Toni Bou is now closer to his ninth trial World Championship title. The Repsol Honda Team rider dominated today the first day of the Portuguese Trial GP and achieved a very important victory in a race where Jaime Busto finished just out of the podium.
The Repsol Honda Team rider, Toni Bou, secured a new victory after controlling the first day of the Portugal Trial GP. Toni received only 1 point in the second lap’s zone 2 and another 2 points for time excess, completing the rest of the trial without any other penalty.
Today’s victory leaves Bou very close to his ninth crown. If tomorrow the rider of the Montesa Cota 4RT is able to repeat this result, he will secure another World Championship title.
Jaime Busto surprised everyone today by repeating the fourth place he achieved at the beginning of the season in the Czech Republic. The Basque rider of the Repsol Honda Team was in podium position during the first two laps, but too many penalties during the last lap prevented him from achieving his best result of the year.
Problems for Takahisa Fujinami, who suffered a lumbago attack just at the beginning of the race. The Japanese rider continued, though with a lot of pain and gathering many penalty points. He was able to finish in eighth position.
Good news for Montesa, the brand used by the Repsol Honda Team riders, which mathematically secured the Manufacturer’s title. It is Montesa’s eighteenth title and the tenth consecutive.
Tomorrow the last day of the Portugal Trial GP will take place at Paços de Ferreira. The itinerary will be the same, around 12 kilometres divided into twelve zones that will be run three times.
Toni Bou
1st – 3 points
“The title is near, but today Adam made things very difficult. The important thing is that I could win and will fight to do it again tomorrow. I’m happy to win races again. Fighting with Adam makes me give my best. We’re riding better than ever. We had an excellence level that is difficult to match and that makes victory even more valuable, because I knew I couldn’t fail. It went well, I think I’ve improved in the easy races and today I was able to show it.”
Takahisa Fujinam
8th – 65 points
“It was a tough day for me. I had some back problems last week. I tried to reduce the pain, but in the second zone it started again and then the rest of the zones was like a lottery for me and I failed a lot. At the end of the second laps I warmed up and it didn’t hurt that much. I couldn’t compete at a good level and I’m sorry for the team, because I needed to be at a good level in this race and I wasn’t.”
Jaime Busto
4th – 36 points
“I was motivated today. I wanted to do it well from the beginning and I thought that today could be a good day. I was positive during the whole race and I felt great on the bike. I rode well in the first two zones and I’m happy about it. In the last laps I failed in two zones because I stopped and that made me receive more points, but anyway, today it was a very good day for me.”
