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Rounds 15 &1 Watkins Glen 6: WORLD OBSERVED TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP kin's 13 top p ing the 23s turn ed in by bo th Colley and Gra ha m Jarvis. Co lley got the nod for seco nd place becau se he had mo re cleans than Jarvis . Bot h d a ys of. ac t io n w ere bl essed wi th an abti ndance' of sunshine as well as temperatures in the mid - to upper 90s wi th humid ity to ma tch. After official s inspected the sections on Frida y, it was their belief tha t section II wa sn ' t d ifficult eno u g h, a n d it w as thrown out. However, on the other end of the spectrum, sec tion 13 was nearl y imp ossible, and on Satu rday only one rid er was able to mana g e a three a s e ve ryo ne e lse received fives. Only Spa niard [ordi Pascuet and his Montesa we re able to slither and slide their way up an incredi ble, we t, m udd y and slimy hill - com plete wit h led ges an d all so rts of challenges. . (For Su nday, they ga ve the rid ers a bigger ru n at it.) Ca rl Pe ters , the clerk of the co urse, a nd his adep t tea m o f wo rke rs w ere w ell -prepared and mad e a sect ion to replace it. An estima ted 2000 to 3000 specta tors w ere on hand to wi tness the w orld ' s bes t rid er s doing battle in New York. Th e sections were a bi t more slippery than those of the p revious weekend in Rhode Isla nd, and ma ny we re loca ted close to wo nderful waterfalls. The abundance of mud was a distinct ad van tage to those riders more accustomed to riding in such condi tions . O n Satu rday, it too k quite a while for By J. Sheets MONTOUR FALLS, NY, )ULY3-l his Independence Day weekend wa s graced with a round of the World Obs erved Trials Ch ampionship, held just sou th of Wat kins Glen in Montour Falls, in upstate New York. Althoug h the eve nt was filled with the un e xp e ct ed , when a ll w a s sai d a n d don e, Dou gie Lampkin had captu red a th ird succ ess ive World Trials Champions hip . But it d idn ' t cOII\e wi tho ut another defeat , this time at the hands of Isle of Man resident Steve Colley. Fourth of July firew orks came a day early when it took a protest by Colley to finally get him Satu rda y'S victory . Japan ese ride r Takahisha Fujinami was initially cred ited with the day-one victory, and he was followed hom e by Lampkin and Co lley . However, Co lley 's p rot est of a five (his mi nd er was as ked to move a . rock that had be misp laced by a rider, en bu t wh en he di d so, a five was give n to Colley) on the last section of the opening lap was upheld by the jury and he was reinsta ted as the winner, with Fujinami and Lampkin being bumped d own a spot each to sec ond an d third , respectively. If Saturday ended u p bei ng a gr eat day for Co lley, then Sunda y ended up as a fanta stic day for the British - ironically comi ng on Indepe ndence Day. Not only did Lampkin come away with the vic tory and the World Championship, bu t Brits filled the pod ium, wi th Lamp- Jr In !Ii :::Iii ~ IIiii . en en en ~ N ~ ..., 34 (Above) Oougle Lampkin didn't win on Saturday, but he did take the victory on Sunday , and it was enough to give him his third successive World Trials Championsh ip, (Below) Graham Jarv is negot iates section 15 en route to finishing third on Saturday . The British rider ended up third in both rounds In NewYork. the official resu lts to be handed ou t; and the trophy p resentation was held prior to the resu lts of the ju ry meet in g tha t was d ecidi ng Co lley's fa te . Fuji na mi w a s h and ed th e wi n , a nd th en ca me Lampkin and Co lley , w ho was ab sent fr om th e pres entat ion and w as lat er fined for his absence. Naturall y, Co lley 's team manager, Jordi Tarres, wasn 't im pressed w it h how thin gs were handled . "We ar e very happy, as the last victory was in 1996, and we ar e very happy because we win agai n, and after win, it ch ange position a nd we d on ' t und erstand," Tarres said . "I think the federation make big mistake to award Fujinam i first , t he n to tak e a w ay . Al so , to change p osition for Steve a nd othe rs and to not wait until the jury has made d ecision. It is hard on Steve also to think he has wo n, then no." Colle y described what had happened on Saturday. "On the last section there wa s quit e a big rock step and there was a kicker that rolled out after every rider," Colley said on Sunday morning. 'The first four riders I saw, the rninders jus t slipped the kicker back in. My minder wen t to do the same and go t a big telling-off for doing it; so my mi nder took out the kicker - no problem. I rod e the section and go t a one in the section punched. I di dn' t give it a secon d th ou ght , a nd co n ti nued on . I came to the finis h an d had wo n for 10 minutes and then the observer came in a nd m ad e a co m p la in t a nd sa id th ey wa n ted a n extra five po ints . That d ro pp ed me to third , so my emo tio ns went from a great high to a big low. Gas Gas an d I protested , and the jury ma de the right decision to overturn the decision. They told the observer that he made a mistake and if he wanted to five me, he sho uld have don e it at the section ." Winning, losing, then winning again somewhat tarnish ed Colley's victory, his first of the season. . " It d id take away a little bit," h e said . "I d idn 't sta n d o n th e podi u m and . d id n' t have all that sid e of it, but I'm just ha p py the re s u lt was c ha nged arou n d . It wasn 't the perfect way to w in: I d on 't lik e a ll the ha ss le . I just wan t to go enjoy my rid e and have a good da y out. " Altho ugh he was displeased with his effort from Satu rday, Lampkin resolved all tha t with an impress ive effo rt on Su nda y. Th e York sh ireman came back strongon Sunday, taking the victory via 24 cleans and a single five. "I've rid d en ve ry well to day , a n d only made one mistake, really, and that was on sec tion eigh t on the firs t lap," Lampkin said . "I had. a goo d lin e and everything - I just flicked off a couple of roo ts a n d th at wa s it. I was up sid e down , so tha t was a bit d isa p pointing for me, but ot her than that I've ridden very well . I had a last-lap score of on ly three, so that was excellent." Section 13 wa s on everyone' s mind , includ ing the win ner's. "I had a three there on the first lap, whic h I suppose eve ry bod y else had," Lam pkin said. "I had to be a bit conserv-