Bou wins first day in Japan
 Having
not tasted victory since the opening round of the 2006 outdoor
championship, when he won in his home country, Spaniard Antonio
Bou (Beta) today earned his second win of the season by taking
top honours on the first of two days of the competition at
the Motegi Twin Ring in Japan. Current championship leader
Adam Raga (Gas Gas) took second place with Albert Cabestany
(Sherco) taking third place and his first podium place of
the 2006 season.
In a tough competition, it was consistent riding from Bou
in the opening lap which ultimately gave him the victory.
With Raga putting in a relatively poor first lap performance
dropping four fives in the opening seven sections, it was
Cabestany with a resurgence from his recent period of poor
results who put up the main challenge along with Dougie Lampkin
(Repsol-Montesa HRC).
The second lap saw the same steady riding from Bou, but in
what has become typical of Raga, he upped his game in the
latter half of the competition and turned in a second lap
score half that of his first lap to put in a late challenge
eventually finishing just one mark adrift of Bou. Local hero
Takahisa Fujinami (Repsol-Montesa HRC), despite the backing
of the Japanese spectators, is still struggling to shake off
illness and could only manage fourth place. Raga now leads
the championship by thirteen points over Bou with Lampkin
a further three points adrift.
In the Junior championship Daniel Gibert (Montesa) closed
the gap between himself and series leader Michael Brown (Beta)
to just four points in the overall standings after taking
victory by seventeen marks over Daniel Oliveras (Gas Gas)
with Brown finishing in third position.
The Youth category saw Italian Matteo Grattarola (Sherco)
take the top podium position over Loris Gubian (Sherco) with
Alfredo Gomez (Gas Gas) in third position. With the absence
of championship leader after the USA round, Alexz Wigg (Gas
Gas) due to school exams, Gubian now leads the 125cc championship
table
The championship continues with day two of competition from
Japan tomorrow.
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