European regulars face strong home challenge at Japanese GP

Following last weekend's first ever Australian GP, the riders of the 2012 FIM Trial World Championship will now head to Japan for the third round of the series this coming weekend.The action will be played out over two days at Honda's famous Twin Ring Motegi racing complex, and with approximately one third of competitors waving the Japanese flag local fans will be hoping to see some solid home performances. Australia, Spain, Great Britain, France, Italy and Norway will also be represented in this weekend's starting line-up.Takahisa Fujinami - Repsol Montesa (fifth in current standings) has been Japan's lone rider in previous rounds of the series, but will be joined by no less than twenty other Japanese competitors this weekend. Joining Fujinami in the World Pro class will be home crowd favourites, Kenichi Kuroyama - Yamaha, Fuitaka Nozaki - Yamaha, Tomoyuki Ogawa - Honda, Tsuyoshi Ogawa - Beta, Akira Shibata - Honda and Akio Saito - Honda. The remaining Japanese riders will compete in the Junior, Youth and Open International divisions.Whilst Fujinami and his compatriots aim for success at their home GP, Spanish World Pro heavyweight Toni Bou - Repsol Montesa will once again be looking to extend his championship lead. Fellow Spanish rider, Adam Raga - Gas Gas, who beat Bou on day one of the French opening round and is second in current standings, will be determined to again put Bou under pressure. Raga will also aim to create some distance between himself and his other Spanish rivals Jeroni Fajardo - Beta and Albert Cabestany - Sherco who lag just three and five pointsbehind Raga, in third and fourth place respectively.Also lining up for battle in the World Pro class in Japan this weekend will be Europe's finest. Representing Great Britain's James Dabill - Beta, Jack Challoner - Beta, Alexz Wigg - Gas Gas and Michael Brown - Gas Gas who will be joined by Daniel Oliveras - Ossa and Pere Borrellas - Gas Gas from Spain, Italian Matteo Grattarola - Gas Gas and Loris Gubian - Gas Gas from France.In the Junior division, Alexandre Ferrer - Sherco from France, who already has an impressive twenty-one point lead over his second-placed Spanish rival Francesc Moret - Montesa, will aim to continue his winning ways after clinching four consecutive victories in France and Australia.Spaniard Pol Tarres - JTG, who is third in the current standings, will be hoping to improve on his latest performance in Australia that saw him finish in disappointing sixth place on day two. Benoit Dagnicourt - Beta will be full of confidence after scoring his first podium position of the series in the Australian GP, whilst Jack Sheppard - Beta will hope to follow suit by gaining his first podium placing in Japan.French rider Steven Coquelin - Gas Gas, Bradley Cox - Beta from Great Britain, Norway's Sverre Lundevold - Beta and Oriol Noguera – Sherco from Spain will be among the regular protagonists competing alongside Japanese newcomers in the Youth class this weekend.

Source: http://www.fim-live.com/en/media/news/news-detail/article/1338373426-european-regulars-face-strong-home-challenge-at-japanese-gp/

Les Archer Rui Goncalves Heikki Mikkola Larry Brooks