Sherco) dominated the day's action with his laps of eight and four earning him his third victory of the season – despite accumulating ten time penalties – the battle raged further down the order.
Too close to call following the opening lap, Green showed that he had learned from his Saturday performance and was able to soak up the pressure and perform at his best. As Peace slipped out of contention and Suarez gritted his teeth to ride through the discomfort of a shoulder injury he sustained on the last section of lap one, Green climbed up the leaderboard to finish second on a score of twenty-nine.
Finishing before Suarez, the twenty-one-year-old had to endure a tense wait before it was confirmed that the title was heading home with him when his brave title rival finished ninth after losing vital marks in the closing sections.
“Yesterday was a nightmare and my riding was not there,” said Green. “I was very upset last night and thought I had thrown it away, but I have a great team behind me and lots of support so I got my head down today and somehow pulled it off. To win the championship is amazing.”
Harry Hemingway (Beta) completed a solid first season in Trial2 with his third podium finish of the year ahead of home hero Hugo Dufrese (GASGAS) and defending champion Sondre Haga (GASGAS) with a disappointed Peace back in fourteenth, but still third in the championship.
The dominant force in the Trial2 Women class, Alycia Soyer’s one-hundred per cent podium record came to an end today when she was pushed back to fourth, but the rising French star still ran out champion by four points ahead of Italy’s Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS).
“I am very happy to win the championship,” said Soyer. “It was not a good day for me today and I made some big mistakes, but I am still champion.”
Bacchetta has pushed Soyer hard all season and her efforts were rewarded with a second victory on a total of fourteen, four ahead of series newcomer Mette Fidje (Sherco) from Norway and seven clear of Italy’s Martina Brandani (Sherco) with Soyer ending the day on twenty-four.
Despite coming home in seventh for the second day in a row, third in the championship went to Spain’s Laia Pi Ramirez (Beta).
George Hemingway has dominated Trial3 this season and completed a run of eleven consecutive podium finishes – including six victories – took the title by twenty-three points from opening round double winner Jone Sandvik (Sherco) from Norway.
“I can’t really describe how I’m feeling,” said Hemingway. “After watching my brother win it last year I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps and I managed to make it happen.”
Claiming his third win of the season, Britain’s Jamie Galloway (TRRS) consolidated third in the championship on a score of twenty-three which was one ahead of Hemingway as Poland’s Pawel Ryncarz (GASGAS) and Miko Pedretti (Beta) from Italy pushed series runner-up Sandvik back to fifth on the day.
2023 TrialGP Women results round-by-round
| Rider | Nat | Motorcycle | Spain | Portugal | Japan | Italy | France | Total | |
| 1 | Emma Bristow | GBR | Sherco | 15-17 | 20-20 | 20-20 | 20-20 | 20-20 | 192 |
| 2 | Berta Abellan | ESP | Scorpa | 20-20 | 17-17 | 17-17 | 17-17 | 17-17 | 176 |
| 3 | Andrea Sofia Rabino | ITA | Beta | 17-13 | 13-13 | 10-15 | 15-15 | 13-15 | 139 |
| 4 | Naomi Monnier | FRA | GASGAS | 11-15 | 15-10 | 9-13 | 11-13 | 15-13 | 125 |
| 5 | Alice Minta | GBR | Scorpa | 13-11 | 10-15 | 15-11 | 8-7 | 9-10 | 109 |
| 6 | Huldeborg Barkved | NOR | TRRS | 9-10 | 11-11 | 13-10 | 9-6 | 10-11 | 100 |
| 7 | Madeleine Hoover | USA | GASGAS | 6-5 | 7-8 | 8-8 | 6-10 | 8-8 | 74 |
| 8 | Alicia Robinson | GBR | Beta | 7-4 | 8-4 | 11-7 | 10-8 | 6-5 | 70 |
| 9 | Keity Meier | EST | TRRS | 5-7 | 9-7 | 6-9 | 5-5 | 0-4 | 57 |
| 10 | Kaytlyn Adshead | GBR | TRRS | 8-8 | 4-9 | - | 7-9 | 5-6 | 56 |
2023 Trial2 results round-by-round
| Rider | Nat | Motorcycle | Spain | Portugal | Japan | San Marino | Andorra | Italy | France | Total | |
| 1 | Billy Green | GBR | Scorpa | 11-17 | 20-20 | 13-17 | 8-15 | 10-17 | 11-20 | 0-17 | 196 |
| 2 | Suarez Jambrina Pablo | ESP | Montesa | 20-15 | 11-10 | 15-4 | 15-11 | 20-15 | 10-17 | 20-7 | 190 |
| 3 | Jack Peace | GBR | Sherco | 10-20 | 17-17 | 17-15 | 17-13 | 7-8 | 17-15 | 10-2 | 185 |
| 4 | Sondre Haga | NOR | GASGAS | 15-7 | 15-15 | 7-1 | 20-17 | 9-10 | 20-6 | 0-11 | 153 |
| 5 | Arnau Farre Garcia | ESP | Sherco | 17-11 | 3-13 | 20-20 | 5-10 | 11-9 | 6-2 | 4-20 | 151 |
| 6 | Hugo Dufrese | FRA | GASGAS | 8-9 | 13-9 | 0-11 | 13-6 | 5-3 | 15-11 | 11-13 | 127 |
| 7 | Harry Hemingway | GBR | Beta | 9-5 | 6-8 | 5-3 | 10-7 | 15-11 | 8-4 | 15-15 | 121 |
| 8 | Alex Canales Martos | ESP | Sherco | 13-13 | 10-11 | 10-2 | 7-1 | 3-13 | - | 13-10 | 106 |
| 9 | Jack Dance | GBR | GASGAS | 7-1 | 2-5 | 2-8 | 11-20 | 13-20 | 0-10 | 0-1 | 100 |
| 10 | Pau Martinez Suarez | ESP | Vertigo | 3-10 | 8-7 | - | 6-4 | 0-7 | 9-0 | 9-8 | 71 |
2023 Trial3 results round-by-round
| Rider | Nat | Motorcycle | Spain | Portugal | San Marino | Andorra | Italy | France | Total | |
| 1 | George Hemingway | GBR | Beta | 11-17 | 20-20 | 20-20 | 15-17 | 20-15 | 20-17 | 212 |
| 2 | Jone Sandvik | NOR | Sherco | 20-20 | 15-17 | 11-17 | 20-13 | 17-13 | 15-11 | 189 |
| 3 | Jamie Galloway | GBR | TRRS | 10-9 | 17-11 | 15-11 | 13-20 | 13-20 | 17-20 | 176 |
| 4 | Alfie Lampkin | GBR | Vertigo | 15-13 | 10-15 | 17-13 | 10-15 | 10-10 | 11-10 | 149 |
| 5 | Pawel Ryncarz | POL | GASGAS | 17-10 | 11-8 | 13-10 | 17-11 | 15-9 | 8-15 | 144 |
| 6 | Mirko Pedretti | ITA | Beta | 13-15 | 13-13 | 8-9 | 8-10 | 9-11 | 13-13 | 135 |
| 7 | Romeo Piquet | FRA | Beta | 9-8 | 9-10 | 9-15 | 9-8 | 11-17 | 6-6 | 117 |
| 8 | Jonas Jorgensen | NOR | Beta | 8-11 | 8-7 | 10-8 | 11-9 | 8-8 | 10-7 | 105 |
| 9 | Johannes Heidel | GER | TRRS | 7-3 | 5-9 | 6-7 | 3-6 | 7-6 | 9-9 | 77 |
| 10 | Alessandro Ame | ITA | TRRS | 6-7 | 2-5 | 7-3 | 7-7 | 4-5 | 1-0 | 54 |
2023 Trial2 Women results round-by-round
| Rider | Nat | Motorcycle | Andorra | Italy | France | Total | |
| 1 | Alycia Soyer | FRA | TRRS | 20-20 | 17-20 | 20-13 | 110 |
| 2 | Alessia Bacchetta | ITA | GASGAS | 17-15 | 20-17 | 17-20 | 106 |
| 3 | Laia Pi Ramirez | ESP | Beta | 15-17 | 15-11 | 9-9 | 76 |
| 4 | Seline Meling | NOR | Beta | 11-11 | 11-15 | 15-10 | 73 |
| 5 | Marine Aurieres | FRA | Beta | 13-13 | 8-9 | 10-8 | 61 |
| 6 | Martina Brandani | ITA | Sherco | - | 13-13 | 11-15 | 52 |
| 7 | Lillie Yiatrou | AUS | Vertigo | 9-10 | 7-8 | 6-5 | 45 |
| 8 | Sophie Bailey | GBR | TRRS | 7-9 | 6-5 | 7-7 | 41 |
| 9 | Justyna Lonycz | POL | GASGAS | - | 10-10 | 8-11 | 39 |
| 10 | Chantal De Raaff | NED | GASGAS | 8-7 | 5-6 | 5-6 | 37 |
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