The world title of the 2004 season was the well-deserved culmination of the tenacity and class of Takahisa Fujinami, who after dominating the national championships in Japan, made the leap to the World Championship to triumph on an international scale.
The Repsol rider has gone through all the specialties, so he has balanced on any type of bike with two wheels. Before switching to motorcycle trials and being runner-up in Japan in class B at the age of 13, he was World Champion in bike trial. From a very young age and in any specialty, the Japanese rider showed extraordinary conditions that allowed him to rise very quickly, achieving a brilliant record since his first title won in Japan in 1995.
His first notable World Cup finish was a seventh-place finish in 1996. A year later, Takahisa moved up to fourth place. The runner-up finish in 2000 confirmed him as one of the greats. Fully adapted to Spanish and European life, this Japanese man with a permanent smile was able to develop all his skills and repeated two runners-up in the shadow of the untouchable Dougie Lampkin.
TAKAHISA FUJINAMI WORLD CHAMPION 2004
The fact that he coincided in numerous competitions and later became a teammate of the English star, allowed him to perfect his skills and ambitions until he achieved a well-deserved world crown in 2004.
In 2005 the title went
to Adam Raga
and Fujinami took second place in the championship, ahead of teammate and seven-time World Champion Dougie Lampkin. During that Indoor season, the Montesa Cota 4RT with a four-stroke engine was released, with which a year later -2006- despite achieving four victories, more than any of its rivals, it repeated runner-up. In 2007 he finished fourth in the Indoor Trial World Championship and third in the outdoor competition. He achieved the same results in both 2008 and 2009, years in which he has scored 27 podiums – 5 indoor and 22 outdoor – and a victory in the United States in 2008.
In 2010 he climbed another step in his performance, scoring five podiums: two victories (Portugal and in the first round in Great Britain), a second (France) and two third (in the second round in Great Britain and Italy), which meant that he repeated for the fourth consecutive year the third final position in the Outdoor World Championship. given the high level he is reaching in the specialty. A level that was reflected in the Indoor World Championship, in which pressure and a new very restrictive regulations relegated him to sixth place.
The following year – 2011 – the Japanese rider of the Repsol Montesa Honda Team qualified in fifth place in the X-Trial (Indoor) World Championship, after suffering a crash in the second round that left him injured for much of the calendar. In the outdoor competition, the Repsol rider achieved six podiums: two second places in Andorra and Japan and four third places – Germany, Italy, Great Britain and Japan – which allowed him to finish the World Championship in third position for the fifth consecutive year, only behind his teammate. Toni Bou, and Adam Raga.
It was a season of ups and downs for Fujinami in 2012, who finished fifth in the Outdoor Trial World Championship, with 174 points and five podiums: two second places (Italy and Great Britain) and three third places (Australia, Japan and Andorra) in the thirteen races held. In the FIM X-Trial World Championship, the Japanese rider finished fourth, after taking 3 podiums – three third in Switzerland, Spain and France – and 69 points from seven races.
The Japanese rider finished fifth in the overall standings at X-Trial in 2013, where he and teammate Toni Bou used the new 4-stroke engine in their Montesa Cota 4RTs for the first time in the final race of the series. With a total of five rounds, Fujinami took two podiums: two third places in the two rounds held in Spain. Along with his three sixth-place finishes, he scored 39 points.
In the outdoor competition, the novelties of a non-stop regulation aroused different opinions, but Takahisa Fujinami’s adaptation was good, as he was reunited with victory precisely in the event that was held in his country of origin, Japan.
The Repsol rider achieved a total of 4 podiums: the victory in Japan, the second place in Great Britain and the third positions in the United States and Italy. After the thirteen races of the outdoor season, the Japanese rider accumulated a total of 169 points that have earned him fifth place in the overall standings of the FIM Trial World Championship.
FUJINAMI 20 YEARS IN THE TRIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
PILOT PROFILE
Date of birth: 13/01/1980
Place of Birth: Mie – Mie – Japan
Weight: 68 kg
Height: 171 cm
Personal Hobbies: Music and Tennis
Nationality: Japanese
TAKAHISA FUJINAMI’S HONOURS
1993
Runner-up in Japan Class B
1994
3rd Japan Class A Championship
1995
Champion of Japan
1996
7th World Championship
1997
4th World Championship
1998
5th World Championship
Champion of Japan
1999
Champion of Japan. World Runner-Up
2000
5th Indoor Trial World Cup
Champion of Japan
World Runner-Up
2001
Champion of Japan. World Runner-Up
2002
World Runner-Up
2003
3rd Spanish Championship
5th Indoor Trial World Championship
Runner-up in the Natural Trial World Championship
2004
Trial World Champion
Runner-up in the Indoor Trial World Championship
2005
5th Indoor Trial World Championship
World Runner-Up
2006
5th Indoor Trial World Championship
World Runner-Up
2007
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
4th Indoor Trial World Championship
2008
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
4th Indoor Trial World Championship
2009
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
4th Indoor Trial World Championship
2010
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
6th Indoor Trial World Championship
2011
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
5th Indoor Trial World Championship
2012
5th Outdoor Trial World Championship
4th Indoor Trial World Championship
2013
5th Outdoor Trial World Championship
5th X-Trial World Championship
2014
5th Outdoor Trial World Championship
6th X-Trial World Championship
2015
5th Outdoor Trial World Championship
2016
3rd Outdoor Trial World Championship
