Defending champion Toni Bou (Montesa) tightened his grip on the 2026 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship when he continued his domination of the premier TrialGP class with another pair of victories on day two of the opening round – the TrialGP of Japan – but in TrialGP Women, following her clean sweep yesterday, Berta Abellan (Scorpa) tasted defeat for the first time this season after a faultless performance in her opening race.
- Brilliant Toni Bou dominates TrialGP class at Mobility Resort Motegi
- Reigning champion Berta Abellan on top in TrialGP Women
- British lion Billy Green takes hard-fought win in Trial2
In Trial2 the final positions were as unpredictable as yesterday with Britain’s George Hemingway (Beta) and Billy Green (Scorpa) sharing the wins, although inconsistent finishes from both riders over the two races ensured the overall was incredibly close with Green – champion in 2023 – just getting the verdict ahead of Italy’s Francesco Titli (Montesa).
With the sun once again beating down on the Mobility Resort Motegi, conditions were ideal for the second consecutive day and Bou – who is bidding to win his twentieth consecutive title this season – started the opening race strongly, although not as well as his fellow Spaniard Gabriel Marcelli (Montesa) who remained clean until section seven where he needed a two. This allowed Jaime Busto (Beta) to draw level as Bou and Italy’s Matteo Grattarola (Beta) shared third, just a single mark further adrift.
Section ten, featuring a series of imposing steps before the exit, proved to be pivotal for Busto who incurred a maximum as Bou parted with just an additional mark to tie Marcelli – who needed two dabs – for the lead on four and Grattarola slipped to third on a total of five.
A clean and a single mark in the final two sections were good enough for Bou to claim another win, but a maximum on the boulders of section eleven dropped Marcelli to fourth on a score of nine as Grattarola took second on seven which put him two behind Bou and one ahead of Busto.
Making it four Spaniards in the top five, Miquel Gelabert (Honda) recorded an impressive score of thirteen on the electric machine before a big gap to British riders Harry Hemingway (Beta) and Jack Peace (Sherco).
Bou then produced the best performance in the timed Super Pole section ahead of Marcelli and Hemingway before the Final got under way with Busto seizing the advantage to skip through the five sections for a score of just one – four ahead of Bou and Marcelli – as for the second time Hemingway and Peace were eliminated.
However, with the scores reset to zero for the deciding Super Final, Bou – as we have seen so many times before – soaked up the pressure to produce a true champion’s performance.
With Grattarola and Gelabert both taking maximums on section one that featured a huge double step at the start and an incredibly technical exit, Bou went clean along with Busto and Marcelli to share the early lead.
The next section stopped everyone before Busto dropped off the pace on section three with a maximum after getting off-line on the steep climb out over rocks where both Bou and Marcelli remained feet-up.
With two to go there was nothing to choose between the leading pair, but Bou’s clean on section four gave him the advantage after Marcelli needed two marks and the thirty-nine-year-old then put the result beyond question with a faultless performance on the final section. Marcelli’s total of eight, including a single time penalty, saw him safely in second with a three-mark gap to Busto with Grattarola fourth on twenty, five ahead of Gelabert.
“The Super Final was very difficult because there was so much pressure,” said Bou, “but the weekend has been amazing for the team and it is amazing to be here.”
Following on from her double win yesterday, reigning TrialGP Women champion Abellan started the day in untouchable form with a faultless performance putting her thirteen marks clear of Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) from Italy who took second on a tie-break from her compatriot Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS).
Czech rider Denisa Pechackova (TRRS) recovered from a maximum on the first section of the day to take fourth on eighteen, two ahead of Britain’s Kaytlyn Adshead (Vertigo), but it was all-change in the concluding race when twenty-one-year-old Bacchetta – in just her third season in the premier class – produced the best form of her career to win on six.
Abellan dropped her first marks of the day on section four when she collected a maximum and this score, combined with four more single marks, took her total to nine which forced her into a tie-break with Alice Minta (Beta) for second that she won on a tie-break to post the day’s best overall performance.
“My first lap today was amazing,” said Abellan. “I made a mistake on the second lap and scored a five that was too difficult to recover from, but I’m so happy to start the season like this.”
Rabino ended the race a further mark adrift in fourth with Adshead taking another solid fifth-placed finish on fifteen.
A lack of consistency once again proved to be expensive for George Hemingway (Beta) who won today’s opening Trial2 race – matching his race two victory yesterday – before failing to capitalise in the deciding race with a disappointing thirteenth as Green took his first victory of the year after finishing sixth first time out.
With his rivals also struggling to put two solid rides together, Green was the best overall performer on the day, although it was incredibly close with Titli just two points behind after carding five-two finishes on a very low scoring day when the smallest mistake proved decisive.
“I’m super-happy to get a win on day two,” said Green. “I eliminated a few mistakes in the second race and it’s a great feeling.”
Ranked eleventh at the end of last season, Norwegian rider Jarand Gunvaldsen (TRRS) was a stand-out second in the opening race and he backed this up with a solid sixth for third overall, a huge improvement after finishing outside the top ten the previous day.
Proving that consistency is key, a four-five scorecard may not have threatened the top step of today’s podium, but it was good enough for Alex Canales (Montesa) to retain his series lead as Spain’s Arnau Farré (Sherco) and Britain’s Jack Dance (GASGAS), who finished second and third overall on Saturday, lost ground in the championship after slipping to eighth and ninth today.
The world’s best Trial riders now face a nervous four-week wait before round two – the TrialGP of Andorra – on 12-14 June when Trial3 competitors will join the action.
Taking the 2026 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship to a global audience, FIM-MOTO.TV will stream all rounds LIVE including behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and expert analysis with a season pass covering all seven rounds and the FIM Trial des Nations priced at €49.90.
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