A great start to the season for the Repsol Montesa-HRC team as its two riders, Toni Bou and Takahisa Fujinami, managed to finish first and second overall in yesterday`s World Indoor Trial Championship round held in Sheffield (UK).This is the first of the six rounds in this particular championship, and after a hard fight to the end of the first section, it is clear that the battle for this year`s title will be tougher than ever.
The Repsol rider began the defence of his crown, one that he has won the last two years, with a victory that did not come until the final seventh zone. The reigning World Champion had a one point advantage over Adam Raga by then, and two over Takahisa Fujinami. After finishing second (9 points) on the classification lap the final section, with a noticeable degree of difficulty, turned out to be decisive.
Fujinami, who was fifth after the classification lap, passed the final zone with just one penalty point – for exceeding the time – to round off his brilliant progress to make sure of a one-two, the first of the season for the team. The second round in the World Indoor Trial Championship will be held on 24th January, in Marseille France.
Toni Bou
“I am really pleased with this result, both for me as well as for the the team. I started the race in parallel in the first individual zone well, but on the next one I made a stupid mistake which could have ruined the day. From then on I strung together three zeros which meant that I reached the final section with a slight lead, and that was what decided things. Seeing what we have seen today I think it will be another hard-fought and exciting championship. We have won the first round but we have five more ahead of us, this means we have to work hard to carry on along the same lines”.
Takahisa Fujinami
“This second position is incredible, much better than I was expecting after the classification lap. In the second part I did the best I could, I got better and better and I did the fourth individual section well, I think that was the most complicated part, and in my case, as decisive as the final one. This one-two was the best thing that could have happened to us at the beginning of the season”.
