Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

OBSERVED TRIALS Round 3: Belgium WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OBSERVED TRIALS SERIES 28 BILSTAIN, BELGIUM, MAY 17-18 oug Lampkin stretched his 1997 World Trials Championship lead to an impressive 21 points over reigning champion Marc Colomer following another superb double win in Belgium, which backed up his previous double in Luxembourg last month. In fact, from the six legs staged so far, Lampkin has won five, missing out only on the second day in Belgium, when Japanese teen-ager Kenichi Kuroyama popped in from nowhere to claim a surprise victory. Lampkin's latest double was yet another awesome display of skill and nerve from Beta's number-one rider, .who, to his rivals' dismay, is still finding ways to improve his riding. On current form, the only real danger to his championship aspirations is his alanning tendency to suffer the odd big-time crash. This is all part and parcel .of Lampkin's go-for-everything approach, of course. Putting 100 percent toward a clean in every single section results in either brilliant rides or instant horrible crashes, as so much depends on almost superhuman precision. In Belgium, Lampkin just had one mighty crash. It came in the fourth sub on the first day's second lap. He whacked his knees so hard on the rocks that a lump the size of an orange formed and severely restricted the movement in his right leg, as well as being extremely painful for the rest of the lap and also for Sunday's second leg. The Belgian event was staged, as usual, in the small trail park in Bilstain, about 80 miles from the capital, Brussells. But while the venue was familiar, the sections were not. In an attempt to get away from the tight-turn-big-step formula, the organizers incorporated the steep earth hillsides in the sections. This, apart from a tendency to make each section just too long for the two-minute time limit, worked well on the first day, when a fine sunny day helped dry out muddy conditions. But radical alterations were required before the second day could get under way after heavy overnight rain, which continued well in to the afternoon and threa tened to make Sunday's second leg a travesty. As it was, they got away with running day two, but just barely. At the previous two rounds, Lampkin's luck in the starting draw has been unequaled - two draws, two last-man starts. Lampkin's luck changed in Bilstain: He was the second of the seeded riders to start, and although Colomer was only two numbers behind him, it was the chance the Spaniard and his team were looking for: Lampkin was finally under some pressure. And that is exactly what they set out to do, with Colo mer jumping ahead of Bruno Camozzi right away to sit right on Lampkin's tail. . It didn't matter, though, for while Lampkin may have cracked in the second leg in Spain, where he dropped to third after pressure from the Montesa team, Lampkin was a rock through the opening four sections, a mixture of tricky rocks and flat-out, big-gear, steep muddy climbs. Then, at the fifth section, the British rider went ballistkto storm a mighty, almost-vertical, muddy banking that followed a rush through an axledeep creek. His clean was the only one of the lap. In fact, only fellow Brit Steve . Colley managed a feet-up ride through that section, with a strong performance on the second circuit, bu t it was a flash of brilliance during an otherwise disappointing ride. After watching the brilliant Lampkin performance, followed instantly by taking a five on the section himself, Colomer was always playing catch-up, and Lampkin was just not in the mood for that. In fact, he wasn't even interested in what Colomer - or anyone else - was doing. He was just riding sections - and if anyone wanted to watch, then fine. The sections were so technical and long for the two-minute time limit that there were only three riders who could cope with the extreme conditions: Lampkin, Colomer and the diminutive Kuroyama. Lampkin and Kuroyama, the two Team Beta riders, put it over the Montesa ace on the dangerous-looking seventh section - the scene of Lampkin's crash last season, when he suffered a broken thumb. The slimy mud-climb leading on to a vertical rock exit looked frightening even to spectators, as they could barely climb it to watch. Lampkin's one-two and Kuroyama's brilliant one-one rides here contrasted starkly with Colomer's five-three. At the finish of the lap, Lampkin led with 27 points, while Kuroyama was a big gap back with 37. Colomer finished with 39. The second lap was a virtual copy of the first except for Lampkin's crash, which took him for five. He took another at the' following section, which he apparently rode before he was fully recovered from the accident. His eventual winning margin of 11 was still a whole world away from the rest, and he was glad to see his inconsistent teammate robbing a couple of points from Colomer. Tommi Ahvala received a huge cheer from the knowledgeable crowd as he clocked in fourth on the Montesa, easily his best result of the year, while Takahisa Fujinami weighed in fifth on the Honda after a pair of consistent laps. It was then three Gas Gas-riding Spaniards - the experienced Amos Bilbao, the promising David Cobos, and the once invincible Jordi Tarres although they were a world away from mixing up with the leading Big Three. This was reduced to the Big Two on Sunday, when Kuroyama's inconsistency reared its head as he plummeted to seventh on the day, leaving Lampkin and Colomer to slug it out for the points • yet again. Heavy overnight rain led to heavy morning and midday rain. Conditions were pretty bad with mud, mud and more mud, and many of the sections had to be modified or cut short as the banks (Above) Doug lampkin's amazing form continues unabated. The Beta rider won both days . In Belgium, for a total of five wins to date and a big lead in the series points. (Below) Reigning champion Marc Colomer finished second and third over the two days, but couldn't match lampkin's performance.

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