BRISTOW STYLE
The two-day points-scoring opening round of the 2019 FIM TrialGP Women’s World Championships would once again start with the long-haul flight to Japan and the world famous Motegi race track at Narita. The wet weather welcomed the 12 riders to the qualifying session, which was formed from a mixture of man-made and natural hazards.
It was Norway’s Ingveig Hakonsen who posted the fastest time in a close contest with Great Britain’s Emma Bristow and Spain’s Sandra Gomez. Showing her true world championship style over both days of competition, Bristow was in reality never challenged for the top spot on the podium. She dominated both days with clear winning margins and highlighted her high standard of riding when the conditions were at their worst on day one.
With better weather on day two, the hazards rode easier, and she needed to be concentrating at her highest level, which she did to record another victory. On day one the battle between the other riders for the podium was much closer as Sandra Gomez took second position on the tie break decider from Ingveig Hakonsen, with the Spanish trio of Berta Abellan, Neus Mercia and Maria Giro all very close rounding off the top six. With much better weather conditions on day two Great Britain’s sole representative in this class, Bristow, showed a very high level of riding to lose just seven marks on her opening lap, the only single-figure score of the day. Abellan took the second step on the podium as she fought off Neus Mercia and Sandra Gomez, and Mercia got the last step on the podium on the tie break decider as Maria Giro took another top-five finish. The question as we look forward to the next round is who can stop Bristow marching towards another world title?