The class structure of the Hertz FIM Trial World Championship is not there simply to split the entry up in terms of age, skill and engine capacity, it is a carefully considered career ladder designed to ensure progression through the ranks from Trial3 Junior to Trial2 and then up to the elite TrialGP category.

A rider who knows this better than most is twenty-year-old Harry Hemingway (Beta). The talented British star was Trial3 Junior champion in 2022 and Trial2 champion last year before graduating to the premier class this season. While he has had his fair share of ups and downs so far this year, he is proof that with the right skills – and enough motivation to put in the necessary hard work – an ambitious rider can progress to the sport’s top flight.

Hemingway is following a path already taken by Jaime Busto and Jack Peace and while his current position of seventh does not tell the full story in a class where just one lapse in concentration can be the difference between a podium finish and propping up the field, he feels the intensity of competition in Trial3 Junior and Trial2 has equipped him well for his first season as an elite rider.

“Trial2 is just as tight, if not tighter,” he said, “and this year just two or three marks can cost you five or six places, but that seems to be the case across the board in all classes, it’s just that in TrialGP with the sections being harder you have to be on form a little bit more.

“Trial2 has massively prepared me for TrialGP and Trial3 prepared me for Trial2 so it’s a class structure and career ladder that is really working. It’s a perfect step up between each class. The biggest difference for me was going from a 125cc bike in Trial3 up to the harder sections in Trial2 on a big bike, but it was still a reasonable step. It’s been just as reasonable moving from Trial2 to TrialGP, just the sections get a little bit longer with a few extra steps so it’s definitely not a ridiculous step up.”

A new framework introduced this year aimed at easing the transition between the sport’s elite levels has seen the top two men’s categories sharing fifty per cent of the sections and Hemingway feels that it has made his progression smoother.

“Now there are six sections shared between TrialGP and Trial2 so, to be honest, the step up hasn’t been massive. At the start of the year I was not doing great, but I had a few good results – in Japan I had a fourth in a race – and after that I’ve just made a couple of mistakes to miss out on podium positions so it’s not been a disaster.

“Hopefully I’ll be aiming for podium positions for the rest of the season. I haven’t been a million miles off so podiums are definitely within reach so I just want to see how high up I can get and keep trying to push Toni Bou off the top if I can, although it’s pretty difficult at the moment.

“It does feel great to be in TrialGP. Since being a kid and going to watch world rounds, my goal has always been to be in TrialGP so for the first round in Japan, being able to pick my own two-digit number with the red background was a big thing for me. It felt like it was the right time.”

With the next round – the TrialGP of Great Britain on 24-26 July – handing him valuable home advantage, Hemingway’s trademark smile remains as broad as ever.

“I’m happy. Just to get into the TrialGP category is mega and to be mixing it up and pushing for podiums is a great feeling. I just need to pull it together and make it work, but I’m enjoying life and loving it.”

Round four of the 2026 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship – the TrialGP of Great Britain – takes place at the Trac Mon Circuit Anglesey on 24-26 July.

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