2005 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 10
12/3/2005 - Stadium: Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires
Argentina
First podium finish aboard the standard bike for Fujinami
For the second time in the season IWTC took an expedition, and the
round 10 took place in Argentina in South America. As the 4 stroke
development program going into the final stage for team Montesa, they
opted to keep the 'works' bikes in Barcelona, so all three Montesa
riders had to participate the event with the standard-based bike. Normally,
factory teams have spare 'works' bikes to deal with such occasion,
but it is difficult for team Montesa at the moment to produce any spare
bike when they hasn't finalized the modification of the bike.
Prior to Argentina round, Fuji had never advanced to the final lap
on the standard bike, and it looked to be a tough round again for Fuji.
He wasn't discouraged though, because he knew it was important trying
to achieve the best result possible at given conditions.
There was no wild-card rider in Argentina, and Raga was the first
rider to attack the qualification lap. It was an important round for
him, for he had a chance to clinch the championship, but he couldn't
show his commanding form as he has shown all year. He started the lap
with a maximum penalty points, and he continued to make mistakes. Fuji
thought Raga was out the rhythm at first, but he then realized that
sections were a lot tougher than they appeared to be when second rider
Lampkin struggled even more. Lampkin dabbed three consecutive fives
at the beginning of the lap, and eventually he would finish last for
his observed sections with 28 penalty points.
Fuji was third to ride the qualification lap. Before his ride he figured
that we would mark 15 points when things were OK, and 20 points if
weren't. He applied the tactics that he took a few times in this season,
which was to attack the sections when he had chances, but give up early
to save time when he found it too difficult. Fuji completed the observed
sections with 20 points as he expected with 50 second extra time. He
was careful not to make a big mistake at the following double-lane,
and giving away victory to Fajardo, but adding another point was enough
for Fuji to advance to the final lap for the first time on the standard
bike.
There were two sections in the final lap- two huge staircases, where
Fuji had disadvantages on the standard bike. Fuji dabbed two fives,
while two Gas Gas riders marked clean on both sections. Displacement
was around 50cc smaller on Fuji's bike, and that alone made a huge
difference. Fuji believed that he had no problem clearing the staircases
if he had the 'works' bike, and he could save 10 points there. When
the competition was over, it was Fajardo who celebrated his first win
of the season with 16 points total. Fuji thinks he had a very good
chance for winning the round as he finished third with 24 points; only
8 points behind the winner.
The Argentina round became valuable lesson for Fuji, because he learned
the way to bring out the competitiveness on the standard bike. Although
standard bikes are inferior in horsepower to the 'works' bikes, he
found the way to reduce its weakness by altering a riding style. These
experiences will help him because he is now scheduled to ride the standard
bike for the rest of the Indoor season. The team decided to keep Fuji's
'works' bike at the Barcelona camp to concentrate in testing and allow
Fuji to have more practice time on it. Lampkin, on the other hand,
will have his testing in UK after the Argentina round, and he will
bring his 'works' bike to Ireland round.
So, Raga secured the world title once again. Knowing the championship
has been settled, it somehow taken away Fuji's interest for the Indoor
ranking a bit. Fuji's mind is already concentrated in the coming Outdoor
season.
Quote from Fujigas:
Indoor Trial World Championship 2005
Round 10 |
Final Lap |
1. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
16 |
2. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
17 |
3. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
24 |
Qualificarion Lap |
1. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
19 |
2. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
21 |
3. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
23 |
4. |
Marc Freixa |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
24 |
5. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Repsol Montesa-HRC |
28 |
6. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
28 |
Point Standings |
1. |
Adam Raga |
96 |
2. |
Albert Cabestany |
72 |
3. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
50 |
4. |
Dougie Lampkin |
49 |
5. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
48 |
6. |
Marc Freixa |
36 |
7. |
Toni Bou |
14 |
8. |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
8 |
9. |
Jerome Bethune |
5 |
10. |
Michele Orizio |
1 |
11. |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
1 |
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