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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127774
OBSERVED.TRIALS Trialmaster de Bercy Ina , i 's . By John Dickinson PARIS, FRANCE, FEB. 24 teve C olley mad e a gi a n t s te p toward s becoming the number-one spec tator draw in the prestigiou s European Indoor Trials circuit with a popu lar, brilliant and well-deserved win in the Trialmaster de Bercy. Colley, a superb sho wman, tempered his natural passion to go for the crowd, pleasing moves sufficientl y to scoop his first win in the bigg est of all Indoor even ts after finishing an astonishingl y close second for the past two years . En route to victory , Colley brushed aside the challenge of the once-grea t but sad ly out-of-touch [ordi Tarres and his fellow Spaniard, Marc Colomer, the hot Bercy favorite who eventually trailed home in third. But in a superb night for British trials riding, it was Doug Lampkin wh o completed an amazing British one-two in the Palais Omnisport after losing ou t to archrival Colley in a controversial runoff after the battling Brits finished the short, sharp, four-section final - plus the race - with 14 marks apiece. Unfortunately, what should hav e been a mighty British celebration was short-circuited by a bitter argument over Lampkin's performance on the sp ectacu lar waterfall section in the final. Lampkin claimed two for his ride up the difficult steps, but the organizers dug their heels in on th ree, a nd the extra mark forced a rerun with Colley up the very same obstacle. This was no t before the experienced a nd m isch ievous indoor p romo ter Bernard Estrepean ha d extracted maximum contro versy in the noisy crowd of 10,000, and there was no doub ting w ho they wanted to win. "Colley, Colley, Colley," was the cha nt from the back of the stands. A lesser man than Lampki n would have backed out there and then and said, "Have it your wa y, I'm second!" But with the final being broadcast live on satellite channel Eurosport, the British bust-up was manna from heaven for the promoter, and when Colley somehow urged his Gas Gas through the foamin g waters to the end cards for two, the place eru pted. Poor Lampkin, visibly rattled by the crowd's reaction, rushed into the hazard and fived off the very first step, disappointed almost beyond words. But back to the start . The eight-man Bercy lineup consisted of the top four riders in the World Championships: seventime World Champion Jordi Tarres, twotime Indoor Champion Marc Colomer, '92 Wo rld Champion Tommi Ahvala , ' 94 British Champion Lampkin. Colley and three Fren ch riders completed the bill. Brun o Camozzi, his br other Christophe and [ean-Luc Nictou were the Frenchmen: Christophe and Nictou were expected to be cann on fodde r and they filled the role brilliantly, but the vas tly more talent ed Bruno was to cause a ma jor upset. With a mere five hazards, plus an easy race in the qualifier, there was even less room th an usual for makin g mistakes. Riders went ou t in pairs to make it more in teresting, but it w as only individual scores that counted at the end of the night. The top four wo uld transfer to the final. Colley started superbly, and he barely n o ticed th e presence of Chris to p he Ca mo zzi as he simply breezed throu gh the tricky hazards on his factory Gas Gas 270, looking sharp an d totally in control S (Left) Winner Steve Colley in t he section that made the difference. Colley outgunned his English compatriot Doug Lampkin in an ali-British runoff. (Above) Doug Lampkin was second aboard his Eurotek Beta Techno. The Brit felt that he was cheated in the waterfa ll section. His total of nine set a real standard for the top four to take aim at. Before the big g u ns w ere wheeled through, Fantic star Ahvala had to run his heat with Nictou, and after an uninspiring start the big Finn suffer ed a rea l horror crash after looping out while jumping on' top of an eight-foot-high steel container. . Fantic and Ahvala crashed to the ground with the bik e on top, a nd Ahvala was su preme ly lucky to esca pe very serious injury, althou gh he could bar ely stand, never mind walk, half an hour later when every musclein his bod y appea red to seize up. But enter the gladiators, and of the top fou r, Marc Colomer - mounted on his potent pro totype factory Mon tesa - looked a class apart. The indoor ace dropped just fou r marks in the five sections and his score was boosted to 10 simply because he paid no attention whatsoever to the clock. He also allowed Bruno Carnozzi to blitz to victory in the race, even stopping at one point to watch Bruno ride over a pallet of bricks (wi th the aid of a little d irt ram p built by broth er Chr istoph e - n o favoritism here, of course.) Lampkin looked sharp as he rode the hazards with Tarres, and in fact he ou trod e th e Spaniard quite co mforta bly, although a pair of fives on that wat erfall and on the Greek pillars made the Euro tek Beta rider anxious abou t his place in the fina l. It was Tarres who was to lose ou t though , to local hero Camozzi after both dropped 19 points. Brun o got the verdict on quickest time through the sections. (Left) Reigning Indoor Champion Marc Colomer was Impressive aboard his works Montesa, but fin ished fourth. Note the tape covering the Fortuna logos on his ri ding suit · tobacco advertising is not permitted in France. (Above) Stocky Bruno Camozzl nabbed third aboard his new Gas Gas JTR270. In a slight twist to normal practice, the, race was ru n first in orde r to determine starting order in the final. The results for th e lineup were Camoz z i, Colomer, Lamp kin and Colley. With only four haz ard s to com pete - the first sec tion was d ropped - it was a rea l nerve-tin gling final. The key to the final result was the Greek pillars, an d after Camozzi, Colomer and Lamp kin had all slid off the dusty surface, Colley pulled off the ride of the nigh t with a brillian t clean that ultimately gave him victory. . Lampkin fought back with an excellent display of balance and close control on the concre te slabs to claim a tw o where his riva ls a ll fived . Aft er d omin at in g th e heats, Colomer's·luck totally deserted him and fives on the pillars, slabs and waterfall dropped him righ t ou t of contention. Which brings us to Colley surging up the final waterfall for a three and Lampkin reachin g the summit for that all-important disputed tw o whi ch led to the amazing all-British run off. • Last words from the jubilant Colley: '1 deserv e that win. I mean, I have been second here for the last two years and to win Bercy has been one of my greatest ambitions. It' s just fan tastic. I can' t tell yo u what it means !" 0