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World Championship Observed Trials Series, Round 5: Germany By John Dickinson KIEFERSFELDEN, GERMANY, MAY 30-31 espite this round being the toughest yet for Factory Beta rider Doug Lampkin, he still seems to be rolling inevitably toward his second consecutive championship. The biggest enemy for the British star this time around wasn't the difficulty of the course, he said, but rather its ease - an effort by the FIM "to make the results closer," according to Lampkin. Closer they were. Lampkin's Beta teammate Kenichi Kuroyama won the Saturday round by a four-point margin, but Lampkin carne back Sunday to top the field. Lampkin's win was by the narrowest of margins over feJlow Brit Graham Jarvis, who lost by a single, tiebreaking clean. The fir t nine .sections of the 15 on the loop - lapped twice, as usual - were set in a wooded area and comprised of lot of slippery climbs, rocks and offcambers instead of the usual big rock steps. Heavy rain prior to the event made the original course treacherous, and the section difficulty was eased before the start. Conditions were nonetheles very tough at the beginning of the event. It was early in the trial that Lampkin had the miscue that would effectively kill his chance at taking the win on Saturday. "I couldn't believe it," Lampkin said after he to k a five in the second section. "That was the easiest section of the day. All you had to do was shoot across a camber, but I caught my clutch lever against a tree, the bike stopped, and it was just too slippery to get going again. I was pretty mad." Lampkin bounced back straight away and cleaned the following difficult section twice, a feat only achieved by one other rider, his teammate Kuroya- D rna. Takahisa Fujinami, Marc Colomer and Jarvis all collected maximum scores every time through. Steve Colley, seemingly more confident after his podium finish in the Czech trial, picked up a handful of points - about the norm going through with a three and a two. An old-fashioned straight blast up a steep, slippery hill carne next, and here even Lampkin succumbed to a pair of fives, leaving Kuroyarna and Fujinarni to join veterans Amos Bilbao and Diego Bosis to claim threes each lap. In fact, the two Japanese riders were in do-or-die mode all weekend, ruthlessly attacking all the slippery hazards. The tactic paid off for the pair, too, as Kuroyarna bagged first place and Fujinarni third on Saturday. The ections continued in a similar vein before they broke out of the woods to face a steep but grippy waterfall that actually ended up causing few problems for the riders. This was followed by a couple of man-made sections that also proved okay before the expected manmade showpiece - for the benefit of the spectators - that ended the loop. Steve Colley, usually so good at the indoorlike sections, was pretty mad to have dropped five on this one. At the end of the opening loop the pattern was set, with Kuroyama and Lampkin on their own on 20 and 22 marks, respectively, while Jarvis was pushing on 29 and another five riders Fujinami,. Bilbao, Colomer, Colley and Cobos>- were all in the 32-36 range and all over each other. On the second circuit, most of the contenders managed to edge their scores down, with the exception of Jarvis and Cobos, who both lost ground after making promising starts. So Kuroyama bested his team leader, although'Lampkin's second place still took him further away from the cha ing pack in the championship point standings. EVENTS EDfTEDBY CAMERON COATNEY Day two dawned with the sections even more slippery after more rain feJJ, and several parts were made easier still to compensate. Lampkin started off much better but he still collected a five on the tricky third sub, where Jarvis was in a class of his own first time through, guiding the Scorpa through for just a dab. Jarvis was really in the groove as he alone managed to keep the expensive fives off the punchcard to end the loop on just 14, three ahead of the champ, who in turn was only a single point ahead of Fujigas and Colomer. But Lampkin was determined not to be beaten and was disappointed with his form, and so he forced himself to up the pace on the final circuit. He set off to put together a blinding lap, losing only a single mark in the first six sections, including a clean on the third, which was equaled only.by an inspired Colley. He then managed a two on the "par three" seventh section, and equaled "par" on the ninth. "This was easily my best lap of the weekend, and it looked like I was going to sign off on just six, which I would have been pleased with," Lampkin said. "Then I just got the 14th section wrong it wasn't hard - and that five almost undid all the good work." Up ahead of last man Lampkin, Jarvis was still on a roll, and despite his lone five of the day on the ninth section, which hardly counted as a disaster - it was only two marks down on the nextbest score - he clocked in at the finish on 14 for the loop and 27 total. The Scorpa team was ready with champagne to cel- Kenichi Kuroyama took the win on Saturday at the wet and slippery German World Trial. Conditions were so bad that the section difficulty was eased somewhat. ebrate Jarvis' first win ever, but it was countryman Lampkin who arrived on the platform with a ll-mark check-out score to equal the 27 points of Jarvis, and Lampkin had one more clean, thus earning him the win. Lampkin's 20 points on Sunday stretched his championship lead to a huge 59 points over Colomer, 194-135. And if Lampkin's lead wa n't already daunting enough, the FlM has decided not to replace the canceled Belgian' round, so there are now only four rounds left to try to reel in the points leader. Jarvis' disappointment about not winning was tempered by the fact that he now holds third place in the standings, just nine points behind Colomer. German World Trial Kiefersfelden, Germany Results: May 30-31, 1998 (Round 5 of 9) Saturday O/A: 1. Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet); 2. Doug L.'unpkin (Bet); 3. Takahisa Fujinami (Hon); 4. Amos Bilbao (G~G); 5. Marc Colomer (Mon). Sunday O/A: 1. Doug Lampkin (Bet); 2. Graham Jarvis (500); 3. Marc Colomcr (Mon); 4. Takahisa Fujinami (Hon); 5. Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet). Upcoming Rounds: Round 6ยท Vineu-Ie-Grand, France, June 27-28 Round 7 - Sanl Julia, Andorra, July 4-5 45