Raga strikes back on a wet second day

Adam Raga – Gas Gas was the master of the mud in Motegi today, scoring his third victory of the 2011 SPEA FIM Trial World Championship by riding smartly in some of the most difficult conditions of the year. Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa survived a frightening first lap fall in the treacherous tenth section, made more so by a steady light rain. The Japanese rider initially thought his season was over, but he rebounded to finish the Trial superbly and take second. Team-mate Toni Bou struggled throughout the day, but leaves Japan with a thirteen point championship lead over Raga with only the final two day round in France remaining. For the second day in a row, Yamaha rider Kenichi Kuroyama was the best of the local Japanese riders. Fifth on Saturday, today he came fourth. Spanish rider Jeroni Fajardo – Ossa, was fourth a day earlier, but he also fell victim to the muddy course and dropped to ninth place. Michael Brown – Gas Gas improved four spots on his Saturday performance by finishing fifth, eight marks behind Kuroyama and fourteen in front of the second Yamaha rider, Fumitaka Nozaki, who was seventh on Saturday. Nozaki beat fellow countryman Tomoyuki Ogawa – Honda by a single mark for sixth today. French rider Loris Gubian – Gas Gas dropped to eighth from his Saturday sixth, with Fajardo ninth and Tsuyoshi Ogawa – Beta was the tenth placed finisher. The fifteen hazard course was soaked by overnight rain which continued throughout the day. Most of the time it was a light, misty rain until the start of the second lap when it intensified. Even before the rain, the organisers had adjusted six of the fifteen hazards to make them easier. The changes provided mixed results, with section fourteen taking fewer fives, but the early section three remaining as difficult as ever. After five sections of the first lap it appeared Fujinami might be in for his first win of the year. Raga had taken three consecutive fives in sections three, four, and five, as had Bou. Fujinami escaped with only a nine mark loss heading to section six, which is where Raga found his form. The Spaniard went on a run, cleaning every section from the sixth through to twelve to take command of the Trial. Only a three in section thirteen and a single mark lost in the previously unmanageable fourteenth hazard prevented him from a clean sweep. Meanwhile, Bou was struggling. He lost marks in all but four sections, and had an uncharacteristic four fives in the span of five hazards. With a deficit of ten marks to the leader Raga, he was resigned to finish third. Raga nearly matched his own first lap run of seven cleans in succession. He would have, if not for section ten. From there to the end he was nearly perfect, only losing three marks in fourteen to finish with twenty-one on the lap and forty-one for the day. That was ten better than Fujinami whose second lap score went up to nineteen. Bou added thirty-one to his first lap thirty to tally sixty-one on the day. In the Junior competition, Nomoto Yoshiaki – Beta and Gianluca Tournour – Gas Gas traded places, with Yoshiaki taking Sunday's win from Saturday's winner Tournour. Nomoto finished with eighty-six marks to ninety-nine for Tournour. Shinya Fujiwara – Honda, was third with one hundred and four marks, which was thirty-nine less than his Saturday performance. Jack Sheppard – Beta became Britain's newest FIM World champion by clinching the Youth title with a commanding victory. The eighteen-year old added a second day win to Saturday's first, and by a wider margin. Sheppard won by twenty-one marks on Saturday, today it was forty-five. Sheppard's twenty-six marks lost were nearly a third of the total of second best Jesus Martin – Gas Gas who lost seventy-one. Third place, another eight marks down, was Ignacio Martin – Gas Gas. <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> Results:

World
1: Raga 41
2: Fujinami 51
3: Bou 61
4: Kuroyama 75
5: Brown 83

Junior
1: Nomoto 86
2: Tournour 99
3: Fujiwara 104
4: Takiguchi 113
5: Kira 125

Youth 125cc
1: Sheppard 26
2: Martin J 71
3: Martin I 79
4: Ogami 146

2011 FIM Riders Championship
Current Standings:
World
1: Bou 167
2: Raga 154
3: Fujinami 131
4: Fajardo 102
5: Cabestany 99

Junior
1: Gomez 124
2: Moret 105
3: Tarres 101
4: Dagnicourt 85
5: Borrellas 71

Youth 125cc
1: Sheppard 169 (champion)
2: Tempier 120
3: Saleri 99
4: Coquelin 95
5: Martin J 81 2011 FIM Manufacturers Championship
Current Standings:
1: Montesa 298
2: Gas Gas 239
3: Beta 132
4: Sherco 123
5: Ossa 102