Trials Torque: Brit boys are full of Eastern promise
By John Dickinson on 27th Apr 16
THE World trials Championship has just returned from its only flyaway round this year, to Japan.
And it looks like the Motegi organisers did a great job having had a complete re-think on their sections, despite limited scope on the perimeter of the iconic race circuit.
This included several steep, slippery grassy climbs that took marks from riders out of their comfort zone of step after step.
This could well act as a clue to future section setters, that there is more to trials than six-foot rock steps.
It was clearly a great weekend for the Brits in Trial2, with Jack Price winning on the opening day and then Dan Peace nailing a maiden win.
They were joined on the podium by Iwan Roberts and Price on day two. With Iwan and Jack P. now first and second in the series it doesn't get much better.
And, of course, with Dan's brother Jack dominating the Youths it is a great time to be British.
It might not be quite as rosy for Team GB in TrialGP but James Dabill took two solid top-10 places which could have been even better with just a tiny piece of luck.
He was close to fifth place both days and keeping his new Vertigo team-mate Jeroni Fajardo well in his sights.
For Michael Brown it was a return to the site that ended his 2015 season and while Michael battled it out to the end, his results give lie to the fact that he is struggling with both fitness and confidence.
Up at the sharp end it is pretty much as you were with a below-par Bou, still nursing an injured shoulder, just managing to keep a fully-motivated Adam Raga at bay.
And surely everyone was happy for Takahisa Fujinami, as the Repsol-Honda veteran nailed a solid podium – his second of the weekend – on his 300th TrialGP start and all on Honda/ Montesa machinery.
It was a weekend to forget in TrialGP for the Beta factory, with just four Championship points to show for their trouble.
World No.9 Jorge Casales – who was expected to challenge for top-five placings this season – managed just a single point for 15th place on the opening day, his lap scores of 42-42-42 showing no improvement as the day rolled on.
And a Sunday result of a distant 17th left the camp with plenty of questions to ask.
Team-mate, Frenchman Loris Gubian no-scored Saturday but recovered slightly to claim three points for 13th place on day two.
Another name missing from the results is Sherco's French runner Alexandre Ferrer, the current World No.7 not travelling to Japan, reported injured in a training accident.
One rider who did score points on both days was veteran – he will turn 38 in July – Japanese ace Kenichi Kuroyama.
A former regular on the World Championship circuit, Kenichi was World No.3 back in 1997-1998 and has now scored TWC points for 22 consecutive years.
Kenichi was riding a special 250 four-stroke Yamaha, which is an ongoing development of the original Yam-powered Scorpa four-stroke.
And he finished a respectable 10th and 12th over the weekend beating many of the current hotshots.
Finally it was a good weekend for the all-new Gas Gas set-up with Italian Matteo Grattarola scoring two excellent top 10 places, young German Franz Kadlec gaining valuable experience in the top class while Brits Jack Price, Dan and Jack Peace waved the flag to great effect in Trial2 and Trial 125.
