2008 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 2

Palau Sant Jordi Barcelona, Spain - 3/2/2008 - Attendance: 9,800

Fourth again...

Round two of the Indoor World Championship took place in Barcelona Spain. As the city is considered the home of the trial competition, large crowds as well as many sponsors gathered for the prestigious round of the year.

Fujinami has finished second on the podium for two times in Barcelona in the past, and he was very much looking forward to a good result again for this year's event. Rotational starting order is effective in 2008 too, so Fujinami was fifth to start after the ex-team-mate Lampkin. Bou, the final starter at the opening round, was the third rider following two wild card riders.

Barcelona also stands as the home of the Spanish trial competition, and there is a strong Spanish taste in the way the sections set up. The sections are similar, if not the same, to what you find in the Spanish Indoor Championship. They are 'all or nothing' type of hazards, and a rider's mistake easily ends up a full mark failure. It provides a straight forward entertainment for the spectators.

The Qualification Lap started with the section consisted of a huge step at the entrance. Previously all the rider except Bou dropped a full mark, and Fujinami too became a victim of the challenge. The section two in turn was relatively easy, but strangely, Bou was the only rider who dropped a point. Fujinami managed to mark clean.

The section three was very technical with a difficult jump off at the end. Landing area was narrow with just about a bike length. Lampkin failed early at the entrance, but the rest of the riders who started before Fujinami failed at the final phase too. Watching the mistakes by the previous four riders, Fujinami decided to go for a safe ride by swinging the front end with his foot down. He would drop one point, but it was better than failing. His plan seemed to work alright, but at the end, he lost the balance and fell from the area; thus dropping five points. Fujinami's penalty points built up ten as the first three sections were over.

Although Fujinami was confident that there were only three rivals in Barcelona, he found Fajardo was three points better as he finished the first three sections. Fujinami rode carefully at the rest of the sections, and he completed the lap with 16 points, one point better than Fajardo.

At the final speed race, Fujinami started along side of Cabestany. The Spaniard was third going into the race with ten points advantage over Fujinami, so the result would not make any change in positions. Fujinami won the race but he fixed the fourth place, missing the Final Lap for two consecutive rounds.

Looking at the results of the Qualification Lap, top three riders made healthy cushions against the rest. Fujinami was nine points behind Raga and Cabestany, second and third finishers. Fujinami thinks he isn't too far away from the top three. Small mistakes make big differences at the round like Barcelona. He made a little too many though.

Two rounds are up, and the Spaniards are showing their supremacy by dominating the top three. Will Fujinami find the way to turn the things around with four rounds remain in the series?

Quote from Fujigas:

I have a good feeling, and I think some of the full mark errors are
not complete failure to me. Still, the result is everything and it shows that I fived three times. It is a sever competition, but I will fight hard because I don't like to see the same riders standing on the podium every round.

pix: Pep Segales

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