Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

World Championship Observed Trials Series, Final Round: Norway ... 1 • _ , , -, ,, ... ,, , , , ' , , , By John Dickinson OSLO, NORWAY AUG. I6-1i , t' s been a season to remember fo r Beta's Doug Lampkin. After riding to the o ve ra ll win at the la s t e ig h t rounds of the series - taking 14 indi vidual-day w in s and fini s hing second o n the tw o he didn 't win outright - the young British rider locked up his second con s ecutiv e O bs erved Tri al W orld Cha mp ions hip at the prior round , held in Finland. For mos t, this would be eno ug h. But not for La mpkin . Instead, he attempted to maintain his 100-percen t overall win record . He did it, bu t not without losing out to his main riva l - Montesa ' s Marc Colo rner - on th e o pening day of the event. As it ha p p e ned , form er cha m p io n Colorner. the m a n Lampki n d eposed a 42 afte r the Spaniard had enjoyed just one year with the number-one plate, managed to sq ueak out his second individua l-day win on Saturday. But as Lampkin invariab ly does , he blitzed to th e second da y' s win as Colorner collapsed to a lowly seventh. Th is gave Lampkin 15 dav wins on the season. Colomer was next ~n two (Cz ech Republic/ Norway) and Ken ichi Kuro yam a m an a ged o ne (Germ any). Lampkin too k all nin e ove ra ll, a nd three seco nd pla ces were his worst scores in th e w ho le se ries - a n abso lutely ama zing performance. The Norwegi an tr ial was an unknown quantity as this was thefirst tim e that the small, sparsely popu lat ed Scandinav ian co u n t ry h as s taged ' a Wor ld Rou nd . The woods north of the cap ital city, Oslo, p rovid ed the base for a trial that the majority of riders rated as very good. The sli ppe ry , d amp rock slabs, spiced up by plenty of tree roo ts a nd bound toget her wi th m ud , m ad e an int erestin g change from th e s taple diet of tight turns and big rock steps fou nd at t h e r e s t of the Eu ropea n rounds. With the champions hip decided and Co lom er all but locked in seco nd, the real po int o f inte re st w a s o ve r w ho wou ld fini sh third . The possibili ti es w e re o ne o f the Japanese r ider s Kuroyam a or Fujinami - o r Brit Graha m Ja rvis, wh o has campaigned the lone Sca rpa with great effect this yea r. Th e o p ening se ction of th e 15 that com prised the loo p wa s mer ely a tea ser - really ju s t a loose rock cl imb , a lth o ug h i t took Fujin ami fo r a dab ear lv o n. The seco nd ha zard was more typical of what th e day had in store. Th e mi xture o f ro ot s, s la bs a nd ro ck s had Co lo mer settling for a sa fe on e. The third section was the first real test and o n ly Kuro yam a a nd David C o b o s clea ned this firs t tim e through , with the s lig h t ly bu ilt Japan es e t he onl y rea l ma ster of the sect io n as he a lone took two cleans on it. Lam pki n struggled on thi s wi th a three and a two o n his successi ve visits . But Lampkin was ba ck in co n tro l with a clea n a t the fourt h section , on e that featu red a variety of di fferent lines and whi ch led to cleans also by Colorner, Fujinami and Finni sh rider [oa Hin d ren , who ha s reall y finished the yea r strong ly and will be looking for so m e extra bac king fo r ' 99. This mi xture of mud , roots and rocks was the sta ple di et o f the loop, which took com para tively . few marks an d eve n allowed the lowero rder rid ers a few clea ns . Th e 13th section - unluckv for manv, as it turned o ut - was a lo t tou gher, though. It really ruined Graha m Jarv is' cha nce of a podiu m p lacing - and with it third overall in th e series - wh en he lost a pair of maximu ms on th e openi ng day. Kuroyarna's three an d one we re the bes t on the dav . An d the fina l sectio n of the loop was a fitting fina le th at saw only two cleans on the opening day, these coming from Lampkin and su rprise fou rth-p lace finisher Bru no Carnozzi, th e big Fre nc hman who obvious ly found the slippery cond itions to his likin g. The d ay ha d sta rted off fine, bu t rain s tarted to fall thro ugh the first lap and in creas ed u ntil it was very hea vy as rider s started th eir second circu it: Surprising ly, pe rhaps, this ac tua lly ease d conditions in so me sec tions as th e runn in g w ater ca rried m ud off th e ro ck sla bs , m a k in g fo r m ore gr ip . A n unw anted fiv e in th e rel a tively easy 12th sect io n spoi le d La mpki n's push for victory, but Co lomer fu lly deserved his glory with a conf ident ride. Kuroyarna virtually mad e sure of ge tting third place in the series wit h thi rd on the day as Jarvis was left lam enting those maximums on the 13th section, altho ug h he was happy to beat Fujin am i on the tie b reaker after b oth pa rt ed with 30 in total. As he has d on e so ofte n in the past when u nd er threat , Lam p kin came out o n Sund ay w ith his gu ns bl azing and just took the field apart. His to tal of 15 for the d ay was less than half of runneru p Fuji na m i's score and it inclu ded a five- at the easyish seventh section. If any thing, the course was harder on Sunday, since the re was no rain to wash the slime off the rocks and cond itions were very slippery indeed . His rid e was just a re m inder - in case riva ls tho ug ht they saw a chink in his armo r following the previous day's narrow defeat - that he is the Wo rld nu mber one by rig ht, not by chance. Ku ro yam a and his bes t friend Fl:Ijinami virtually swapped places from the previou s d ay, bu t it was too late for sec ond -placed Fujinam i, as Jarvis weighed in with an exc ellen t four th place a nd claimed the World number-four bib for next year. Hindren signed off in style in fifth - a g reat ride for a privat eer who gets no ba ckin g a pa r t fro m h is own efforts - while Kuro yam a wa s s ix th. Colomer held off Steve Co llev for sev e n th . Co ll e y ha s o nce ag a in und erachie ved with a ve ng ea nce in the series, but he now looks forward to the indoor season, wher e'he can let his outrageous skills do the tal king . In third on the day was Cobo s , an d the young Ga s Gas rid er ha s had a s tra nge seaso n . Like Colley, he ofte n promises m uch more than he achieves, but he is still onl y a teenage r a nd ca n e xp ec t to a chi eve much greater co nsis te ncy in future years. c\ Norwegla n World Trial . Oslo, Norway Results : August 16-17, 1998 (Round 9 of 9) Saturday \ O /A : I "'!.H I Colorne r ( M Oll ); 2. Dou g Lam p kin (Bee): 3. Kemclu Ku n 1v.l111,1 all·t); -t. Brun o Ca mozzi (GG); 5. C raharn Itlr\' i.; (Sell). Su nday O /A : I. DO ll ~ Lampki n (Bd); 2. T,lk.1 his,l Fujina mi (He n): 3. David Co bo-, (G-G); .J. Gra ha l'n Jan 'h; (Scu); 5. . jcach im Hindr en ( .:J ..(~ ). O BSE RVEn T RIJ LS WO RLO C H AM P IO NS H l r POI NT STANO IN r. S ( Aft l' r Q of Q rou nds): I. OI)U ~ Lampkin 0=;1 I:; wuisl: 2. .Mar k Colo me-r (26-1 / 2); 3. .. Kemchi Kuro vama {220/ l) ; -to C ra ha rn la r" b l2H!); 5. Taka hb a Fujmarm f20g); h . Da vi d CO LXl~ tl ;'9); i . Steve .... Culle v (15 4 / : -'l. i\ ml)~ Bilb.IO (1+U; q . Bru nu Camczzl . (133);'10 . Marcel Jus tiiho (02),

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