Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.OBSERVED TRIALS .W orldC hampionshipO bserved Trials Series By John Dickinson REDHALL IRELAND, APR. 26, 27 p ain, Grea t Brit ain an d Ireland th e openi ng three Wor ld Trial s Ch ampionship rounds staged in jus t three short weeks - have fea tu red three totall y d iffere nt typ es of terra in: Spain, all ve rtica l climbs an d drop s se t on dusty, dry, u ltragr ippy ro cks; Britai n, again vertical climbs, b u t o n m uch more slip pery, smooth sandstone covered wit h fine sand; and Ireland livirig up to it's wet, boggy roma ntic image with ver tical climbs certainly, but se t against a backdrop of ankle-deep mud in a d am p, dark wood litte red wit h tree roots and craggy rock s. Britain and Ireland di d h a ve one no tab le thing in common, tho ugh. The y had the same winner, the Beta factory 's new number-one Do ug Lampkin, who not only won the event bu t gave th e entire field a lesson bot h in riding the slip pery go ing and in total conce n traion, It wasn 't so m uch a wi n as a giant sycho logical si d eswi p e a s Lamp kin do mina ted each of the three laps while Spanish Worl d Roun d winner Marc Co lo mer agai n finishe d second to La mpkin just as h e h a d in Eng land . Going into the American rou nd a t Rho d e Isl a n d , La m p k in is n ow one poi nt beh ind Colomer in the series standings . Ire land was a tou gh rou nd for th e ' ma inland Euro peans. After Britain, they had m oved camp across th e Irish sea and spent a full week in virtu al non-stop rain that tu rn ed the venue int o a gripless, muddy lake. They grumbled long an d lou d abo ut the condi tions an d practiced on ly h alf-hear tedly. Lampkin, in contrast, sai d nothing and practiced hard to master the difficu lt conditions. His persistence and optim ism were to payoff handsomel y . Fri day's opening loop, containi ng 14 sectio ns, depressed many of the Continentals' eve n fu rther as it was he ld in continua l ra in, w hich fell heavily at times. Vir tua lly everyone sta rte d ou t ner vou sly, even Lampkin, w ho kicked off wi th a 1 and a 2, althou gh h is starting d r a w saw him at th e h ead o f th e A 'gr oup of gra de d rid ers. After a success io n of determi ne d but d e sp er at e atte m pts on the firs t sectio n, Lampkin pioneered a totall y different line on the fina l ver tical climb ou t of a walled creek," which cost him a dab - and showed his riv als exactly wha t to d o. Lampkin's 2 on th e second ha zard, wh ich featu red real ol d -fashione d no n -stop sli p pery climbs u p a tight, narrow deep-m u d gull y was b ettere d o n ly b y p op ul ar Spania rd Amos Bilb ao , who fired h is Gas-Gas ou t for jus t a 1. The third su b was a particularly tortu ou s maze of turns an d climbs on slipp ery roc ks, and Lampkin' s clean w as ma tch ed on ly b y seven-t ime W orld Champion [ordi Tarres, who was riding much bett er than in the previou s week at Haw kstone Park. Th e fi fth sec tio n w as p rob ab ly the m ost dangerous, featurin g severa l big rock-climbs in a vertical-sid ed can yon . Most rid er s reckon ed that in the dry it S Round 3:Redhall, Ireland w ouldn 't b e m u ch of a probl em but were certainly ap prehensive in the wet. The top cats here over th e three loops turned out to be Co lorner 'a n d Bilba o, who pulled ou t three brill iant cleans each. Lampkin took a safe 1 on his first visit but failed to better that on his two attempts the following day. In contras t, British rival Steve Colley found it easy, go ing 1-0-0 with no trouble at all, But Lampkin had n ow go tten th e measu re of the slippery conditions, and he reeled off the last sev en sections on th e openi ng la p for a los s of just tw o marks, both coming on the mega-steps a t th e p e n u ltimate h a z a rd (which Colomer failed) before both the Brit and th e Spaniard cla imed the on ly two cleans on th e fin al man-m ade pil e o f rocks - the inclusion of which appears de rigu er in World Rounds these days. Lampkin , with 16 ma rk s a ft er the fir st d ay, he ld a three-p oint cu shi on over second-placed Tarres with Bilbao a further point behind that. Colomer was on e p oint d own on Bilb ao in fo u r th place . Saturday, saw a damp but fine day, and cond ition s turned from very slippery on the opening circuit to sticky on the second. It wa s pretty much a case of Beta rider Doug lampkin slithered his way to a 51-point total and hoisted his second victory trophy In as many rounds at the Irish World Trial. The Brit Is now one point off the lead pace in the series stand ings. sw ings an d roundabouts as certa in p art s of the sections eased and others becam e more d ifficult . Lampkin was very consisten t as his 16-18-17 lap score s would la ter show. Col omer w as always ju st a coup le o f marks behind, and no ma tte r what th e frustrated Spaniard di d - an d he w as rid ing very we ll - Lampkin cou ld match or top him. Lampkin pulled clea r with brilliant clean and on e-d ab ride s on the lon g, sli p pery seventh su b wh en a ll aro und him wer e taking 5s or har d-won 3s. Lampkin wa s unsett led tw ice on the final hazard though - as was Colom er where Tarres was rath er su rp risingly the bes t, droppin g jus t fou r marks in total, Nonet he less, back in th e fin ishing ten t, w inner Colomer was bubbling after car ding 51 points to claim back-to-back Wor ld Rou nds. "That was a brilliant tri al," Lampki n sa id . "Bu t I'd like to go back out and , clean tha t last section agai n. I messed it up at exact ly the sam e point bot h times toda y." . Runner-up Colorner , with 65 points, was not quite so happy. " It was difficult for me here wi th all the mud, and I have a problem with my I leg," Colomer said. Tarres was sm ili ng, th o u gh , after coming on strong once again to gai n third place with 72 points. "T he yo u ng riders alw ays make it d ifficult for me, no?" the cham pion said. "Bu t I rod e much bett er than at Hawkstone. I h ave a p rob lem with m y back, an d I can 't pract ice too m u ch , bu t maybe it is getti ng bett er ." Bilb a o fo llowe d Ta rres in four th p lace after an inspired weeken d while the impossibly slender Kenichi Kuroyarna topped th e ever-i m proving threat, from Jap an, Takahisa Fujinami. Kuroya-' . ma wa s on a m ission after being beaten by th e H ond a -mou n te d , 16-year-o ld sensation in England . Fujina mi was well in the p oi nts again in n in th p lace, but his full-throttle style was no t always the answer in the Irish mud. Steve Coll ey, who fu lly adm its th at he hates riding in mud and water, was su rp ri sed to in he rit si xth p lace from Graham Jarvi s a fte r th e Scorpa rid er dropped a massive 40 m arks on the fin al lap after holding fifth at the end of lap

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