Titles decided at 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship finale

The 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship came to a thrilling, nerve-jangling conclusion at Vertolaye where day two of the TrialGP of France saw four champions crowned as the series signed off in fine style.

• 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship signs off in France 
• Emma Bristow and Alycia Soyer take TrialGP Women and Trial2 Women titles 
• Billy Green and George Hemingway complete British double in Trial2 and Trial3 

Following a tense day of top-flight competition, Emma Bristow (Sherco) retained her TrialGP Women Championship, Billy Green (Scorpa) clinched the Trial2 crown, Alycia Soyer (TRRS) secured the Trial2 Women title and George Hemingway (Beta) replaced his older brother Harry as King of the Trial3 class.

With an incredible seventeenth consecutive TrialGP title secured yesterday, Toni Bou (Montesa) could afford to relax, but the most successful rider in the history of the sport signed off on top with a conclusive nine-mark victory over his season-long rival and fellow Spaniard Jaime Busto (GASGAS).

“It has been a day without pressure for me,” said Bou. “I’m always fighting for the victory, but it has been a different day for me and I enjoyed it with the team.”

Powering his way up, down and around the steep and rocky hillside where the majority of sections were plotted, the thirty-six-year-old led at the halfway stage on twelve with Busto best of the rest a further six adrift.

Even with his second lap total of sixteen – including a maximum on the final section and a single time penalty – Bou finished nine marks clear of Busto to claim his eighth consecutive win of the season.

Matching his performance yesterday, Bou’s compatriot and team-mate Gabriel Marcelli was thirteen behind Busto to secure third in the championship with Italy’s Matteo Grattarola (Beta) one mark adrift in fourth and Miquel Gelabert (Vertigo) a further mark behind in fifth.

Bristow started the day with a thirteen-point lead and underlined her position as the best female rider on the planet with her eighth straight win of the season ensuring her ninth title in ten years.

Spain’s Berta Abellan (Scorpa) has fought hard all year, shocking Bristow at the series opener in April with a double victory, but she had no answer to the reigning champion’s silky-smooth skills as on a low-scoring day as the British star followed up an opening lap of four with a second-lap total of seven to run out winner by four marks. 

“Today was good,” said Bristow. “I feel like I have been riding well all weekend and have had a good feeling with the bike. I have been quite relaxed and super-positive and I couldn’t be happier with the bike and the team.” 

Italy’s Andrea Sofia Rabino (Beta) was a further twenty marks behind in third to retain her third-placed ranking ahead of Naomi Monnier (GASGAS) who, after yesterday’s home podium finish, slipped to fourth on thirty-eight with Norway’s Huldeborg Barkved (TRRS) rounding out the top five on the day on fifty-two. 

The outcome in Trial2 hung in the balance almost all day which was an accurate reflection of a season that has been closely-contested, hard-fought and at times completely unpredictable.

Green started yesterday as series leader, but slipped to third in the standings after finishing out of the points as fellow British rider Jack Peace (Sherco) and Pablo Suarez from Spain moved into the joint lead.

While Spain’s Arnau Farre (Sherco) dominated today’s action with his laps of eight and four earning him his third victory of the season – despite accumulating ten time penalties – the battle raged further down the order.

Too close to call following the opening lap, Green showed that he had learned from his Saturday performance and was able to soak up the pressure and perform at his best. As Peace slipped out of contention and Suarez gritted his teeth to ride through the discomfort of a shoulder injury he sustained on the last section of lap one, Green climbed up the leaderboard to finish second on a score of twenty-nine.

Finishing before Suarez, the twenty-one-year-old had to endure a tense wait before it was confirmed that the title was heading home with him when his brave title rival finished ninth after losing vital marks in the closing sections.

“Yesterday was a nightmare and my riding was not there,” said Green. “I was very upset last night and thought I had thrown it away, but I have a great team behind me and lots of support so I got my head down today and somehow pulled it off. To win the championship is amazing.”

Harry Hemingway (Beta) completed a solid first season in Trial2 with his third podium finish of the year ahead of home hero Hugo Dufrese (GASGAS) and defending champion Sondre Haga (GASGAS) with a disappointed Peace back in fourteenth, but still third in the championship.

Harry Hemingway (Beta) completed a solid first season in Trial2 with his third podium finish of the year ahead of home hero Hugo Dufrese (GASGAS) and defending champion Sondre Haga (GASGAS) with a disappointed Peace back in fourteenth, but still third in the championship.

The dominant force in the Trial2 Women class, Soyer’s one-hundred per cent podium record came to an end today when she was pushed back to fourth, but the rising French star still ran out champion by four points ahead of Italy’s Alessia Bacchetta (GASGAS).

“I am very happy to win the championship,” said Soyer. “It was not a good day for me today and I made some big mistakes, but I am still champion.”

Bacchetta has pushed Soyer hard all season and her efforts were rewarded with a second victory on a total of fourteen, four ahead of series newcomer Mette Fidje (Sherco) from Norway and seven clear of Italy’s Martina Brandani (Sherco) with Soyer ending the day on twenty-four.

Despite coming home in seventh for the second day in a row, third in the championship went to Spain’s Laia Pi Ramirez (Beta).

The younger Hemingway brother has dominated Trial3 this season and completed a run of eleven consecutive podium finishes – including six victories – today to take the title by twenty-three points from opening round double winner Jone Sandvik (Sherco) from Norway.

“I can’t really describe how I’m feeling,” said Hemingway. “After watching my brother win it last year I knew I wanted to follow in his footsteps and I managed to make it happen.”

Claiming his third win of the season, Britain’s Jamie Galloway (TRRS) consolidated third in the championship on a score of twenty-three which was one ahead of Hemingway as Poland’s Pawel Ryncarz (GASGAS) and Miko Pedretti (Beta) from Italy pushed series runner-up Sandvik back to fifth on the day.

 

While that concludes the 2023 Hertz FIM Trial World Championship, the outdoor season does not end until the Trial des Nations at Auron in France on 8-10 September