Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left ) A 4-3 weekend allowed Gas Gas rider Dav id Cobos to solidiiy his hold on fift h in po ints. (Right, from the left) J ordl Tarres, Lamp kin and Takah isa Fujinam i. Tarres rode a bril liant second loop Saturday to cla im runner-up honors. Lampkin won the Wagner Cup. Fujlnaml's second place on Sunday was his best of the year. (Below) Tops among the AMAINATC regUlars was Ryon Bell. no more than a one instead of the traditional five. That change to the program has resulted in lots of gru mb ling by top riders, as they we ren't, as a grou p, consulted when the rul e was pro posed, and they object that it is similar to "d umbing .down " the sport. However, the ru le has its share of supporters as we ll as d etractors. FInnish rider Joachim Hindren , the 19th-ranked rid er from la st yea r, ex p lai ne d , " I th ink it' s quite ea sy to learn to use it, but actually I do n't like that ru le. It makes trials look a bit stupid. For sure, it's easier for observers to judge the riding, but I think for the public and the riders it's not so good ." Sp a n is h sta r Am o s Bilbao put it bluntly : "We don't like it. Nobody likes it. We try to (get the rule) cha nged , bu t the FlM doesn 't wa nt to change. Nex t year, we want to go to the old rul e. "Before, there was a lot of di fference (in scores) bet w een rid ers," Bilbao said. "No w, we are 20 people with only 10, 15 poi nts between us. For the older riders (used to the traditional ru le), we alwa ys try to make (the section ) clean . When we make a mistake, normally we five. We never think, 'If I make a mistake, I can roll back (with a foot d own)' - we never think that. We either make it or we take a five." For the Americans and others notin the upper echelons of the spo rt, however, the "footing" rul e seemed quite tolerable, if not openly we lcomed. "I loved it," Neb ra ska 's Kempkes ad mitted af terward . " I used it all the ti me . It saved me a lot of times . That sto p-dab thing is pretty cool; I like it for a World round . As far as our Nationals go, I hope they do n't (adopt it). I don 't really like it for that. If you' ve got rea lly hard events like this, it comes in handyd efinitely." "Actually, I didn't understand it too w ell; so meone had to explain it to me," Bell said . ':On ce I figured it out, it helps you out definitely for a thr ee; but going ba ck to the Nationals, it'll be tough to switch back." Saturday sta rt ed out w it h th e top World rid ers clea ning or getti ng ones in the initial sections . Lampkin stayed clean, in fact, until sectio n seven (Maid en 's Wra th by A va lanch e Sno w boards), which was also used in '94. A two there and a five in the fo llowing se ct ion

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