2006 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 11

Painful Sixth in Argentina

Fujinami had a quick break after the Brazilian round, spending time in Brazil and Argentina before the next competition. Previously in 2005 season, there was one South American round in the Indoor championship calendar, but for 2006, there are two. It is good to know that the championship is growing and expanding more to the world. On the other hand, it gives some difficulties in organizing the schedule for the teams, because more travel means less time they can spare for the development work for the following Outdoor season.

Apart from a little confusion before the ride - Fujinami underwent section inspection again a minute before his turn when he watched Bou made a full mark mistake at the first section - the qualification lap started OK for Fuji with a clean at the first section. He was the first permanent riders in Argentina, and there were two wild-card riders riding before him.

Fuji had two big crashes in the round, which forced him riding with a lot of pains. He had the first one at the section two, where he lost a balance and fell off to the ground. The crash itself wasn't so special, but he hit his butt hard against a block of concrete located on the floor. It was very painful, but Fuji pushed himself to continue, as it was only the beginning of the lap. Then he had another crash getting injured again, more seriously. It was at the section four, where he needed to jump off from the step and turn the bike about 90 degrees simultaneously. When trying to put the front wheel onto one of the two steps before reaching to the bottom, he hit the front fork against the obstacle. Instantly the bike flipped over, and Fuji fell to the ground together with the bike from the left side. He had his index finger holding onto the clutch lever when hitting the ground. The bike was damaged such as clutch master cylinder got broken, but more importa!
ntly, he had a severe cut on his index finger.

Not only he was forced to change the bike to the spare bike, he was unable to control the clutch lever with the index finger. It bled a lot, and pulling the lever made it bleeding even more. He could have stopped riding, but he went on using the middle finger to support the injured finger. Fuji marked clean at the section six, but it became too painful for him to ride. He made a section entry only and stop to add five points at the following section, to finish observed seven sections with twenty points.

When the all participants finished their observed sections, it was Cabestany who led with five points followed by Fajardo's ten points. Bou, Raga and Lampkin rode the sections with twelve, thirteen and fourteen points, respectively, and they weren't too far from Fuji. He was in a good position for the final lap if he stayed away from crashes and imperfect riding after the injuries.

During a short interval before the High Jump, Fuji rushed to the medical center for an emergency treatment. The wound was too close to the finger nail so the doctor couldn't stitch up. Instead, he used the medical adhesive to put the lips together so Fuji could go out again.

Fuji was in a great pain by them from the butt and the finger, and he had no strength being left with his injured finger. He used the middle finger alone to control the clutch for the High-Jump, dropping bars to add two more points. He had one more battle at the Double Lane against Lampkin before the day was over. Fuji knew that his sixth place was fixed, as both the team-mate and Blazusiak were too many points away, thus he escaped shortly after the start of DL.

After the competition, Fuji had sterilization treatment for his finger at the medical center before leaving the country. Fuji's woe continued in flight as he had a lot of pains with his butt during the long trip back to Spain.

The doctor in Barcelona found that there were small avulsion fractures with Fuji's finger. After a discussion with the doctor Fuji decided to leave it as it was, since they found no particular treatment for the wound. Fuji already forgot the bad memories in Argentina, and trying to concentrate toward the final adjustment of completely new 2006 bike for the coming season.

Quote from Fujigas:

I was pushing hard after the first crash although I had a lot of pains on my butt. Bruises are bruises and they are not too bad, but the injury of index finger at the section four was very bad. I know it is going to be some painful rides in Madrid, and the Spanish Championship, but I will overcome. I have been riding everyday since I got back to Spain, and the finger is getting better day by day. I will be fit and ready for the Outdoor championship.

Pix: IndoorTrial.com

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