2008 FIM SPEA Trial WorldChampionship Round 9

Czech Republic GP - 6/7/2008 Attendance: 3,000

Hard Fight to Protect Third

The motocross park, Kramolin once again was the venue for the Grand Prix of Czech Republic. Some modifications took place to bring the severity high, but basically the sections were very similar to the previous year's. The weather was beautiful, sunny but not too hot. Familiar sections and the pleasant weather don't necessary make the trial easier though.

Since the GP of Japan, the third place became the fixture for Fujinami. Still, it hasn't been all bad considering the way he fought, including a close fight for the victory. In Czech, Fujinami finished third again, but he had to fight hard for it; a completely a difference scenario from the previous thirds he took.

Fujinami said he was totally off, and he tried to adjust his riding to make it better. While he struggled, the usual leading duo took off. Apart from the section 6 to 8, which were tough challenges, there were many clean-able sections, but Fujinami made errors here and there. In fact, he was fifth at the beginning of Lap1 after making five point error at the section three.

At the end of Lap1, Fujinami picked up his rhythm a bit to finish fourth, five points behind Cabestany, but he struggled again at the following lap to let Cabestany extending the lead.

At the end of Lap2, as the usual rivals were long gone, Fujinami concentrated in the fight for third against Cabestany. The Spaniard was riding just ahead of him, so Fujinami easily grasped the relationship. Fujinami chased the rival closely and rode very carefully.

At the section 12, Cabestany dropped a single mark, but Fujinami marked clean, thus the gap became three. Both marked clean at the section 13. Cabestany dropped five points at the section 14. Fujinami in turn took the chance to ride strong to mark clean at the section. The gap was erased, and Fujinami built two points advantage over Cabestany. At the final section of the day, Cabestany made another mistake to drop one point, where Fujinami held it strong to mark another clean. Fujinami finished the day three point ahead of Cabestany to keep his usual finishing position.

Bou led Lap1, going into the second lap with three points advantage over Raga. However, he lost the rhythm at Lap2 to make mistakes including three five points. When the lap finished, Bou was eight points behind to hand over the victory to Raga.

Fujinami was too far from Bou to miss the chance to capitalize the mistakes by the teammate. It could have been a great chance for the Japanese to take over the second place, if he was doing his 'decent' riding. He was 11 points down from Bou at the finish.

There are three more rounds in 2008 WTC, and Fujinami simply wants to get out of his usual position on the podium.

Quote from Fujigas:

The result is the same, but I have to fought hard to protect the third place. I am glad that I could at least keep the position. But at the same time, I don't go to each round to fight for the bottom spot of the podium, so I am not happy at all. It is hopeless not to able to compete like I should nor to be involved with the fight for the victory. It was one of the worst trial I had for a while, and it showed that I still have some areas to improve. We have three more rounds to go. The championship standing is important, but I really want to win more than anything.

pix: Mario Candellone and Agnese Andrione

Click for the Official Results PDF

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

RESULTS TOP | PAGE TOP