Second and third position for Takahisa Fujinami and Toni Bou in Motegi, in a difficult day with very heavy rains
The second day of the Japanese Trial held today in Motegi saw again the Repsol Montesa Honda riders, Takahisa Fujinami and Toni Bou, on the podium. After his win yesterday, the Spaniard was today third behind his team mate in a day where the rain notably increased the difficulty of the Japanese round.
The high points score show clearly the difficulty of the competition, held in a very complicated terrain due to the weather conditions. The worst part was for Toni Bou, who after winning yesterday suffered the consequence of being the first on track, as they were in very bad conditions. The Repsol rider tried to fight for victory, but due to some mistakes and of the instability of the terrain, he was not able to equal the results of both his team mate Fujinami —second—, and his most direct rival, Adam Raga —first—.
The Japanese rider of the Repsol Montesa Honda team, Takahisa Fujinami, tried to take the opportunity and led the race until the tenth zone, where he suffered a crash and injured his left knee. Nevertheless, motivated by competing at home and by having the podium within his grasp, only concede two points to the winner in the first lap and set the best score in the second.
After yesterday’s victory and today’s podium, Bou had his advantage reduced in two points in the lead of the championship, which will be decided on September 3 and 4 at Isola 2.000 (France), where the Repsol rider will arrive with an advantage of 13 points. Fujinami has reinforced his third position in the overall standings.
Toni Bou,
“I had a very complicated day, Adam [Raga] had a great performance and Takahisa [Fujinami] also showed that he is very strong, despite his injury. Naturally, my result was not what I wanted, but it is good that people see that it is not easy to win and that will motivate us even more to work towards the round that will decide the title. About the trip to Japan, we have always been very welcome in this country, but this time it was even more so, as they are grateful that we came here”.
Takahisa Fujinami,
“A first examination revealed that there is no injury on the bone but on the ligament, which affected me since I fell. Until that moment I saw I could take advantage of my starting position behind Toni [Bou] and Adam [Raga] and, honestly, I think that I would have been able to win if I had not had that problem with my knee. With two podiums in my home race, the outcome of the weekend is positive”.
