The sublime Spanish duo of Toni Bou (Montesa) and Berta Abellan (Scorpa) signed off from the Taisei Rotec TrialGP of Japan – round three of the 2025 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship – with perfect scores in the elite TrialGP and TrialGP Women categories on day two as Britain’s talented teenager Harry Hemingway extended his lead in Trial2.
- Toni Bou strengthens his TrialGP advantage with perfect score
- Berta Abellan cleans up in TrialGP Women on day two of Taisei Rotec TrialGP of Japan
- Harry Hemingway wins battle of the British in Trial2
With a pair of hard-earned race wins apiece from Sunday’s main programme already in the bag, both Bou and Abellan arrived at the event-ending Power Section – back in play after bad weather caused its cancellation yesterday – with forty-point maximums and both skipped their way to an extra bonus point just to underline their dominance at the Mobility Resort Motegi.
With Saturday’s heavy rain giving way to much more favourable weather that helped draw a sizeable crowd of almost five-thousand spectators, conditions were better today – although tacky mud meant grip was still at a premium up the steep bankings and over the smooth, imposing rocks that comprised many of the sections and scores were high.
On a roll from his pair of race wins the day before, thirty-eight-year-old Bou seized an immediate lead in the opening race when he was the only rider to make it to the end of section one and, after the entire field failed section two, a sensational single dab on three – where all his rivals incurred their third consecutive maximums – gave him a lead he never looked likely to relinquish.
After finishing second twice yesterday, Jaime Busto (GASGAS) pushed the reigning champion hard in the mid-section of the race, but his eventual total of forty-three was eight behind his compatriot and just one ahead of third-placed Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa).
Picking up their close rivalry where they left off yesterday, Aniol Gelabert (TRRS) and Italy’s Matteo Grattarola (Beta) ended the first race of the day locked together on fifty-one with the Spaniard taking fourth on a tie-break.
Race two was a very similar story with Bou establishing an early lead before posting a winning total of twenty-six, but this time his team-mate Marcelli was going head-to-head with Busto and an inch-perfect ride on the tenth section – where Busto incurred a maximum – gave Marcelli second by a solitary mark on thirty-seven.
“I have enjoyed the races today,” said Bou. “It is an amazing country with amazing fans and I am very happy to win as it is very important for the championship.”
Even on high-scoring days the TrialGP class remains incredibly competitive and, after coming close yesterday, British class newcomer Jack Peace (Sherco) claimed a career-best fourth when he won a three-way tie-break with Frenchman Hugo Dufrese (Beta) and Grattarola on a total of forty-seven.
In TrialGP Women, five-time championship runner-up Abellan remains on course to take her first title and after tasting defeat at the hands of Italian rival Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) in Saturday’s opening race she started today looking determined.
Rabino seized the early advantage, midway through the lap Abellan drew level and she then extended her lead far enough that even a three on the final section where eighteen-year-old Rabino needed a dab gave her victory by a single mark on nineteen.
Highlighting the pair’s current dominance, third-placed Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS) from Italy finished the race on thirty-three, one ahead of Britain’s Alice Minta (Beta) and three clear of Kaytlyn Adshead (Sherco).
Abellan strengthened her hold on the class in race two with the twenty-five-year-old leading from the get-go before opening up a ten-mark advantage over Rabino to win on twenty-one with Adshead taking third on thirty-four, one ahead of a tie-break for fourth won by Minta from French rider Alycia Soyer (TRRS).
“Today I am very happy,” said Abellan. “I love Japan and to win both races here today and strengthen my championship lead feels very special.”
Competitors in the TrialGP and TrialGP Women classes then pitted themselves against the terrain and the clock with an additional championship point on the line in the Power Section. Last to go in TrialGP Women, Abellan skipped her way through to win from Adshead before Bou took an audacious, untried line with a dramatic jump between two rocks seeing him take victory by almost two seconds from Busto.
Trial2 is traditionally close and competitive and today’s action continued this trend with Britain’s Billy Green (Scorpa), the champion in 2023, taking victory in the opening race with his total of thirty-four leaving him a single mark ahead of championship leader Hemingway who beat Miquel Gelabert (Honda) into third on a tie-break.
Hemingway returned to the top in race two with a score of twenty and with French rider Benoit Bincaz (Electric Motion) dropping twenty-two to push Green into third by a mark, the nineteen-year-old former Trial3 champion further extended his title lead.
“I’m absolutely over the moon,” said Hemingway. “Japan has always been a tricky round for me and I have never really got my head around it so I’m buzzing to leave here with the championship lead.”
The 2025 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship now takes a two-week break before reconvening with the TrialGP of France that will be staged at Calvi on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, running from 30 May to 1 June.
