Takahisa Fujinami has won the second day of the Trial Portugal Grand Prix, the third point scoring event for the Outdoor World Championship which took place today, Sunday, in Paços de Ferreira. The Japanese rider for Repsol Montesa Honda interrupted his team mate Toni Bou’s winning streak, who won the previous two events and finished fourth on this occasion.
Bou, World Champion of this speciality for the past three years, remains at the top of the general leader board in which Fujinami has risen one place, only one point away from second position. At a disadvantage due to being the first to compete in each zone (the starting order was set this year by the leader board of the previous event) and with hardly a chance to check the changes made at the last minute in the most complicated zone nine, Toni Bou scored the maximum and decisive penalty of five points for each pass through it.
Takahisa Fujinami learnt his lesson and preferred to play it safe, a tactic which secured him the victory after achieving the best point score of the day in the second round. In the Junior category, the other team rider for Repsol Montesa Honda, Laia Sanz, finished nineteenth.
The next two meetings of the Trial World Championship will be held at Motegi (Japan), the 5th and 6th of June.
Toni Bou
“Fourth place isn’t bad, considering that I drew in points with the fifth and that I could have finished sixth. In this situation, the best thing has been Fujinami’s victory, not only for the team, but also because he took points from the two rivals I had closest to me on the general leader board. Now I have six points to my advantage over the second placed rider and we are going to continue working, hoping that from now on the zones will be more challenging than those which we faced in Portugal”.
Takahisa Fujinami
“At last I’ve won again, I needed it. The trial was a bit more difficult than yesterday, although the only really difficult zone was number nine. There were two possibilities, either take a risk to try to go through with a zero or, play it safe in exchange for a few points. I saw what happened to Toni each time and I knew clearly that the best thing would be to play it safe. Two of my four points were down to that section but the end result, on a personal level, was perfect”.
