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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128110
F IM W o r ld C h ampionsh ip Tri als S erie s Round 5 : G oldendale F a irgr ounds S T O RY AN D PHOT OS BY M A RIO CA N D ELLONE GOLDENDALE, WA, JON. 9·10 he re were two les sons th at ca me o ut o f th e World Trials Ser ies ' a nnua l t rip to No rth Am e rica : The United S ta tes riders still have a long wa y to go befo re th ey can com pe te with the Eu ro regul ars, and Do u g Lampkin ca n be beaten - at least on occasion. Spa n iard Ad am Raga broke th e d e fe n d in g champ' s rule, but onl y b riefly, win ning the first d a y before La mp kin re turned for a Sund a y vic t o ry . In sec t ions t hat were qu it e familiar for the Spa nish riders (d ue to th e d ry ground a nd dusty roc ks ), it was normal to get several great perfor ma nces from Iberian riders. Rag a h a s al ready had the honor of defeating t he Wo rld Cha m p ion in th e la st round of the S pan is h Ch a mp ions h ip , but few thou ght he could repeat th e exploit on the Wo rld cir c uit - espe cially so ear ly. Nonethe less , th e yo u ng C a t a lan has s u pe rb r iding st yle , tho ugh it must be sa id that he st ill nee ds to le a rn to keep his c ool in h igh- pr e ss ur e situa tio ns . Ra g a was supe rb on Saturday 's seco nd loo p, ta king th e first Wo rld- ro und vic to ry o f h is life . Lamp k in 's re ply c ame p rom ptly on S un da y, as he left all of his riva ls fa r behind an d took a con vin cing win. So mewha t s ur p ris ing ly, Ta ka hisa Fu jin am i - t h e on ly othe r rider t o d e fe a t La m p k in this year , an d th e s e c o n d - p la c e s itt e r in t h e p oi nts st an d ing s - was so m e wh a t in t he s hadows in Wa sh ington . T DAV 1 As mention ed ab ove , Rag a was th e Sa tu rda y winne r, bu t h is victory was a n even greate r s urprise th a n it would s e em. Th at' s be cau s e th e Ga s Gas rider on ly s at fifth a fte r one loo p , and he had to c om e fro m be hind o n the s e c o nd circuit to score the win. He a mazed everyone by scoring only one po int in loop tw o , a nd a lt hough he a nd La m pkin we re tied with a tota l of 20, he be at th e Brit tha nks to a la rge r num ber of clea ns , giving Lam pkin his sec ond defeat of th e year. As us u a l, the la s t rid e rs in th e st a nd ings sta rte d first , a nd wa st ed a lot of tim e exa mining the most d ifficult sections in order to find the be st po ss ib le route th rough . So m et im e s , no o ne wa nts to be first, a nd this is always a ne rvous time. Raga , howeve r, did not partici pate in the hesitatio n, a ba ndoning the group and run - 52 JUNE 27 , 200 1 • cue I e n in g b y hi m se lf. This was a wi s e d ec is ion , be c a us e although he lost some p o in t s in t he first loop , he sa ve d p recious t im e for proceed ing tra nq u illy thro ugh the com petitio n 's second ha If. Me a nw hile , Lampk in fived section s ix. Even Fu j inam i d id so me dabs , while those who proc eeded quite well were Span iard s Alb ert Cab estan y and Marc Fr eixa - comfo rta ble in the dry terrain . Freixa , however, sli pp ed up and fived sect ion 10 . At the end of the first loo p, Lampkin led with 12 points , and next was Cabestan y w ith 13 , ju s t a h e a d of Fu jinami's 14 . In fou rth p la ce were Fre ixa a nd Rag a , t ied with 19. At this poi nt, m ost of the top rid e rs faced a race against tim e , as th e y tri e d to m a k e it t hr o ug h loop two without be ing la t e . Raga , however , was already mid wa y through th e seco nd loop , a nd consequently , was be tte r able to re lax a n d manage h is t ime . He dabbed just once, in section 14, a perform an c e t h a t wa s tr u ly inc redi b le! In fa ct, not e ve n Lampkin wa s a b le t o come cl ose , s coring "only" a strong eight and losi ng out tha nks to h is ha ving two cleans less. Fu j in am i' s s u b-pa r p e rfo r m an c e re s u lt e d in a sco re of 18, wh ile Ca be sta ny a nnulled a great first loo p with too m any m ista kes in the final. DAve Sunda y wa s once again s un ny and wind y for th e 24 ride rs who took par t in the sec ond part of the event. Fo ur s e c t io ns we re m o d ifie d , narrow ing p arts in order to m ake the m m o re d ifficul t. O ne rid e r, the World Cham p ion , mo re the n e ve r, wa s dete rm ined to av eng e h is d e fe at o f the previo us da y, an d it soon be c a m e clea r that Ra g a was a little n e rvou s with t he pre s sure t ha t c a me w it h h is wi n . Unaccustom ed to riding slow ly with the top ride rs , Rag a , who likes to go fast, was un comfortab le , so he o ve rt o o k La mp k in , F uj ina m i, F reixa , Jarvis and Cab e s t a n y . De s p it e th e rush , his score was not so bad until he a rrived a t ha zar d 13 , o ne of t he m odi fied sect ions. There, in the final na rrow s te p, he faile d a nd picked up a very disa ppo int ing five . Lampkin , on the ot her ha nd , had no problem (Ri ght) After a ra re loss on Saturday, defending champ Doug Lampk i n bounced back w ith a dominant w in on Sunday, extending his lead in the points standings. nevvs (Above) Adam Raga used h is trip to America as an opportunity to score his firstever victory In a World round. The Spaniard was untouchable on Saturday's second l oo p .