2005 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 5
6/2/2005 - Sant Jordi Stadium, Barcelona, Spain
Fujinami crashed and damaged the bike, a very tough battle at his home
event.
It all happened at the beginning of the qualification lap. The first
section consisted of a triple step, and it was a very tough challenge.
Fuji attacked the section, but he fell from the top when the engine
under-guard caught the highest step. The bike was damaged by hitting
the ground from the front end, bending its front forks, handle bar
and levers. It was Fuji's first time to bend the front forks in his
entire trial career.
|
Trying hard on the wounded 'Works'
bike.
Notice the front forks are bent. |
Actually it was a hard section for all the Honda riders. Lampkin who
started after Fuji also had a problem. He somehow managed to save himself
by footing the lift alongside of the section; where the minders stand.
Another Honda rider Freixa failed to climb the section to the top either.
It was a very difficult situation for Fuji, because the factory was
in a process of developing their bike, and there was no spare 'works'
bike at the Montesa camp in Barcelona. Also because of a time allowance:
11 minutes to complete 8 sections, Fuji did not have time to let his
mechanics fixing the bike either.
There was another steep step at the section two, and Fuji figured
it was too difficult to attack it with the standard bike, so he rode
his damaged bike. Fuji rode the bike till the third section, where
he managed to mark clean, but he could not continue riding the bike
in such conditions, so he switched to the standard bike from the section
4. However, Fuji did not have a chance to perform what he had at the
rest of the section anyway.
|
Fuji at the section on the standard
bike. |
Although Fuji beat Freixa at the double-lanes, he completed the lap
with 21 points: 15 points behind the top finisher Raga. As he describe
it was a disastrous defeat, he finished at 6th place: the final qualification
lap finisher.
Jordi Tarres's old brother was in charge of section coordination.
He designed the sections with series of ups and downs without any twisting
features. Also riding lines were literally all straight. Such features
are rare in Outdoor competition, and it was a valuable lesson for Montesa
camp to realize there were some weak points in their bikes.
So, the lesson learned, and the factory will continue their developing
program, knowing now that they has some disadvantages, and the riders
too will be concentrating on their preparations to minimize their disadvantages
against the opponents.
Next round will be at St. Petersburg in Russia on Feb 12th.
Quote from Fujigas:
Indoor Trial World Championship 2005
Round 5 |
Final Lap |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
15 |
2. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
22 |
3. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
24 |
Qualificarion Lap |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
6 |
2. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
8 |
3. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
8 |
4. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
17 |
5. |
Marc Freixa |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
20 |
6. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
21 |
Point Standings |
1. |
Adam Raga |
50 |
2. |
Albert Cabestany |
38 |
3. |
Dougie Lampkin |
27 |
4. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
24 |
5. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
19 |
6. |
Marc Freixa |
19 |
7. |
Toni Bou |
5 |
8. |
Jerome Bethune |
5 |
9. |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
2 |
10. |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
1 |
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