2005 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 6

Fujinami's Indoor season woe continues in Russia

Round 6 of the Indoor Trial championship took place in St. Petersburg in Russia; the venue became a regular in Indoor calendar outside of Western Europe.

Still working hard with new machine development for the coming Outdoor season, the Montesa camp had no choice but sending the standard bikes for their Russian expedition. It was the bike that their riders rode at the opening round in UK, and its potential was proved as Fuji finished 3rd on the podium. The team assumed that there wouldn't be too much trouble with standard equipments.

However, it was the first time for Fuji to ride the bike since the first round apart from some emergency ride in Barcelona when his 'works' bike was too damaged to ride. Fuji found it was difficult to adjust his riding for the standard bike. Sections at St. Petersburg weren't particularly difficult, but Fuji kept collecting penalty point, and he failed to proceed to the final again. Freixa struggled even more, and he finished the qualification lap behind the wild card rider Blazusiak with a big margin. Lampkin too rode the standard bike, but he showed an excellent ride in Russia. After being humiliated to be disqualified at his home round in UK, he had an intensive testing to set up the standard bike in Sheffield. His effort paid off, and he had more strength than other team riders.

So, the Russian round wasn't the best day for the Montesa team. There is no question about the potential of their new machines thanks to LimpkinĠs performances, but the round also revealed the difficulties that the team was facing. At the half way mark of the season, they were having a tough time competing and developing the machine at the same time, and they had to take alternatives at the event like in Russia when they didn't have enough 'works' bike to ship to. The next round will be held in Milan, Italy on Feb 19th.

Quote from Fujigas:

Although I rode the standard bike in Barcelona at some of the sections, it was a lot harder than I thought to switch to the bike that I don't usually ride. While we struggled, Raga celebrated his 6 consecutive victories in the season. We had a meeting after the competition, and we all agreed that it was about time for us to show the best of the team Montesa. I know we have a lot more to show, and we've got to prove it soon.

Pix: Octagon Esedos < http://www.worldtrials.info/>

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