2005 Spanish Championship Round 2

Barely missed the victory, but a confidence boost for Fuji

Just a week away from the opening of the World Outdoor Championship, the round 2 of the Spanish Championship took place in Gonyoles. Boarding the bike with further modifications with lightweight parts, and despite lack of practice time because the bike became ready on Saturday, Fujinami showed a solid ride to finish 2nd on the podium.

Although it has been Fuji's tendency to struggle with his physical stiffness at the beginning of the competition, he showed fine performances from the beginning at the Gonyoles round. He kept his concentration well until the end of the first lap where he dabbed 2 points at the section 14 and 3 points at the following section. He went on to start the second lap, and he was fived at the very first section too. Fuji built 10 penalty points in these 3 sections alone.

Time-allowance was extended to 3 hours after there was some confusion at the opening round of the series, where they had only 2 hours and 30 minutes for the first lap. Though Fuji still thought the time was too short, and he was competing with uneasiness. "I lost concentration as I was hurry and being uncomfortable, which forced me to make some mistakes at the end of the first lap and the first section of the second lap." Fuji admits after the event. He re-established his concentration for the rest of the lap, keeping his penalty very small.

Despite getting no detailed information about how the rivals were doing, it became clear that Raga and Fuji were two who were in a battle for the victory. Two hurry to attack the sections, leaving other competitors far behind. Then Fuji arrived at the section 13, where precise riding-line was required to clean the triple step. He missed the line only a bit but he ended up being five. Raga didn't mark clean either but he had a single penalty point there. Fuji had another point at the section 14, where Raga had 3 points at the section 14 and 15 to finish the lap. As the competition was over, although Fuji managed to have 3 more cleans than Raga, he had 3 points short to hand the victory to Raga.

The competition gave Fuji a huge feedback for the coming Outdoor Championship. He knows now the potential of the bike is very high, and he also achieved the feel how to ride it at its best. The results in Gonyoles boosted Fuji's confidence too because he was able to finish better than Lampkin and Freixa, who were on the same bike as Fuji, with considerable advantage.

Next competition will be the first round of the Outdoor World Championship in Portugal, which the series Fuji awaited for a long time. It will be held on Sunday only due to a single-day event.

Quote from Fujigas:

I had a good chance to mark the first victory on 4-stroke, and I am so sorry to miss it. I lost 10 points from the end of the first lap to the first section of the following lap, and these three consecutive errors hurt me a lot. I had a five at the section 13, but I don't think it was the mistake to blame losing the battle today. It was hard for me to keep concentration when you know you are running out of time, but I had some valuable lessons in these two rounds, and it will help me in the battles to come. I look forward to the World Outdoor season, and I will do my best in Portugal so we can celebrate our first victory on the 4-stroke machine.

Pix: todotrial.com < http://www.todotrial.com/>

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