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/128341
Fujinami Lands World Trials Title two. Fujinami finished third. Lampkin was obviously delighted w ith his performance. " 1 came here knowing that the title was all but out of reach, so my o bjective was to come here and win, not only to main- tain the pressure on Fuji, but also to keep my advantage o ve r Raga," Lampkin said. "It has been a tough trial today, and in the end there has been little to separate the top three, as we are all riding very well . To win when the stan- dard is so high is very satisfying and confirms that I can still run with the best. Also, to open up a seven-point lead over Adam go ing into o epsol Montesa HRC's Takahisa r vujinam i finally reached his dream alter five years 01 waiting, a 3-2 result at the Swiss Grand Prix, September 4-5 - enough to give him and japan its first-ever World Trials Championship title. "I have been waiting a long time for this moment, and although I am happy to have finally arrived at this position, the full size of what I have achieved is not totally clear in mind at this minute," Fujinami said. '" think it will be some days until I lully realize just what I have achieved." While the title was Fujinami's, the weekend belong to his Repsol Montesa HRC team mat e. exiting champion Dougie Lampkin, who recorded back-to-back wins, including a totally awesome display during Sunday's trial. Gas Gas rider Adam Raga lailed to sto p Lampkin, taking the runnerup spot in the series despite going 2-3 over the two days . Repsol Montesa HRC rider Marc Freixa failed to finish his campaign in tomorrow at least gives me some level of comfort. I just hope I can repeat a similar performance and result style, with a disappointing showing 01 ninth on Saturday and eighth on 5unday. After its traditional summer hiatus, the World Trials Championship returned with just the final round remaining, but with the title still to be decided. Fujinami brought a 24-point adlvantage to the small town 01 Mout ier, located approximately 35 miles southwest of the Swiss city 01 Basel. With this kind of lead, it was obvious that only an absolute disaster would prevent the Japanese rider from taking his first World crown. While it seemed that the destination of the title was in little doubt, the fight lor the runner-u p spot was certain to produce a fierce finale between Lampkin and Raga, w ho were only separated by lour points w hen they arrived in Switzerland. Lampkin's brilliant riding through the late hazar ds on the IS-se ctio n course was enough to give the British rider the win on day one, while Raga finished second to trail Lampkin by seven points heading into day tomorrow," Modifications to 10 of the sections overnight effectively brought a new trial for Sund ay morning. Many of the changes involved reducing the length or removing certain technical parts to reduce the overall severity of the sections, and this , coupled with drying weather, created a far eas ier trial than the day before, and the same three riders would come to the fore. His grasp firmly on the title, Fujinami had little interest in the day's resu lt and rode well ahead of his rivals to give himself maximum opportunity to repair any rogue mechanical fault that might have stopped him from becoming World Jordan Wants More NBA legend Michael jordan was interviewed last week on "2 Wheel Tuesday," Speed Channel's weekly mo torcycle show, and said he plans o n stepping up his road-racing program to include more tha n just his Iriend . Montez Stewart . Here 's a portion of the transcript fro m jo rdan's interview w ith show host Greg White. How exciting is it for you to be involved in AMA road racing! " Very excit ing. I came in to give Montez [Stewart] an opportunity to race. I'm wa lking 6 SEPTEMBER 15,200 4 • CYCLE NEWS Cha mpion. With the title all but gone , Lampkin and Raga once again consumed themselves in a battle fo r the victory and the runner-up spot in the championship. Lampkin confirmed that he is not finished just yet by putting in an outstanding performance throughout the day to net his second victory of the weekend, and this time by an impressive margin . Raga slipped to th ird and could not prevent fro m Lampkin taking the runner-up spot in the overall standings . Fujinami's second-place finish on day two ended a five-year run as World numbe r two and promoted him to the honor of being the first-ever japanese World Trials Champion and only the second-ever japanese off-road World Champion; Akira Watanabe won the World I 25cc Motocross Championship title for Suzuki back in 1978. "It would have been perfect to have won today, but Lampkin was too strong," Fujinami said. "But really the only thing that mattered this weekend was taking the title, and that is exactly what I have done. After so many years of being close , you sometimes think that it may never happen, but now the facts show that is true. I have a good leeling now, but I am sure that in the next lew days it will become even better. My name may be on the championship, but 1 also want to thank all my team, as they have been exceptionally strong lo r all 01 the season. They, too de serve to be happy." T akahisa Fujinami • Wor ld Cha m pio nl away with the most fascinating thing I've seen in some time. I've been to seven of the nine races and I woul d have been to all of them il my schedule permi tted. I've taken my kids. I've taken my nephew. My wile is going with me to Atlanta . I've taken Charles Oak ley and all 01 my frie nds. I te ll the m you gotta see it because, once you see it , it's gonna connect. Daytona was outrageous. Once I got down there for the big Bike Week and saw how last they were going around the track... I want to go to Valencia, Spain. in October · as you can see, I am starting to build my schedule around moto rcycle races." Is Michael Jordan committed t o AMA 40th Anniversary racing in the future ! "I came in this year in an experimental stage, just to see how people would respond to Michael Jordan in this industry. Now, I am hoo ked. Next year, I am loo king to expand t he team , looking to compete > I want to win. I really want to make a statement about my suppo rt of this sport. I want to make a solid commitment through Montez and whoever else I want to sponsor. I want to be involved in this. I think it's fun and I think it's a grea t op portunity lor corporations to be involved. Every time I go to the race, I have a ball, so I look to be around lor a wh ile."