Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128327
TRIALS o me boy Takahisa Fujinami collected two significan t wins in Motegi and represented himsel f as the number-one candidate to tear the title fr om reigning World Trials Champion Doug Lampkin . So both the ancient rivals go home satisfied after this GP, Fujinami for the two wins and Lampkin for regain ing the leadership in the overall standings, though it is shared with Fujinami. The only real upset was to Adam Raga, who was also beaten by his teammate, Jeroni Fajardo, on the second day. Raga alternated good pe rfo rmances w ith stupid mistakes on the sections that were very wet and slippery. He reached the podium on Saturday, H ..Round 3 May 22-23, 2004 FIM Individual World Trials Championship thanks to a great secon d lap, but was not ab le to become the thi rd man in to the " Dougie/Fuji" batt le on the following day. But t he main po int o f interest was surely the deb ut of the new Honda four -stroke. Japan 's Tomoyuky Ogawa received the bike on Friday and was obliged to ride this GP, but, amazingly, only this GP. Honda's managers want him to continue to ride the two-stroke in the National Championship. He finished ninth on both days, and on both days his second lap was at the level of the top riders . The bike 's sound made it easily recognizable, and it looked light and with great power. At the moment all the techni cal features are top secret. JUNE 9, 2004 • CYCLE NEWS DAY ONE Unde r a cloudy sky the first riders started, and soon all had to face an inclined wet log pos itioned in section one, one of t he two indo or- sty le sections. The log was wet, even though the rain he ld off, because in the artifi cial zone some rocks were complete ly immersed in water. After some vain attempts by the brave young Japanese riders, still poor of skill, much curiosity was focused on the ride of Ogawa. He made one dab, going away with much app lause . All the top riders but Raga alternated cleans and dabs in this first following section s were not so difficult and were cleaned by almost all. To confirm his nervous state. Raga also fived section eight, and in so easy a competition it cost him a ny hope of victory. Fujinami did not disapp oint his fans and finishe d the first lap with o nly two points. Lampkin failed section I I and scored nine penalties . Third was Freixa w ith one po int more. and fourth Graham Jarvis. lately winner o f the Scottish event two weeks ago! Raga navigated in sixth place, behind homeboy Kenich i Kuroyama. section . DAY TWO Organizers modified three sections. but the sco res were still low, especially for the best pilots. Until section eight, Lampkin, the actual championship leader, on the contrary. fell down after the log. starting with a heavy five. The 40th Anniversary