Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

F IM Worl d Cham p ionship Trials S erie s R o u n d s 1 1-1 2 : G erman Tri a l the problem wa s the steep wa ll at the end . Lampkin dabbed , while his riva ls picked up a lot of points. At the en d of t h e first loop , the tune was fam il iar: Lampkin ahead wi th 15 marks, Takahisa Fu j inami b eh i nd w ith 20 p o int s and Ma rc Colomer in th ird w it h 24 . T he first no n -Mon t esa r ider w as M arc Freixa in fo u rt h , scoring 31. In t h e qui c k s e cond lo op , there were n o ch anges in th e top p ositi ons. L ampkin was l ess foc used an d five d thre e t im e s , and h is score totaled 23 o n th e d ay. F uj inami sco re d 2 5 , keep ing the ru nner-up p o sit ion a hea d of Colomer, an d Freixa co n firmed his fourth place. OAve (Above) In the last round before the se ries heads to his home count ry of Japan, Kenichi Kuroyama sc ore d his firs t win of the year. (Left) Doug Lampkin , shown here crashing, suffered a rare off day in Germany, posting a fifth-place fi nish on Sunday. lo op , I rod e th e last fiv e sect ion s in t he rain !" Lampk in 's misfortune w as Ja pa nese rider Kenich i Kuro yama ' s o p portun ity, as the Beta r id er - ap pa rent ly completel y rec overed from la st ye ar' s w rist injury - took the t op ste p o f th e podium for the first time this seas on . OAV1 When th e r ide rs in sp ected the sec t ions on Friday , th ey agreed tha t t he difficulty le ve l was about right, b ut it st arted to rai n on Sa tu rd ay morning . For the zones , mostly i n the wood s wi th mud -covered stones , the p recipit ati on represented a b ig difference. It w as a pleasure for t h e more sk illed ri d ers, whose most common com- S T O RY AN D PHOTO S B Y M A RIO C A NDELLQ NE GEFREES, GERMANY, MA 27-28 Y orl d Champion Dougie Lampkin W pla int is about com petitions being too easy. The fi rst difficult zone was number three, wh ic h was on a steep h ill with two bi g rocks an d a narrow p assag e b e t w e en t w o tre e s . All the ri de rs stop ped afte r t he fi rst rock , p ic king up a p oint, th en tr ied to ap proach the seco n d ' o n e at a diago nal - a ll but Colley , th at is. He was the on ly one to face t h e b o uld er str ai g h t o n, a nd a l t ho ug h h e five d, h e go t m uc h ap plause for his b rav ery . Only a few r i ders reached the t o p ( a l l scor ing is such a strong trials r ider that in a way it 's appropriate t ha t his on e w e akn e s s i s ea sy co ur se s . That weakness reared its he ad fo r the second ti me t his seaso n o n day two o f the German W orld ro und , w he re on e d ay after wi n n ing ro und I I , the Brit suffered his worst finish of th e year a fift h pl ace. Of cou rse th e Montesa r ider still lea d s the p o in t s sta n di n g s i n c o m ma nding style, so h e to ok the stu m bl e well, ex p laini ng, " I made one mistake i n t h e last sectio n o f the f irst threes ), with the rest fiving . The situ at ion was uncertain u ntil section n ine, th e fi rst one ou t of the w oo d s . Here loop, so I d r o p p ed fro m t he top t o fo urth place .l' -he s aid. " In th e second 30 JUNE 1 4 , 2 000 ' c u e I e n e _ s W ith an im p ressive 40 riders entered, the organ izers didn 't wan t to annoy the lesser-skilled participa nts, so they made five sec t ions easier for Sunday. T h a t , plus drier conditio ns , m a d e fo r a techni cally easy day . O f co urse that , in tu rn , means th at the a bility to concentrate is p aram ount, an d t he sta ge was set for an upset. Colomer rod e very care fu lly as did Japan ese riders Kuro y ama and Fu jinam i, and all represen ted a threat for the d ef end ing c ha m pi o n and lead er. Through the ear l y go i ng , Lampkin collected one po int less tha n Co lomer, two less t h an Kuroyama and three l e ss t h a n Fujinam i , but th ing s changed when the rid ers hit th e 15th sec tio n o f t h e fi r st l oo p. L amp k i n we nt t o o f ar after th e f irst b ould er , co u ld n 't st o p , and w ent o u tside the ri b bon . Th i s g a v e h im a five a n d dropped him to fourth pl ac e. Co lle y scored 10 po ints on t he lo o p, but w as disappointed by a fail- ure i n section fiv e , say ing he onl y touched a flag that then fell down. Wh il e hi s G a s Gas team began prepari ng a formal protest to deliver at compet ition 's end , he ran a very fast second lo op , scoring an im p ressive six before the rai ns started again . The slow e r r iders were less lucky , with Colo m er fi v ing sect io n nine just as the drop s b eg an f a l l in g, making th e dust- cover ed w all at the en d qu ite s lip pery . Just m omen ts e a rl i e r, Kuroyama h a d clea n ed th e secti on , allowing him to f in is h th e lo o p with o n ly five p o ints . Fuj in am i lost three p o in ts in section 13 , and h ad a tot al of ei ght on the loo p . L ampk i n was t h e las t ri der through , so the w ater was more of a penalt y for him. He s c o r e d eig ht p o in t s o n t h e loop. and was off the po d ium for th e first time in two years. Ku ro y am a appeared to be the w inner, w ith Col om er next and Fuj inami th ird , but things still rema ined to be seen in reg ards to Co ll ey ' s protest . Inde ed , the recl aim was accep ted, and Colley ju m p e d to the runner-u p position . k nocking Colom er and Fujinami each b ac k o ne sp o t. eN German Trial Gefrees. Germany Results:May 27-28, 2000 [Rounds 11 -12 of 201 DAY 1: 1. Dou gie Lampkin (M on ); 2. Takahl sa Fuj in ami (Ho n) : 3. Mar c Co le m er (Mon ) ; 4 . Ma rc Freixe (G· G); 5 . Kenichi Kuroyama (Bet ); 6 . Steve Co lley ( G · G) : 7 . Ad am Raga ( G · G ) : 8 . Albert Ca be s ta ny (Bet) ; 9 . Da vid Co bos (She); 10. J os eManuel Cobos (Mon). DAY 2 : J. Ken ich i Ku roya m a ( Be t); 2 . Steve Colley (G·G): 3. Mar c Colom er (Mon); 4 . Takah isa Fuji nam i (Hon ); 5. Dougie Lampk in (Mon) ; 6. Marc Freixa (G · G ) ; 7 . Adam Raga ( G -G ) ; 8 . Marce l Ju stribo (Mon); 9. Amos Bilb ao (Mo n ); 10. A lbert Cabestany (Bet) . FIM WOR LD C'SH IP TRIALS SER IES POINTS STAN DINGS ( A ft er 12 o f 20 rounds) : 1. Dougi e Lampkin (22 6110 wins); 2. Takahi sa Fujinami ( 171 ); 3. Marc Colomer ( 169) ; 4. Mar c Freixe (13711); 5. Steve Coll ey ( 124): 6. Kenichl Kuroyama ( 11711): 7. Marcel Justribo (9 6) : 8. Adam Raga (88): g . A lbert Cabestany (85) ; 10. David Cobo s (80) . Upcom ing Rounds : RoLnds 13-14:Twin RingMotegi. Japan, June 10-11 Rounds15-16: Valdeblore, France, June 24-25 BRIEFLY. •• Gefrees is a small town 60 miles northeast of Nuremberg . near the Czech border. The well· organized pits were situated in a soccer field. which also housed the indoor-style 15th section. The others were split into two groups : One to five we re near the start. wh ile six to 14 we re a couple miles away. accessible by special buses (chauffeured cars were available for joumalistsl .. The event was watched by about 5000 spectators on Saturday and 8000 on Sunday. In the Junior class. Adam Raga triumphed again on both days. Second was Sam Connor on Saturday with Taichi Tanaka third. and the two traded spots on Sunday. Raga is very close to c linch ing the first World Junior title. since this new classification consists of the best 12 results out of 20. At the moment, he has 10 wins in 12 tries. Lampkin lost the overall win to Kuroyama in Germany. though both scored 31 points and finished with a win and a fifth. In the case of tie between two riders. the rules say that he with the better positi o n on Sunday is the winner. In third po sition was Fujinami. Finally. the FIM's goal to re populate t h e World Tr ial s circus is starting to produce good results. with 40 riders entered in Germany. After a week off. the riders head to Japan for the next even With this German round hav fea· t. ing tured a Japanese rideron the podium each day (jncluding a win) , the chance exists for a home victory . -;'I<

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