With barely any time to rest after last weekend’s good results in the Czech Republic, the Repsol Honda Team riders will head to Sweden on Thursday for the third round of the FIM Trial World Championship.
Toni Bou is the leader of the championship and has a total of eighteen points over second-placed Adam Raga. The rider from the Montesa Cota 4RT will be looking to continue maintaining the high level of riding and results to return from this GP with a greater advantage in the provisional standings. Making his debut in the list of winners of the Swedish Grand Prix, since in his only participation in the race (2008) he did not achieve victory and finished in second place, will be a good incentive for Bou, who last weekend already broke the bad streak in the Czech Republic, where he had never won competing on a motorcycle before. and managed to climb to the top of the podium in the two days of competition.
For Japan’s Takahisa Fujinami, provisionally fourth in the World Championship, and for the young Basque rider Jaime Busto, the objectives will remain the same: for the veteran, to definitively enter the fight for the podium, after fixing the discomfort he has suffered in his knee. Busto, on the other hand, in addition to learning in his first season in the top flight, will take advantage of his self-confidence to try to surprise again with a spectacular result. On the last lap of the GP of the Czech Republic he managed to set the third best time in the sections. The rookie is sixth overall in the World Championship.
ABOUT THE SWEDISH GP
· The Swedish Grand Prix was a fixture in the World Championship in the 1970s and 1980s (from 1969 to 1974, as the European Championship).
· Ulf Karlsson (Montesa), with 5, is the rider with the highest number of victories in the Swedish Trial GP.
· In the 1990s, the last time Sweden hosted a World Cup event was in 1993. After a long period without racing, the top competition returned to the Nordic country in 2008, in Uddevalla. Boras hosts the Trial World Championship for the second time, as the first time was in 1979 and none of the current riders of the World Championship had yet been born.
· The Swedish city of Boras is located southwest of the capital, Stockholm, and close to Gothenburg (63 kilometers).
· The Boras Motorstadion is a motor complex located about 16 kilometres south of the town of Boras, in Gaddered. The route of the race is extremely short, only 3 kilometres, where the 12 sections will be located that the drivers will have to overcome three times.
· As is the norm this season, the last rider to take the start – Toni Bou – will do so at 11:00 in the morning
Toni Bou: I think the victory in the Czech Republic was very important, not only because of the leadership in the World Championship, but also because in Sweden we will also find a new place, and when we don’t have references it is always better to start last to be able to see the rivals in the zones. It will be difficult to be so attentive and go so well in all the races, but we are very motivated and the bike works very well. I just hope that Joan Cordón can go back to backpacking after the small accident in Sokolov, and continue in this line of victories that we have this season.
Takahisa Fujinami: I’ve been feeling better and better. The knee is improving and I hope that in Sweden it will give me fewer problems and the result will continue to accompany the good feelings I have. In the Czech Republic I had a lot of confidence with the bike, much more than in other seasons, and if everything goes as it should, Fujinami will be there at the front. We don’t know the place, but this is good, because we are all on equal footing. I will try to fight again to finish on the podium.
Jaime Busto: I’m looking forward to this new race in Sweden to try to continue in the good line that I think we have this year, my first season in World Pro and with the Repsol Honda Team. I’m feeling better and better, I’m getting better on the bike and I’m quite confident. I just have to try not to let it happen to me like the first lap on the last day in the Czech Republic so that I can finish the day with a good result.
