Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

t to still finish seco nd on 50. But behind Colome r, it co uld n't have been closer, with only a 10-mark difference down to eig hth place. Jarvis snea ked into third; just a head of A hvala, as Co lley jus t nosed ahead of Kur oy am a and Cobos, wi th Fu jin ami com p leting this tightly knit gro up . For the second day, the French had put. in some excelle nt over nig h t wo rk maintaining their excellent sectio ns, easing a couple slightly to maintain a good balance for the tw o d a ys . If an yone thought tha t Lampkin's seco nd lap on Saturday was a freak, he was in for a shock . In his favorite place at the back of the fi e ld, h e w ent s tra igh t ou t a n d cleaned the first seve n sections, dabbed the next two, cleaned the 10th , dabbed the I l th, and cruised the final three subs absolu tely clea n for a th ree-dab tot al. The next-be st score for the lap was 20, laken by both Colley and Cobos. Colomer opened w ith a 26. It was all over, bar the shou ting. Lam pkin's fina l loop of 19 looked almos t slack by comparison, but he had the Beta 's chain off in the third sub, and in th e ne xt he w as un lu cky when th e ba ck wheel kicked awkwardly off a ste p . H is fina l total of 22 gave him a massive wi nni ng ma rgin over Colomer, whose 51 total was just one mark more than his p revious day' s. In fact , it was just as tight for the following six places as Sa turday's result - only the names changed. Co lley moved up a gea r to net his firs t p odi u m pl a ce of the yea r, a n d Takahisa "Fuji-Gas" revved the Honda to fourt h place. With Kuru yama pla yin g out his now-expected yo-yo weekend, this time down from sixth to 12th, Fujinami mo ved up to th ird in the se ries ahea d of h is coun try man. Only Jarvis had a bigger downer, as he plummeted from third Satur day to a d isastrou s 14th on Sunday. .:\ French World Trial La Bresse. France Res ults : June 22,1 997 (Round 6 of 10) DAY 1: 1. Doug Lampkin (Bet); 2. Mar c Co lome r (Mon); 3. Steve Colley (G·G); 4. Takahisa Fujinami (Hun): 5. Amos Bilbao (C-C); 6. Jordi Tarres (C..c); 7. David Cobos (G-G); 8. Bruno Ca mo zz i (G-G); 9. Joan Pon s (G- G ); 10 . Ma rce l Ju st ribo (G-G); 11. Tommi Ahvala (M~lIl); 12. Kt'nichi Kuroy.t1N (Bet); 13. Do nato Miglio (8t't) ; 14. Crilh.lIn Jilrvi .. (Sr... ); 15. Ma rc e l l l !.1 (C.1 G\. DAY 2: 1. Dou g Lampkin (Bet); 2. Mar c Colomer (Ma n); 3. Gra ham Jarvi s (Sco): 4. Tommi Ahvala (Mon); 5. Steve Co lley (G -G) : 6. Kenichi Kur oyama {Bet}; 7. David Cobos (GG); 8. Taka hisa Fujinemi (Hon); 9. Joan Pons (G-C )j 10. [ordi T31Te5 te-e» 11. Amos Bilb.lo (GG); 12. Joachim Hindren (G-G); 13. Bru no Ca mozzi (GG); 14. Donato Mijo';Iio (Bet )j IS. Gabrie l Reyes (Mon) , O BS ER VED T RIALS WOR LD C HA M P IO N S H IP POI NT STANDINCS (Aftt"r 6 of 10 rou nd s): 1. Do ug Lam plin (212 /5 w ins); 2. Marc Co lo mt"r- (182); 3 Taka hisa Fujinami (130): 4. Ke nichi Kuroy ama (127); 5. Jordi Terres (lot ); 6. David Cobos (94); 7. Graha m Jarv is (92); 8. Stev e Co lley (91); 9. Tommi Ahv a la (79): 10. Amos Bilbao (76); 11. Bruno Ca mozz i (71); 12. Joan Pons (59); 13. Marcel Ju stribo (38); 14. Gab riel R.. ycs (3l) ; 15. Diego Bosis (18); 16. Donato M igli o (16); 17. Joa ch im Hindren (9 ); 18. Albert Cabestany (2). Upcoming Rounds: Round 7 - La Rabassa, Andorra, July 13 Round 8 - Donn California, July 8 er, Obse TrialsWorldChampionship Series rved R ound5: Italy Strike! By John Dickinson BIENNO,IT , JUNE 15 ALY he first leg of the Italian ro und of the World Tria ls C ha mpionship came to a sensational end after just th ree of the 14 sec tions had bee n completed . The leading compe titors, includin g reignin g series C hampio n M a r c T Co lomer a nd 1997 series lead er Doug Lampkin, refused to take further part in the trial, claiming tha t the sections were too long and too dangerou s. All the rider s returned to pare ferme, a n d with G a s Ga s ex port mana g er Andreu Cod ina and AM trials p reside nt Igancio Verneda acting on their behalf, said tha t they would refus e to ride until th e Italian organizers altered ma ny of the 14 sections. The riders said that they had com plained on Friday tha t the sections were not sui table bu t that the organizin g Monza MC had refused to listen. Heavy overnight rain mad e the situation much worse. Lampkin had cras hed very heavily, wi th bo th him and his Beta cartwheeling da ngerously down a steep, rocky hillside on the second section, and only one ride r managed to get through the third . As Steve Colley was abou t to enter the fourth, the ride rs called a halt an d asked him not to con tinue . A series of meetings ensued before the situatio n escalated furth er when the riders presented a statement, signed by the current top 15, demandin g the return of the observing ru les as used last year an d the immed iate scra pping of the current "statio nary -da b" rule which was rushed throu gh at the AM Spring Congress and doesn 't appea r in the AM handbook. They sta ted that unles s this rul e is repealed this week, they would boycott the French Championship round . The Italian organizers refused to alt er any thi ng on Saturday, so a res tart was not possible. A handful of early starters d id com p lete the opening lap, but the rules state tha t if less than 50 percent of the ride rs finish, then the trial is voided. Ini tially the riders were demanding that the observing rule be altered before the Sunday start, but eventually agr eed to start the following d ay if th e sec tio ns were altered. So, wi th eased sections, the second leg of the tria l went ahead w it hou t a hitch on Sunday, and in very hot weathe r, a n ex ce llent event ensued . Series leader Lam pkin dominated both laps of the trial that saw the majority of the 14 sect ions set either in or on the banks of a wide, fast-flowing river. With Colomer finishing seco nd, Lampkin extended his series lead to 24 po ints as the Championship reached the halfw ay stage. The openi ng sec tion took a precautionary prod off Lampki n where Colomer clean ed , bu t this was canceled out at the second su b where the scores we re reversed. The third section was the first real tester and was comprised of a series of rocky steps on the riversi de . Lampkin never d id boss thi s one and collected a pair o f m a ximums, while C ol om er scored a five and a second-lap dab . The problem w as that loose sa nd made the rocks extremely slip pe ry , and in fact only two clean rid es wer e recorded all day. These came from Steve Colley, curren tly on a roll and d ue to finish a fine four t h on th e day, and former wo rl d nu m be r two Diego Bosis . Th e next big problem wa s th e six th ha zar d , a nd thi s s to pped virtuall y the entire field on both laps. The problem was the ex it , whe re a m an -m a d e ceme nt-a nd -rock obstacle (which had to be attacked at an angle) proved all but impossible. Lampkin was the only rider to ma nage a pair of threes. In fact. the only othe r rid ers to sa lvage an ythi ng here we re Lam pkin and the two Jap an ese aces, Ken ichi Ku roya rna and Taka hisa Fujinami, w ho bo th score d threes. Apart from these fou r rid es, it was fives all the way. Sectio n e ig h t feat u red a mi gh ty jump-step that took Colomer for another five, but it was mastered by an aggressive Lampkin on bo th laps - and he was joined by Finn Tommi Ahvala, who kept up his new-found form to finish the day in fifth. Lampkin and Fujinami were the aces aga in on the ninth sec tion, which ,a lso featured a big step, though officials had removed a handy kicker for the second lap to make it more difficult. It d id n' t s to p the Lampkin s team roller, thoug h. Colley came unstuck on a tough downhill section here, whi ch helped him lose the podium p osition he seemed to be headed for. Rocks hidden in the fast-flow ing river were the problem in the 12th section, and quick reactions were necessary here (as opposed to pure techniqu e) - as necessa ry as on the big steps . Colome r made it for a dab each lap, but Lampkin ac hieved th e same end resu lt w it h a clean and a two. Best here, tho ug h, wi th a clean and one apiece were Gas Gas riders Co lley and Spaniard Joan Pons. Pons ended the day in ninth place. The final section was back nea r the pare fer rne and was th e now -al mostobliga tory man -made obstacle. This one, comprised of rocks and logs, didn' t cause so ma ny problems, altho ugh only Lampkin, Fu jin a m i a nd Spanis h teen-ager (Above left) Finn Tomml Ahva'a cont inues his up- and-down season, sco ring a fourth an d 11t h at the French ro und. (Abo ve) Steve Colley'S fo rm contin ues to Improve, and the Brit ish ri der no w sits eighth in the champio nship afte r putting in 3-5 rides in France. David Cobos managed double clean s, whi le seventh-finishing Amos Bilbao was the only top-10 rider to five it. At the end, Lamp kin had d ominated through out and took a comfo rta ble 12mark win to ease ou t an additiona l three champ ions hip points ahead of Colo me r. Ho nda rider Fu jina rni.was a surprisingly close third, and with Kuroyama hav- . ing a ni ghtmare down in 11th place, Fuji -Gas h a s closed r igh t up o n h is countryman, and oniy three points no w sepa ra tes the two Japa nese as their fight for third really heats up. Colley appears to be ge tting his act together at last. A new engine tu ner is providing the Isle of Ma n rider wit h the hard -h ittin g p ow er th a t hi s dyna m ic style de man ds, an d Colley is now much happier w ith his 270 Gas Gas . He has moved up to eigh th in the series, and a top-five final placing is we ll within his grasp . But fighting Colley all the way is fellow Brit Gra ham Jarvi s and Ahvala. The trio battled to a closely fo ught fou rth , fifth and sixth, and are sure to keep up the pressure as the series enters its final stages. In contrast is the rapid decli ne of seven-time World Champion Jordi Tarres. Tarres , the most su ccessful World Champions hip rid er of all time, coul d only amass four clean rides on Sun day. This com pares with nine apiece for Colley a n d Ahvala, while Lam pkin was light-y ears ahead of the m wit h 19. Colomer bagged IS and Fujinami 12. .:\ Italian World Trial Bienno, Ita ly Results: June 15,1 997 (Rou nd 5 of 10) DAY 2: 1. Doug Lampkin (Bet); 2. Marc Colome r (Ma n ): 3. Takahisa Fujinami (Ha n); 4. Steve Co lley (GG); 5. Tomm i Ah vala (Mon): 6. Graham Jarv is (500); 7. Amos Bilbao (G-C), 8. Da vid Cobos (G-G)j 9. Joa n Pons (G-G); 10. Jordi Ta rres (G-C); 11. Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet); 12. Ma rce l Justribo (G-C)j J3. Diego Basis (Man ); 14. Brono Ca.mo:ai (C-G); 15. Gabri el Reyes (Moo). OBSERVED T RIALS WO RLD C HA MP IONSHIP POINT ST AND INCS (Afler 5 of 10 rounds): 1. Dou g La mp kin (172 / 3 w ins); 2. Ma rc Colomer (148) ; 3 . Ke nich l Kuroye nw (112); 4. Takahisa Fujinam i (109); 5. Jordi Tam'S (85); 6. David Cobos (76); 7. Graham Jarvis (75) j 8. Steve Colley {65l; 9. Tommi Ahvala (61); 10. Brun o Ca mozzi / Amos Bilbao (60); 12. Joa n Pons (45); 13. Marcel Justribo (32); 14. C abriel Reyes (31). mE> 41

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