2005 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 2

Fuji missed the final, but he had a positive feedback.

Because of the new regulation for 2005, Fujinami, who was the final qualification starter at the opening round, was the first nominated rider to start the second round. There were two wild card riders started ahead of Fuji. However for French Bethune and Japanese Fumitaka Nozaki, sections were very tough, so Fuji couldn't gather so much information from their riding.

The motorcycles that Montesa-HRC brought France were standard model as they were in UK round, but Montesa-HRC brought the 'works' motors, which were not ready 2 weeks ago. Lampkin and Fuji went out with the 'works' motor, but Freixa opted for a standard motor.

Fuji expected that it was going to be difficult to start from the first for the qualification, and indeed it didn't help him at all. Fuji's main contenders, Raga, Cabestany and Lampkin started at the end of the order, and they watched how Fuji, Fajardo and Frexia rode. It gave them time to set up their game plan.

Lampkin picked the final starting order, and he used it as his full advantage. Completing 8 observed sections, there was only one point separation between Lampkin and Fuji. However, Lampkin took 11 minutes and 11 second compared to Fuji's 11 minutes 27 seconds. Going for the double-lane, Lampkin knew exactly what he needed to do. Loosing the final stage wouldn't hurt him as long as he could stay away from mistakes.

For Fuji, on the other hand, the mission was very clear. He needed to mark clean and beat Lampkin at the stage, and to wait for Lampkin's mistakes. Lampkin rode very carefully, and he took about a minute longer than Fuji to complete the double-lane. He lost the battle, but he marked clean and added one point as he planned. That was enough for Lampkin to proceed to the final; Fuji's competition was over in France.

Although it was a frustrating result for Fuji, he was satisfied with the way he fought. It was the most difficult position to start the qualification lap, but he missed the final by a slim margin to finish at 4th place: the final proceeding position in the previous seasons.

The motorcycle Fuji rode wasn't full-spec 'works' machine, but it worked very well. It gave him a big hope when the factory is ready to bring their 'works' bike. It was an encouragement to see Lampkin showing a strong performance at the final too, proving that their 4-stroke machine didn't have big disadvantages against 2-stroke machines. Fuji was also glad to know his future is bright because his rivals were not mistake free. Raga didn't show his commanding performance as he did in the previous year either.

Quote from Fujigas:

Although I had to adjust my riding with a new bike setup, my riding was better than the first round. I didn't realize how much I was frustrated until I went back to the hotel and slept. I had a bad dream and Montesa-HRC staff consoled me in the dream. I will use this frustration as my energy, and come back stronger next time.

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