For the twelfth consecutive year, this weekend saw the Motegi Ring in Japan play host to the third scoring round of the 2012 FIM World Trials Championship with the competition taking place over two days.
On Saturday, after the first loop, Albert Cabestany, who had an excellent ride was in second place behind the untouchable Toni Bou (Montesa). However on the second loop Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) blew past him and took second place away from Albert. Albert Cabestany finished third with 22 points, Fajardo took second with 19 points while Toni Bou finished ahead of them with a total of 6 points.
On Sunday, more motivated than ever, Albert Cabestany was in second place after the first loop with 12 points, three points behind Toni Bou and 4 points ahead of Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa). The second round almost saw Toni Bou jostled. Albert finished with 9 points, while Bou finished with 11. Fujinami, bouyed up by his audience also finished with 9 points. With a total of of 20 points, one point ahead of Albert, Toni Bou won the round. Albert Cabestany with 21 points, mounted the second step of the podium. Takahisa Fujinami finished third with 25 points.
In the overall championship standings, Albert Cabestany is in third place with 88 points tied with Jeroni Fajardo who is in second place. Toni Bou is in the lead with 117 points.
In the Junior class, Alexandre Ferrer was anticipating a victory in this round. With a 4 point first loop he was in first place, Francesc Moret (Montesa) was 3 points behind and Pol Tarres (JTG) was 4 points behind. However tragedy struck, in the first loop Alexandre had 0’s in sections 9 and 15, but in the second loop he had lost 10 points in those two sections, his total of 15 points relegated him into third place. Pol Tarres finished first with 11 points and Francesc Moret was second with 13 points. Cedric Tempier, in his first race in Japan, finished ninth with 29 points. Håkon Pedersen finished 12th with 33 points.
On Sunday, Alexandre Ferrer was determined to not let the victory go to anyone but him. With 6 points in the first loop Alexandre was already marked by his competitors, Pol Tarres only managed to match Alexandre. With 12 points, Cedric Tempier was working hard to make the podium. In the second loop, Alexandre hit a home run with “0” points. Pol Tarres had 6 points again and Cedric was third with 10 points. With a total of 6 points, Alexandre Ferrer mounts the top step of the podium. Pol Tarres follows with 12 points and Cedric Tempier finished third with 22 points. Håkon Pedersen also improved his results by finishing sixth with 28 points.
In the overall, Alexandre Ferrer widened the gap over his pursuers. With 115 points he is ahead of Pol Tarres by 25 points and ahead of Francesc Moret by 30 points. Cedric Tempier is sixth with 57 points and Håkon Pedersen seventh with 52 points.
This was an excellent weekend for the Sherco Team riders with five podiums: the second place of Albert Cabestany, the first of Alexandre Ferrer and third of Cedric Tempier.