2005 World Trial Championship Round 3

Day 1 - Saturday, May 21st

Fujinami fights back in Motegi

After disappointing first two rounds without any victory in the season, Fuji came back to his home round in Motegi being 5th in the championship. Although it wasn't the way he was thinking to make his triumphant return in front of home fans, massive crowd welcomed the new champion. As there was no question about Fuji's riding skills and the potential of the new Honda 4-stroke machine, he just needed some extra strength and the luck in order to score the first victory of the year. It was then a very good sign having such a strong support from the local fans.

The day started out well for Fuji until the section 5, where he couldn't climb the steep rock to take five points. He then stepped out the line a little at the next section to add five again. He had another point at the section 7 building up a total of 11 penalty points by the half way mark. Lampkin was leading the field at the time with 5 points, followed by Kuroyama with 8 and Cabestany with 10 points. It looked to be tough for Fuji to recover the point gap. Adding three more points at the section 10 and 11, Fuji finished the lap with 14 penalty points.

However Fuji showed a brilliant performance from the end of the lap 1 and throughout the lap 2. While his rivals began to miss their rhythm, Fuji continued to score cleans. He climbed up to the top of the scoreboard when he completed the section 6, but he was not aware of it at the time, and he continued to push for the recovery. It was in the half way point of the lap when he realized that he was leading. It was then a matter of if he could keep his concentration strong for the rest of the lap to maintain the point gap against the rivals.

Fuji completed the lap 2 with 4 points, and he captured his first victory of the season with 6 points advantage over the teammate Marc Freixa. Fuji celebrated the victory with his loving daughter Yumena at the podium in front of home fans. Job well done.

Quote from Fujigas:

I thought it was not possible to take the victory today when I had consecutive fives at the section 5 and 6. Still I tried to keep my concentration up, and it turned out all right. I like to thank for a big support from my home fans, because they pushed me a lot this time to do well. I will try to repeat the performance again to stand at the top of the podium tomorrow.

Day 2 - Sunday, May 22th

Early mistakes haunted Fuji till the end

Despite scoring 15 straight cleans on the lap2; 23 consecutive cleans counting from the section 8 of the lap1, Fuji could not recover from the mistakes he had at the beginning of the lap1, and he missed the victory number 2 at his home to finish 3rd on the day 2.

After having only Fuji and Lampkin managed to score other than five at the section 6, overnight modification took place. The riding line became tighter, but a crosstie was placed at the entrance of the section to make the section easier. Organizer modified some of the sections to increase severity, but as a whole they were still very easy for most of the riders.

The winner of the day 1, Fujinami was the final starter of the day. He had 4 cleans at the beginning, but he failed to climb the steep rock at the section 5 to five, as he did on the lap 1 on Saturday. He had two more points at the section 7 building up his penalty points as 7 before the halfway stage. As Cabestany, Raga and Bou continued marking cleans, it looked to be another tough battle for Fuji.

Bou made his first mistake at the section 9, so as Cabestany at the section 10, but both riders added only two points. While Fuji's rivals stayed away from big mistakes for the rest of the lap, Fuji didn't have a chance to catch up. Bou added another point at the section 10 to finish the lap with 3 points, and Cabestany completed the lap with 2 points. Raga meanwhile set 15 straight cleans and finished the lap with zero point. Lampkin had an early mistake at the section 3, adding 2 more points later to finish with 4 points. Fuji rode mistake free after the section 7, but he finished the lap at the 5th place with 7 points.

It was the same scenario for Fuji as the previous day to start the lap 2. On Saturday, his rivals got out of shape with themselves on the lap 2 to allow Fuji's recovery, but on Sunday, they did not crack so much.

At one point Raga looked to be on course to take the victory, but he could not climb the rock to five at the section 5, just like Fuji's mistake on the lap 1. He added 2 more points later in the lap, and his chance for the day's victory slipped out from his hands completely.

Cabestany finished the lap with 2 points, and he took the victory of the day with 4 points overall. Lampkin rode well on the lap2, adding only a single point to finish 2nd with 5 points. Bou dabbed 6 points on the lap 2, and he dropped from 3rd on the lap 1 down to 5th overall. Fuji fought patiently on the lap 2, and he complete the lap with 15 straight cleans. Fuji shared the same penalty points with Raga, but Fuji captured the final spot on the podium by marking 28 cleans - one clean better than the Spaniard's 27.

Fuji returned to Japan with a clear goal to repeat the double-victory as last year. The battle was so close, and Fuji missed the victory by only 3 points. Championship battle is also close this year, and Fuji stands now in 4th with 8 points away from the championship leader Cabestany, 4 points to the 2nd place Raga, and shared the same points with Lampkin for the 3rd place.

The next round will be in U.S.A. in two weeks time. Fuji took the double-win in the round last year, and his is ready to repeat the performance again.

Quote from Fujigas:

The game developed just like on Saturday, but today rivals did not get out of shape on lap 2 so I didn't have a chance to get closer to them. It's a disappointing result as I said yesterday that I was going to be on top of the podium . Still I think these two days went fairly well for me considering the way I fought in the past rounds. I had an awkward feeling having number 1 bib on me at the beginning of the season. In Japan the pressure having the number was gone, and I felt natural with it . The bike is getting better everyday, and I am very confident to recover.

Pix:Makoto Sugitani

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