Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ wOBSERVED TRIALS ~~'i':t:7 ~,s: Bonner Ski Ranch W RLDCHAMPIONSHIP OBSERVED O TRIALS SERIES (Above left) Plenty of spectators t ook advantage of the opportunity to watch the world's best trials riders compete at the Donner Ski Ranch. (Above) Jess Kempkes struggled Saturday but Improved Sunday. (Left)Three-time and defending AMAINATC National Champion Geoff Aaron ma de it into the top 15 to earn a champio nsh ip po int. "I jus t d ecid ed th at I've got to ge t through th e sections," Bell said. "T h ey' re not th at difficult. I knew I could get through them, so I just basical- . Iy planned to do my best a nd not get intimidated· that sort of thing." Aaron had to be content with top American honors on his Team Hooters Beta, losing to the young Canadian for the fir st time in his ca reer. He got a clean on the first loo p but none thereafter, and finished with 113 points. Finis hing in 19th with 122 wa s Raym ond Peters on a Team Zip /RYfSS Gas Gas. He had no cleans, only threes and fives. With the rid ers attacking the same 14 sections on Sunday, you'd expect scores to be a bit lower, sim ply because of the practice competitors got by riding th e sectio ns Saturday. If so, then ma ybe you wo uldn't be stunned to learn Lampkin dominated the day with a score of five. No, that's not five for one of the loops; that's five for the day. He d abbed jus t twice on the first loop (Wally World and section 12's EI Capitan by Coors Light), then got a two (Wally World again) and, perhaps in a lapse of concentration due to kn owing he'd won brilliantly, dabbed in the weeke n d's fi na l sec tion. "Th e even t's go ne rea lly well, obviously: he said. "The orga niza tion's fantastic. Some of the sections are a bit on the easy side, and the hard sections are really clea n or five (situ a tions). Tha t's why the scores are so close at the end of the day." . They weren't that close, though. Fujina m i put in hi s best rid e of the yea r; matching Lampkin for cleans (24) but ' taking a couple of fives , and that gave him runner-up for the day, with 14. "I like th e USA· m a ny, ma ny people," Fu jin ami said. "Last yea r, on the firs t day (in Rhode Island), I was first. This yea r on the first d ay, I wa s fifth . N o t good. Second day, I'm second . I'm very, ve ry happy. Th e roc ks here are very, very d ifficul t, but the sections are a bit easy . In Japan (w he re he headed o n Tuesday for a Japanese Cham pio ns hip event), the sections are very, very easy. If you ge t a five, you' re finished." Cobos finished thi rd with h is 19point d ay. It m arked o nly the seco nd time on the podium this year (the previou s eve nt in Andorra found him runnerup the second day) for the '95 EI Trial de Espana wi nner. Ta rr es an d Colo mer rounded out the top five with 23 and 25 points, respectively. "The yo ung rid er s are riding mu ch better tod ay, and I made some mis takes, bu t I am happy because I am 30 years old; I've been riding for many yea rs, and I still ride at a hig h level: Tarres sai d . " I must learn the new styles always ." Bell ' s 104 agai n paced th e North Americans, thou gh he was much farther back of Leon this time (88-104). "Today was a repea t performance of yes terday, so I' m really happy. umber-one No rth American a g a in ," he mused . "I •would've thou ght tod ay would've been a lot easier because we ha d a lot more practice on the sections, bu t a lot of the sections d eterio ra ted qui te a bit. It got a little bit slippery and a little bit harder, bu t I thi nk the main thing was, the eleva ti o n and the hea t go t to everyon e . Everyone got tired . Good result s today d epended on whoever co uld use the time limit to their advantage stretch their ride out as far as they cou ld, co n ser ve thei r energy, don't ride th e really diffi cult sections that you don't have a chance of getling through, and spend m ore time o n the s ect io ns you kn ow you can dean. That w as 'my s tra tegy fo r tod a y, a nd that's what worked ou t." Kem p kes im proved wit h kn owledge of the sections, e n d ing up 18th w it h 115 poin ts. " I did pretty good," Kernpkes sa id . "I wa s happy with m y rid e today. I w a s the o n ly Am erican who got throu gh section two (where he went three on th e fir st loop). I w as pretty bummed o u t I w a s 15 minutes late today. We were working o n my bike - the fork seal went out and we just lost track of time. We w ent up there (to the start), a n d we were 15 minutes late. That really hurt me . Other than that, I was pretty happy with m y rid e toda y. I wa s watching some of the Euros ride, and I was taking the same lines they were doing . I had a good time. "I wa s trying to go for 15th o verall and the World Championship point that goes with it , but yesterday I re alized that wasn't go ing to happen," he added . "I gave up on that and figured I'd try to beat th e Am ericans toda y. I w ent out there today to do that, and tha t's wh at I did· so I met my goa l." Aaron dropped 117 points for 19th , just ahead of Peters with 119. "I wa s really in consistent this weekend," he lamented. "I had some good rides, but th ey were just sp o tty in different section s. I couldn't put it together where I was consistent in each one. I think I might've put a little too much pressure on myself to do well . This is kind of my cha nce: I tho ug ht; if 1 had a cha nce of scoring some World Cha m pionshi p points, it wo uld p robably be this week- .. ' rle. B ~I end . I th ink I let it get to me . I started m a kin g a few mis ta kes. I had a few crashes. It just kind of snowballed from there. "By the time 1 got my act together, it wa s kind of too late," he added. "So that's pretty mu ch th e wa y it went for me. I was reall y hot a nd co ld . I had a good time ; it was beautiful out here, and I go t a chan ce to see all th e top- 10 riders on th e last loop, whi ch I wa s happy to do, It was a good ex perie nce , because they were doing some things differently than I thou ght they would' ve done. I' ve got so me things to go home and wo rk on now." Bu t for tho se co ntes ti ng th e Wo rld ro u nds o n a fu ll-ti me ba si s, the most rea listic thing to work on will be unsea ting Dou gie Lampkin. He see ms destined now to bec om e th e firs t World Tri al s Champion from Great Britain since a fellow named Martin Lampkin won in 75, the first year the AM granted the sp ort ,~ World Champion ship status . Donner Ski Ran ch Norden, California Re s u ~s : July 26-27 S~turd .. y 1. Docgi e Lamp kin ( Be t) 23; 2. J ordi Tarres {C-Cl 24; 3. Ma r,: CoLo r (Mool 26; 4. David Cobos (CC> Xl; mc 5. Ta ka hiSol Fuji na mi (Ho n) 28; 6. Kcni ch i Ku rcyama (Ikot ) 28; 7. AmofoBilbM (G -c) 38; 8. Graha m Iarvi s (Sco) 41; 9. Marcel Just ri bo (G-G ) 45; to . Tommi A h vala (Ma n ) 45; 11. Steve Colley (G-C) 48; 12. Brune Ca ma7.7i (C -C ) 58 ; 13. Ga b r iel Re yes (Mon) 69; 14 . Joach im HinJn.'Il. (G-C) 75 15. Dona to Miglio (Bet) 76 ; . . Sund~y 1. ()()u~ie u m p kin (Bt-t ) 5; 2. T~b hi !'ll Fujif\.Jmi CHon) 14; 3. David Cobos (G-C) 1Q; 4. Jordi T~1Tt"S (G-C) 23; 5. Mart'" Calo mer Ovton ) 25; o. Tommi Ahva u (Mo n) 27; 7. Kenichi Ku ruyilmd (1M) 30; s, Man::d Jw.triho (Gel 40; 9. AmuliO BiIl-J (G-C) 44 ; 10 . Sb:-v Colk-v (G-G) e 49; 11. joachim Hin dn-n (G-C) 54; 12. G rahan=. Jarvi.. (Sco) 55; 13. Orono C.;amoT.7.i (G-C) 48; 14. Golbrid Reyes (!\.ton) 5Q; 15. OU0.110 Miglio (Bd) 76 FlM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OBSE RVED TR..IAlS SER IFS POINT STANDINGS (AflrrI6 of 20 round",): 1. Dougt e Lampkin 1 28911 2 win. ); 2_Man; '1 Colo 1J r (23b/]) ; 3. Kcnichi Kurovama (180/2 ); 4 . w Tau hi"-t Fujina mi ( 67) 5. Davi d C~ (1501 6. Jord i ; Tarres ( 47); 7. Steve Colley 0251 ; 8. Gra ha m Jarv is (115) 9. Tommi Ahv aLa (113); 10. Arl""IO:\ Bilbao (98); 11. ; Bruno Camozzi (93); 12. Joan Pons (bol l; 13 . Marcel Justribo (flO); 14. Gabriel Reyes (41); 15. Donato Miglio (29); 16. Die go 8o:">is (18); 17. Joac hi m H indrm /Mal'C" Catli.1 Ob); 19. Albert ubcstany (2 ). Upc omi ng rounds: Rounds 17- 1a - Nepomuk . Czec h RepUblic. August 30-31 Rounds 19 -2 0 - Tha lhe im, Ge rma ny. September 6-7 . 8 .W orl.d rcund: "lthmk · ":lai~ iy all the ' Nort h American riders' seem to get really intimidated · .. . . ' '1. . . . __ ' . . and really nervous when they ride World round . They de finitely don't ride to the ir full ' An:aong t he .notabie spectators were Bob · .. potential." I trY to just not .worry about that at Hannah (attend ing his first triaD, CliH Glidall: especia lly the crow ds of people and com den (DePuty Direct or of Off-Highway M otor peting ?gainst the Europeans... . Vehicle Recreation for the State of California Department 'of Parks and Recreation), former' . Gf the 26 pre.e~tra ~tll , ·mo st came fr om U.S. ISDE racer ..John Haaker (who put on a Spai n. Nine riders carrie d Sp anish licenses. dual-sport ride which finis hed at Donner so . Six came fro m the hos t co untry . three 'from entrants cou ld watch the triaO.- Fred Belair G reat Brrtam . two from Finl and. tw o fr om (the godfather of Amencan trials and creator of Japa n: and one each Irorn Ca nada. France. EI Trial de Espana).'and Wiltz Wagne. (far Italy and Luxembourg. Of the 26. half the field ~ the Y"aQ~r Cup is .namecf). entered on Gas Gas. seven on Beta. fou r on ~:. : Acc ording -to Marti n B e la ir o f Monteae a . Mo.nte~: and one eac~ on H~ and Scarpa.. Imports. the wo r k s Cota -31 5 R of Marc As cont rovers ial as the f o oti n g ru le for Co'omer weighed just 154 pounds . thanks to ' AMAINATC regu~ was ·the .time limit (whtch extensive use of titanium f as tene rs and ceris the same jn Nationals . but National sections bon /Kevtar: pieces like the atrbox and front ' aren't as difficult 8S World ones). "The biggest fender brace. T he Parch conventional fork sported tubes with a dark gray finish. as did ' thing is the rwo-minute rule in 'eech section ." severel top Europeans' forks. Dubbed cereco- . Ryan Bell noted. "It's really tight. and we've titftnium. if s Clai ed to be a much harder finish m had to re~lIy fight to get through on time . It than golden-hued titanium .nitride: and allows better action . Jordi Tan-es' Gas Gas also feetured plenty of carbon-fiber parts and titanium fasteners. but .it else used a 250-gram front axle weight . Reportedly. this wa s ·added to . somewha t offset the tendency to wheelie due to the many vertcet faces ~d soperb traction common to Donner sections. R yo n a e ll ·o ff e r ed his- opin ion on why AMAINATC regula~ ca~'t c~k the toP. 15 ~t doesn 't give you a lot of time to get set up or to catch a breath .- You're always pushing 'your. seH to go faster and faster. which is good for. the spectators. It makesfor a more enjoyiltMe event , but u's really hard on the riders, espectally at this elevation. · Instead of ho pp ing around to set up for obstacles Cas is_ common at Nationals}, World·round regula rs seemed more prec ise: They'dhop the rear wheel , for example. and put it where it needed to be the first time . .

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