Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127730
.OBSERVED TRIALS·· · . World ChampionshipObserved Trials Series Sp an iard - w ho is riding with Italian s ponso rs hi p in th e Italian Na tiona l Championsh ip s t his seaso n - just d oesn't look rel a xed th is season. But looking very relaxed , an d at long last looking a very real thr eat, wa s dimin utive Amos Bilbao in seventh - and with more to come. Sunday saw Tarres start at the back of the pack as of right, and he stayed there, watchin g every move like a hawk. All of his rivals were in the open. First to crack was Ahvala, w ho totally went to pieces after falling in the tough fou rth section. Ahvala crashed from third overnight to a disappointing seventh at the death. Tarres wa s turning the screw and his total of 15 was again the best of the lap as Bilbao su rp rised everyone with the seco n d -bes t score of 17. Be tt er eve n than Colomer, who struggled, just as he had the previou s d ay, with the last four secti o ns . Lampkin wa s o n th e move though, and his six cleans were double Iris first-lap hau l. On the fin al circuit, Ta rres proved agai n that it tak es mor e th an jus t rid ing skill to w in a tr ial. Col omer was riding abs olu tely brilliantly on the last lap a n d had in fa ct dropped a mere four marks over th e op en in g 10 sections. In contra st , Tarres was ha ving a nightmare and his 13 up to that point By John Dickinson l!) 0\ 0\ ...... BILSTAIN, BELGIUM,MAY 13-14 ordi Tarres may well be the most successful trials rider of all time with his record of six World Cha mpionships, yet in winning th e fou rth round of the 1995 series, he proved just how hard he is trying for an unbeli evable seventh crown. Tarres showed incredible determination and single-mindedness in Belgium. The eve nt was staged once again in the trial park at Bilstain, near Verviers. Tarres' entire life was given, as it always is, to cleaning sections, winning tria ls and coll ectin g titl es. Alw a y s w o rki ng, always sche ming... Wh en some r id ers w ere havin g lu nc h, Tarres wa s pract icing . Wh en they w ere ha ving tea, Tarres w as ou t lookin g at sec tions . And when it w as dark, Tarres was still lookin g at sections - with a flash light. The d ed ication d isp layed by th e talented Sp an iard is so comp lete, tha t it' s almost frightenin g. But how it wo rks ... The Belgia n trial w as almost everything Tarres sa id h e would s tr uggle w it h, as it was set ov er m any m an mad e obsta cles built from quarried rock. "Whe n we get many technical se ction s, th e y ou n g er riders are very strong and maybe can beat me, " said Tarres. "I would prefer many slippe ry, greasy sections where finding grip is not easy, you must feel for it." At Bilstain - ofte n the scene of ankledeep mud - t h e dus t was billowing down the bare di rt roads in the small off-road park. Grip wa s riot a problem , it wa s all about skill and nerve. All except for one very telling section that showed up a glaring fault in the power delivery of 95 percent of current trials engines. The fou rth ha zard includ ed a s ho r t but a lmost ver tic a l lo o se climb that n e ed ed so me r eal wh eel-spinning top-end p ower. The cu rre nt cro p of motors - packed to the hilt with mid- ran ge - just cou ldn't cope . They sim ply ran ou t of steam on the top - all excep t for Marc Colorner's factory Montesa Cota. Col orners fo u r- mark loss in this section almost won him the tr ial. In co n trast, even Tarres lo st 10 p oints, Tommi Ah val a 11, a nd fif thpl a ce finishe r Joan Pon s - aboard th e migh ty Gas Gas JT35 - cast away 13. Ta r r es' secon d w in of th e season makes him the first ride r to score a dou bl e victo ry, as C ol omer and Tommi Ah vala each boast one win apiece. Tar res still, however, trails the ever-consistent Colome r in the series point stand ings by a sing le point, 71-70 . Ahvala, the third ma n in the '95 title chase - had a terrib le d a y a nd fi nished seven th, dropping 13 p oints behind Tarre s . Whil e Col om e r ' s challen g e for th e crown app ears to be stro nge r than ever, Tarres is d et ermin ed to fe nd off th e yo ungs ters for at least one more year. The factory Gas Gas rider alr ead y has an iron-elad grip on the winningest tri als rid er ever titl ed , but stil l, he wan ts more. Th e ope ning lap around the 14-section loop was run as usu al on Saturday, (Ab ove) Jord i Tarres used a classic psyche-out stra tegy to score his second win of t he season. (Right) Montesa's Marc Colomer loo ked to have the win In the bag, but succumbed to the pressure and dropped to second. and the very long, d ry, dusty and technical sections pu sh ed riders very close to the thr ee-minute time limit. If it. had rained - as was forecas t - several wo uld have been a lmost impossible to compl et e in t he a llotted ti me . Colorne r, intense as ever, set the early pace which includ ed a co nfidence-boosting two da bs on the d read ed sectio n fou r - and he didn't even lose them on the climb! Onl y Tarres and Ahvala salvaged threes h ere throu gh sheer determina tion, as the rest of the 36 entrants failed totally. But as so often hap pens these days, Ta rres took a cou ple of sections to get t he m easure of the pla ce a nd t h en moved in to dom inate. This was a classic case. As the riders signed off at the end of the ope ning day' s 14 sec tions, Tarres w as exactly wh ere he likes to be - in fro nt. Being in the lead mea ns that the cham p ca n d ict ate th e second d a y ' s pl a y. His score of 17 ke p t h im tw o ahead of Colo mer and Ahvala in a pred ictable 1-2-3. In fourth was the backon- form Bruno Camozzi, w hile Do ug Lamp kin did well to rescu e fifth following a big crash and two fives early on. In six th was Po ns . Th e poker-faced