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FIM World Championship T rials S eries Round 1 : Trial de Sent or-eric S TO RY A N D PHOTOS BY M A RIO C AND EL LON E sr. JOAN DE lAS ABADESSES, SPAIN, APR. 21-22 he pain had been delayed by having the B r i t i sh first round can celled due to foot-and -mo uth d isease, but it was only putt ing off the inevitable: Dougie Lampkin - a oneman epidemic of his own - defeating the fi eld in the Wo rld Championship T rials Series. Rid ing in the snow (in la te Apri l! ) , the Montesa ride r topped the field on both day s of competi ti on , despite th e fa ct th at all of th e Eng lish riders' preparation had been seriously hampered by the much-discussed l i ve stock problem (Lampkin and countryman Jarvis warmed up in the Spanish Championship, while Steve Colley did so in Italy). T Much of the precompetition atten tion was focused on King Lampk in . who had been leading - but not domi nating - the Spanish events. Had his rivals i m p r o v e d , or was he more human - def eat ab le? The answer to that q uestion is still not determined, as Lam pki n was brilliant only at the end of day two. CAY 1 The weather was sunny on Saturday , but very cold , with snow even falli ng toward the end! At the halfway mark, ' Lam p k in le d with 25 p oints , CLeftI n-.gh the first round was cancellecI, Englishman Dougle lampkin shoWed in Spain (at the . - fi rst round) that it take more than foot-and..-rth disease to stop him. He won both days, irnmecIiateIy assuming his typieaI spot at the top of the points standings. (Right! A late crash hurt Takahlsa Fuj inaml's results on Saturday, but he rebounded to make the p odium on day two. BRIEFLY••• It was nice to see Graham Jarvis completely reco ve red and ready to fight for the to p positions _The surprise was David Cobos. now riding a Montesa. finishing as the runner-up on Saturday and leading for more than half of Sunday's compe tition . (The other riders who had switched brands didn't shine.l The week before this trial. one of the most famous trials competitions was held in the same location. Called the Three Days of S a ntigo sa. the event was won by Amo s Bilbao. who last year had said that he would not contest the World Series anymore (he lied!> . The ground was very s lip pery in Spain. All of the sections. except the last. indoor-s tyle zone. were featured in mountainous woods. with many streams and wet. round stones. Buses were available for the spectators (3500 on Saturday; approximately 5000 on Sunday) . There was a healthy rider turnout. with 47 entries . Many of them were young sters. competing for the .Iunior C h a m pio nshi p . both days of which we re won by Taichi Tanaka . wi th Josep Manzano in second and Sam C o nnor third . The Junior results were based on only the 10 easiest sections. Amos Bilbao retired from the first day after crashing in a stream in section four on t he firs t la p . water-logging his b ike . It did not restart. even after some hard work by his mechanics! Marc Col omer rode a complete ly new Gas Gas . A very narrow engine saves signif ican t w eigh t over th e ol d model (22 pounds lessf). The transmis sion is still a six-speed . but the clutch has just three plates. The bike will be for sale in September. 54 MAv 9 . 2001 • II: U II: • e n e ... s