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/127768
Finall S urp rising ly, She ffield '96 was Great Britain's firs t International Indoor Aren a Trial. Desp ite undiminis hed success on mainland Europe, no one had dared prom ote one in Britain - frightened off by the average Brit's stubborn aversion to chan ge and also fright ened off after several attempts to stage bo th supercross and supermo to events failed spectacularl y. The men who finally bit the bullet and went for broke were Neil Crossw aite father of British Schoolboy Trials Champion Martin Crosswaite - and one Martin Lampkin, th e former World Ch am pion and father of Doug Lampkin. Both were first-time promoters, an d both knew they were in for a financial beating if it went off wron g. Right from the start they prom ised tha t no corners w ould be cut and p romised the top lineup possible. [ ordi Tarres, Marc Co lo mer, To m mi Ah va la an d Dou g Lampkin w ere dead certains as the top four in the world. Amos Bilbao w as in for his anti cs, Steve Colley for his in do or skills, Kenichi Kuro yama because he is the man of the momen t, and Graham Jarv is because he is British! The brilliant bicyclist Ot Pi was the onl y su pport act conside red . The Sheffield Arena, in Yorkshire's heartland. is one of Britain 's new est and mo st successful sports halls , an d if it wouldn't attract su pport there , then Britain woul d never SL~ an in door again . In the en d it was amazing. A 7500-ticket se llo ut with several hundred disappo inte d fans who expected to pick up their tickets at the door on the night wer e turned away at the doo r. See, miracles can happen. Ah vala and Amo s Bilbao. In fact, on ly Colley equa led the ride. • Kuroyam a was n e x t in a n d th e teenager just doesn't seem to kn ow wha t p ressur e is. A prod over the first log section bro ught app lau se, but then Ku royarna clocked up three fives running and was desper ately unlucky on what turned ou t to be an impossible sec tion of concr ete pipes. Kuroya m a h ad inc hed hi s Beta Techno to within inch es of the section's en d be for e sli d in g o ff. Des pite incu rring a surprising two on the crowdp leasing h igh jump, Kuroya ma easily beat a desponden t Jarvis in the races to set a 20-ma rk standard for the evening. Bilbao and Co lley were next in to do b at tl e, bu t Bilb a o - d e s pite b eing a s cro wd- pleasing as eve r - was to hav e an off night. He was not help ed by having a sp rained right thumb which wa s both swollen an d pa inful, the result of a practi ce cr as h. De sp it t hi s, th e ti n y Spaniard still pulled off one of the rid es of the nigh t when he brillian tly cleaned the m ighty ra il way s lee per s ta irw ay, which everyone else fived. Colley rea lly mean t bus iness, as h e always does indoors, and never missed a chance to pop a wheelie or a stop pie for the cro wd . Th e severity of the sections str uck a gai n , th ou gh, an d h e looke d down an d out after taking fives on the first th ree, and tha t incl u ded a big crash from the concrete pipes tha t s m as he d h is r ea r fend er. Colley bounced back well , h ow ever, to fin ish with a one and two cleans , a n d th en dropped ju st one m ark on th e second race to finish on 17. La m pk in and Ahv ala fa ce d o n e . another in the third "heat," and they too looked fa r fr om co mfortab le. Ahv al a was an earl y exit for trials' only superstar. The final ra n absolutely to the form witnessed so far. Kurovama and Ce lomer did battl e, the Spaniard only getting the verdi ct by winning .bo th races after both ride rs lost 19 in the sections. It was down to Colley an d Lam pkin to provi de th e sparks, as th ey d id , as Lamp kin rose to the occasion and.posted a brill iant lap of 11 on the six sections. Only one five was in cl uded in Lampkin' s per forman ce, this maximu m co m in g o n t h e imp o ss ib le co n crete pi p es . Coll ey w a s th e s peed m a ster , bea ting Lampki n in both race s as the cro w d w e n t ba n an a s . Bu t Lamp k in knew that all he had to do was stay feet up, and the wi n w as in the bag. Bicycle trials ace Ot Pi was the star of the extra attr action, and duri ng the interval his one-m an show had the British on their feet, cheerin g from the moment the spotligh t p icked out th e Spanish ped aller. Pi is a tru e master of crowd manipulation an d ha d the aud ience eating out of his hand . Many reckon ed that it was worth th e m one y ju st to wa tch him, 1:\ never min d Jord i and company" (Above) Seventime World Champion Jordl Tarres was forced to compete on a production Gas Gas, and he failed to come to terms with the non-works bike. (Right) The third Brit In the lineup, Graham J arvis, rode tight and crashed out of contention early In the event. tried very hard in the early sections an d fived seve ral close to the en d car ds . But he u sed up vir tu ally all of h is se ve n m inutes o f allo tt ed tim e, an d h ad to ru sh the remai n der . H is 31-mark total was righ t ou t of it. And even Lampkin's 19 looked far from impressive - esp ecially as the Big Two wer e abo u t to enter the are na, and the crowd fully expected th em to post single-figu re scores. It sim p ly d idn't h ap pen, th ough, as the sectio ns re a lly w ere onl y ju st th e right side of impossible. It wa s imp ossible to ge t a "safe" tw o or three ou t of them - it wa s either a brilliant clean or a crash ing fiv e . And thi s is w a s w h at brou ght T arr e s ' d o wnfa ll. Co lo m e r look ed con fident and h is 20-m ark loss was safe for a p lace in the fina l. But Tarres, who is incomp arable wh en it comes to "d oing jus t en ou gh," found he cou ld get aw ay with absolu tel y nothin g and four maximums saw him drop 22, and it Sheffield Stad ium Sheffield, Great Britain Results: January 13, 1996 QUA LIFYING: I. Stev e Co lley (G-{;) 17; 2. Doug Lam pkin (Bet ) 19; 3. Marc Co lome r (Mon) 20;-4. Kenichi Kuro yama (Bet ) 20; 5. Jordi Tarres (G-G) 22; 6. Graham Jar vi s (Seo ) 25; 7. Am os Bil bao (Bet ) 29; 8. To mm i Ahvala (Fan ) 31. FINA L: 1. Do ug Lampkin (Bet) 13; 2. Steve Co lley (G-G) 14; 3 . Ma r c Colomer (Man ) 19; 4. Kentchi Kuroyama (Bet) 19. ·B riefIV·~ .·:. off: arid painfully put' his knee out ~f jOi~t on . ·'anding. Section score; Colley. 0: Miller. 5. ," Fift h-ranked Worid Champion~hip Serie~ rider , J oan Pons and ninth-ranked Amos .Bilbao ' turned up at Sheffieldsporting a large bandage . look certain to change brands shortly;;' a s ur- : strapped to his chin .·A practice crash earlier in prise eariy season"shake up. Pons is earmarked the week saw the: 92 Champ incur a nasty cut. 'to move from Gas Gas to Fantic.while Bilbao is and three stitches were .necessary to .close it , looking to move from a private Beta to .take up up. ' . . .. ' the.slot left vacant by Pons on the factory Gas Gas squad. Bilbao was the number-one rtder at .Arid speaking of Tommi Ahvala. -the Finn : Gas Gas before' Jordi-Tarres was hired away' still has to so rt outa minder'f or the upcom- from BelliIn 1993. and Bilbao left to take'up the top ing·World Championship Trials Series. as his '. berthat the (ivai.:SPanish Montesafactory. ' ' . . .'. .: . former.minder Woody Hole declared him: s elf unavai lab le, Hole wa s in act ion at ' Bothj oan' Pons and A....o s Bilbao areper·Sheffield. though. wo rking with Ahvaia and sonatly sponsored by the, Fortuna Cigarette Graham Jarvis . whose reg ular minder Companywhere t hey have lucrative deals in ' ' Ma lc o lm .Ra t hma ll was acting as a sec -. " their native Spain . Fantic is 'believed to.have ' tlo n observer. , ,. . . moved for Pons after failing to land Stava ' Colley. the Brit that the Italian company pubSteve Colley.saw his minder Jake Miller .licly announced they were 'chasing for '96 .to suffer the wo rst -Inj ury of.the nl qht , as he make . up a s tronq .two-ma n te am led by .. . jumped off one tall obstacle..s lipped on take· Tommi Ahvala: , . Fo ~me r World Champion Tommi Ahva la . 41