2006 Trial World Championship Round 7

Almost had it!

TWC returned to Europe as the round seven took place at a small town in central France, La Chatre. Bruno Camozzi once again designed the sections, and most of the sections were man-made using "6,000 tons of stones brought in to the venue", according to Bruno. The weather was hot and dry prior to Saturday, as the temperature reaching thirty-five degrees centigrade.

Fujinami took the inspection tour with Lampkin. Watching those man-made obstacles brought back Fuji bad memories of the French round last year. It was same for the team-mate, who had a nasty fall to suffer injury at the event. At the moment, it looked like it was going to be Raga's favor. However, heavy rain fall struck the area in the evening. The rain washed the dusty surface as well as bad images the Montesa riders had during the inspection. Smile came back to them as the condition turned to the better way for the Montesa riders.

Competition got under way, and Fuji couldn't ride well on Lap1. "I felt like it wasn't me riding the bike.", Fuji said, and he wasn't up to aim for the cleans at many of the sections. It was depressing ride for him, and he frequently footed to build up penalty points. His rivals on the other hand were trapped by the severity of the sections, and they in turn were ending up suffering many fives. Ironically, 'vigorless' riding helped Fuji maintaining decent score, which was the fact he did not know at the moment.

Fuji was deeply depressed when having two fives at the section nine and ten, and he realized it wasn't the day for him at all. However, he had a surprising news from Mr. Cirera, the team boss, that Fuji was leading the lap when the first eight sections were completed. Even after the double fives, he was still in a close contention for the top spot. "You have a very good chance, so go for it!" The words of Mr. Cirera encouraged Fuji a lot. When the Lap1 was over, Fuji went back to the paddock to get himself going for the battle for the Lap2, where normally, Fuji doesn't take any break between the laps.

Both Fuji and Lampkin picked up their pace at the Lap2. Lampkin especially rapidly picking up the position after finishing sixth at the Lap1. Raga, who finished first at the Lap1 on the other hand lost his beat at the opening stages with four consecutive fives.

Fuji concluded the lap with four cleans from the section twelve, and he was confident that he had the victory in his hands. He saw Lampkin making two points mistake at the section twelve as well as having a five point mistake at the following section. He noticed the team-mate protesting against the judge, but Fuji hurried the way to complete his lap.

It was a amazing turn out of the event for Fuji, and he had a big smile on his face at the paddock waiting for the victory call. However, he found out soon that Lampkin's appeal was granted and the penalty points at the section thirteen was reduced from five to two. That made two Montesa riders finishing in a tie in points, and Lampkin took the victory as he bettered Fuji with two more cleans.

The event was full of surprises for Fuji, but after all it was a great event for the team Montesa taking 1-2 finishes. The team congratulated Lampkin's first victory of the season, as well as Fuji's welcome podium finish.

After having heartbreaking results in US and Japan, Fuji finally came back to where he was supposed to be at. At the moment, Fuji still struggles a lot due to his condition, yet things are definitely going better. Let's hope to see Fuji making a full recovery very soon.

Quote from Fujigas:

I should be very happy finishing second considering my recent results, but I am also very frustrated to lose by the number of cleans. My condition got better so I could keep my concentration at each section even the severity was very high. Although I didn't win, I feel like I am coming back to where I was, so I am very pleased with the way the round turned out. It was good to finish 1-2 with Dougie to push Raga away from the podium for the first time in the season too. I will try to bring my condition right up for the coming rounds, where I expect some tough battles because of hot European weather.

Pix: Mario Candellone

Official Results PDF

In order to use a PDF file, Adobe Reader (no charge) is required. Please click the banner.

RESULTS TOP | PAGE TOP