This coming weekend will see the Japanese Grand Prix mark the start of the 2015 FIM Trial World Championship, with round one of the new campaign being hosted at the amazing Twin Ring Circuit at Motegi, Japan. For the fifteenth consecutive year the permanent motorsport facility will be an important part of the Trial calendar and on this occasion will signal the start of a long and intense edition of a series that was first contested back in 1975. This year the FIM Trial World Championship will visit nine different countries across three continents in just less than five months, with the eventual 2015 FIM Trial World Champion being decided over a tough eighteen counting days of competition.
After the initial excursion to the land of the rising sun, the riders and teams will then be able to enjoy a short break before the campaign resumes at Sokolov, Czech Republic at the end of May. This new venue marks a welcome return for the series to eastern Europe, with the former host town of Kramolin having last organised a Trial GP back in 2013. The second round is the first of three on the bounce and will represent one of the most concentrated periods in the season with trips on the successive weekends to Sweden and Great Britain being next on the agenda.
The journey north to Sweden will bring to an end a long absence of Trial Grand Prix events in Scandinavia, with the same Nordic country having accommodated the last coming of the series to this wonderful region back in 2008. Back then the GP was held at the Uddevalla motocross circuit, but this time around a new setting at Boras will provide the backdrop to what is sure to be one of the most eagerly anticipated events in the 2015 calendar.
The hill top location at Nord Vue is no stranger to top-level competition having already hosted the British round of the series on four previous occasions – 2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014. The compact venue always attracts a healthy crowd in what is the original motherland of the sport of Trial. When the competitors head away from the north of England in mid June they will have already completed four rounds and eight days of the 2015 title fight.
A brief pause in the almost non-stop action will see the riders and teams be able to benefit from one free weekend before the battle continues, again with back to back events ready to punish any potential weaknesses amongst the challengers as the series passes its halfway-point without even a moment for reflection or hesitation in the on going assault. Andon in the South of France and Sant Julia de Loria in the mountains of Andorra are sure to be a pair of hot encounters as southern Europe reaches the height of its summer come late June / early July.
North America will be home to round seven of the 2015 FIM Trial World Championship, as the venue at Stepping Stones re-ignites its relationship with the series having last been the scene of the US Trial GP back in 1999. The now bi-annual visit to the States, along with the yearly round in Japan, confirms the true World status of the current era of the series. Following the long haul expedition over the Atlantic ocean, the international Trial family will return to central Europe for the closing two rounds and potentially decisive four days of concluding competition.
Pacos de Ferreira, Portugal is a stop last frequented back in 2010, which was also the last occasion when the series included a Portuguese Trial GP, prior to the championship being scheduled to return to this welcoming nation come early September. From Portugal the riders and teams will then move quickly on to Jerez de la Frontera, Spain that will have the honour of delivering the final Trial Grand Prix of the season as one of its many sporting events and other activities to celebrate and mark its appointment as the first ever World Capital of Motorcycling throughout 2015.