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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128109
W orld Championship T r ia ls S e r ie s Round 4 : T w in R ing Motegi (Left) One week after suffering his first defeat of the season, defending champ Dougie Lampkin returned w ith a vengeance in Japan, con vincingly winning both days over his Japanese riv al. (Right) Many wonde re d if Takahisa Fujinam l could repeat his win of t he previous round on his home turf, but the pressure got to him. The best "Fu jigas" could do was se c ond place each day. (Below) Thoug h he was ninth on Saturday, Adam Raga rebounded w ith a podium fi nish on day two. '. S T O RY AND P HOT O S BY M AR IO C AND ELLO NE MOTEGl, JAPAN, JUNE 2-3 ith a partisan crowd of a huge size ( t he larg est of the year ) , th er e wa s no thing J a p a ne se r id er Takah isa Fujinami wou ld ha ve liked better than to po st a win at the prest i gious T w in Ring Mo t egi Wo rld T rial s ro und. And consid ering his rec ent win at th e p rev ious ro und, the sc enario d idn 't appear out of the qu esti on . But defending c h a m p D oug ie Lamp k in quash ed th os e i deas w ith a com mand ing p erforman c e, w in n ing bot h days over Fujinami and ext ending his lead in th e points standing s. Lam pkin ' s p e r fo rman c e qui c k l y c ance lled the d iscu ssion of th e Br it 's vu lnerability which began fo llowing h is Belg i an loss, as his points t ot a l was less than half that of the runner u p . F uj in a m i , mea nwhile , couldn 't m an age another victory , despite (o r p erh ap s du e to ) his being on home turf (he appeared to make more m is takes th an normal) . B e h in d the top duo , t h e r e was more confus ion than usua l. Young W 42 JUNE 20 ,2001 • cue I e revelation s appeared on ly on the second day: Adam Raga and Ma rc Freixa d id not shi ne on Sat urda y , wh en ol d sta r s like St e ve C oll e y and Marc Co lomer did well . On the w ho le , the Japan journey represen t ed an expen sive bu t effect ive trip for th e fa ctori es, th an k s to the Japanese med ia, eager to suppo rt t he ev ent , an d to the ap pro x imat el y 25 ,0 0 0 sp ec t ato rs . Un f o rt un atel y , Eu ropean riders on sm all budgets d id not con t est the event , and th e op po rtunity t o co m p are th e Juni or- clas s Ja panes e and Eu ropea n rid ers was m issed. On the other hand, th e fa ctor y Scorp a -Yamah a te am earned its fi rst World po ints th an k s to 17 -y earold Fumitaka No zak i. CAY 1 Saturday 's c om peti tio n was decided by t w o comb ined f acto r s - the weath er a n d a sing le, spe ctacula r (though no t -too -difficult) section . It wa s the fi nal zone on th e first loo p , up u n t il wh ich po int th e t wo c on tenders - Lam pki n and Fujinam i - had proceeded with in a sin g le point of one another. Both were running la te nellVs com pa red to th e other ride rs , and had a l rea dy expe rie nce d a bi t o f rain , whe n the y arri ved at the indoor -style 15th sectio n. Fujinami went first, and - co nc ern ed with th e sli ppery stones posted a safe three. Lam pk in wa ited for th e co nditions to d ry a b i t a nd cl eaned it as a result . F rom th at po int on , it wa s a ll Lampkin , as F ujina mi BRIEFLY••• The second time at the Twin Ring M otegi venue was another success. The famous Honda cir- cuit lies two hours north 01 the Tokyo airport . and the even t is the best -attended trials of the year . About 25.000 spectators watched this time. paying a 2000 -yen fee for both days. Holding a trials at an elite road- race circuit is of great help to organize rs. as it avails them to large garages lor each team. showe rs. lood services, booths. big and organized press offices. etc . The weather was good, except for a light shower on Saturday, with sun, warm weather and humid air gracing the event on both days. On Friday evening at the hote l inside the circuit , the organizers had an elaborate presentation. where they asked Doug Lampkin. Takahisa Fujinami and Ignacio Vemeda (chairman 01 the Federation) to hit barrels of saki . Afterwards was a big party with many different foo d courses from all over the world (though the chef is Italian). The featured sections were more or less in the same spots as last year. They were split into four group s: numbers one and 15 were indoor-style zones close to the start area: tw o through live we re on a hill with some rocks : six thro ugh nine were in the woo ds: 10 through 14 were also in the wood s but with round, slippery sto nes. On Sat urday. a co uple of hou rs bef ore the start of the co mpetition, there wa s a so-called "de monstration" of women's trials . More then 30 wo me n showed their abilities on four artificial secti ons that were repeated tw ice. For some 01 them, some sect ions were too hard , but they were aggressive . The Junior competition was wo n on both days by Spaniard Jo sep Manzano. but he did not find it easy to defeat the young Japanese. Indeed. on Saturday Fumitaka Nozaki was runner-up by only two points, preceding his teammate Isao Shibuya by another two points. Things went much bett er l or Manzano the next day, although the two Yamaha riders again threatened his crown and made the podium. .