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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127852
OBSERVED TRIALS W ORLD C HAMPIONSHIP OBSER VED TRIALSSERIES Rounds 1 5-16: D onner Ski Ranch By Mark Karlya NORDEN, CA, )ULY26lJ merica has been very , very good to the Lampkins. Great Britai n's first family of trials has seen some of its grea test triumphs on this side of the pond, and the latest rounds of the World Tr ials Cha m pio nship simply extended the streak to include 21-year-old Dougie. The factory Beta rid er proved untouch able at the Donner Ski Ranch, high in the Sierra Nevada mou ntain s, winning both rounds to add his name t o the Wagner Cup, which is given to the top overall performer at the D.S. roun d of the World Trials Cham pionship. O ther Lampkins A w it h the ir names inscribed incl ude uncle s Alan (in '74 in California) and John (in '83 in Texa s), a nd Dou g ie ' s father, Martin (in '76 in Washington ), the former World Cha mp ('75) wh o acts as Dougie's minder nowadays. Lampkin the you nge r has owned the se ries since the start in Spai n , and his reco rd after this weekend stands at 12 w ins , tw o secon ds and a th ird. (One round in Italy was canceled after bei ng boycotted by the riders.) He extended his lead in series points over d efending World Champ Marc Colomer of Spain from 249 to 210 before the week end to 289 to 236 after - and appears to have Co lomer' s title well within reach. America ns might be a ble to pul a machine on Mars, but they weren't able to break into the top 15 po ints-paying positions in ord er to score World Championship points, extending a drought that began after ' 79 Wo rld Champ Bernie Schreiber retired in the mid- '80s. Mos t Americans pinned their hopes for a po in t on three-time and defending AMA /NATC N a tional Cha mp Geoff Aa ro n, w ho finishe d 16th here in ' 94 and in Canada last year. Unfor tuna tely fo r Aaro n, h e succu mbe d to th e pressu re a nd finished 18th on Saturday a nd 19th on Su nday. In fac t, th e top p e rf o rme r fr om the AMA / NAT C circuit was not Aaron or any of the oth er Americans. That honor belonged to unheralded Ryon Bell, 18, of British Columbia, Canada, who has yet to win his first U.S. National. "It's the fir st time I've ever be at en Geoff," Bell sa id . " I've beaten (j ess) . Kem pkes once befor e, but I wis h thi s was a National. It'd be all the m ore worthwhile." Still, he wasn ' t unhappy with his pair of 17th-place finishes for the w~kend . Presented by the Don ner Ski Ranc h a nd Sacram ento PITS Inc., each da y' s th ree- mile loop" consiste d of th e FIMmandated 14 sections; the loop and sections were the sa me both d ays. Compe titors had two minutes to co m p lete each section; any more time resulted in a five. They also had five and a half hours to com plete two loops without incurring a time penalt y. New for American riders and specta tors alike was the rule for World rou nd s that permits riders to dab, move the bike aro und >even backwards, as long as the foot remains on the gro un d, wi th bo th ha nd s on the handleba rs - and receive (Above top) Beta-mounted Dougle lampkin dominated both days at Donner to extend his series points lead. He appears comfortably headed towards being Great Brttain's ftrst World Tr ials Champion since his father, Martin, won the inaugural title In t975. (Above) Defending World Champ Marc Colomer had an up-anddown weekend, going J..5 to lo se yet more points to lampkin. Here, he urges his works Montesa up the first tricky climb In not orious section 11.