Alook at the 1996 World Championship Trials Series
"I _ Marc Colo.ner
Olot. Spain
Montesa
2"1 yrs.
I RECKO:-l THAT
199 6 will be
th e y e a r that
Marc Colomer
fin a I I Y
emerges from
the shadow of
his illustr io us
co untry ma n
Jordi T a rres
a n d wins h is
firs t World Cha mpionship. Co lomer is
still only 21, and I reckon man y people
overloo ked his youthfulness wh en they
wrot e him off at the en d of '94 after he
slippe d to fourth in the sta ndings, down
from a brillian t second in '93.
Yes, Colome r certainly let Tarr es get
to him that season, bu t he was still very,
very young. Las t year, back up to seco n d , h e m atured imme nsel y , and
remember - he was developing a very
special Montesa after switching from
Be t a, a m o v e which some pundits
(wrongly) thought wou ld be a disaster.
In ' 95 he not only finished a close
runner-up to Tarres in the World Championships, he scored an important psychological victory in winning the Spanish National Championship, bringing
Tarres' nine-year winning streak to an
end. Okay, this might not ha ve upset
Tarres too much (bet it d id, though), but
it h as boosted Colomer' s confidence
measurably.
Co lom er has been the p ick o f the
pack by so me distance on the winter
Indoor Series circu it, although this can
be a bit of a red herring - Indoor Trial
res ults don't a lway s mirror outd oor
form . Again, it is a con fid ence-insp iring
thing. And Colomer will be mounted on
a special, trick Montesa that was developed by him, for him . This will be th e
final p iece in his winning jigsaw puzzle.
M A RKI N G THE
A
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ยง
12
se v en -time
World Ch ampion d own to
second p l ace
makes me feel
uncomfortable. It honestIy fee Is like
I'm being unfai r t o him .
With his un tou chab le record, Tarres is
unqu estionab ly the greatest trials rider
of all time, bu t nobody last s forever an d
as he approaches 30 Tarres mu s t be
m o re vulnerable to the y o u n g lions
than ever before.
Tarre s' almost unbelievable reco rd of
58 Worl d Round wins will probabl y
never be bea ten. He bagged five last se_ason and was a lon g way from happy
when Colomer was judged to have beaten h im in Finland. Tarres just hates to
lose.
Alw ays brilliant, ab le to win a tri al
with a single clean, Tarres is a master of
sports p sych ology and until recently,
con trolled mo st of his rivals throughout
entire seasons. But the younger ge nerat io n of r ider s - D ou g Lampkin a n d
Kenichi Kuroy ama - refuse to g et
in v olved in mind g am es and just do
their own thing. These boys are a danger to Tarres.
