2005 World Trial Championship Round 2
24/4/2005 Tarragona, Spain
Finished the round with question marks
After a week from the Portugal round where Fuji faced a bitter result
by finishing 5th, round 2 of the WTC took place in Tarragona Spain.
It was the home city of Albert Cabestany, and he and fellow Spanish
riders attained supremacy to dominate the podium. Although Fuji wasn't
happy with the way the event was handled, he admitted his defeat against
Spanish riders to finish 4th with 11 points away from the third placed
Marc Freixa.
Competition area was located at the seacoast nearby the city providing
friendly access for the spectators. However, there was a big question
mark if the venue was a adequate place to hold the world-class competition.
Many of the sections were very close to the ocean forcing the riders
to get soaked; in fact, they had to take their time before entering
the sections not to be washed away by the lapping waves. After two
sections, Dougie Lampkin's motor refused to work with an electric problem,
with a probable cause of being washed by the salty water.
After having considerable degree of delay, the organizer extended
a time-allowance for ten minutes, but there was no official announcement
or clear notice of such alteration, at least the news did not reach
Fuji and his crews. Not aware of having ten more extra minutes, Fuji
found himself running out of time at the end of the lap1, and he had
to rush to complete the lap.
The section 13 became the biggest blow for Fuji with another question
mark. Everybody put a marking stone as a reference at the section.
Just about Fuji making his attack for the section, an official pointed
out that putting a marking stone at the section was an illegal and
could not be allowed. Fuji wondered why the official suddenly changed
his mind after some of the riders already completed the section with
a marking stone, but he had no way but obeying his order. The section
wasn't particularly difficult, but having no reference mark, nor had
enough time for careful inspection, Fuji couldn't find the best line
ending up taking five points.
As the first lap was over, Cabestany led the field with 6 penalty
points from Freixa with 10 points and Raga with 13 points. Fuji had
18 points to follow in the 4th place. Sections were pretty wet, but
it had a good traction. Together with indoor style of the sections,
Spanish riders were performing very well.
The biggest surprise of the day came at the middle of the lap2 when
Fuji found out that Lampkin was competing within the time limit. Fuji
knew Lampkin was losing time by fixing his bike. On the other hand,
Fuji tried his best to complete the lap1 within time, he couldn't believe
his ears. Fuji then found out about the extension of the time allowance,
but it was too late.
Lap two turned to be fairy well for Fuji, but he never had a chance
to recover the point difference he suffered on lap 1 to finish 4th
with a big point gap.
One of the reasons Fuji allowed Spanish riders big advantages, apart
from some misfortunes, was that he doesn't have so much practice session
with indoor style section - tricky sections with a good traction. Fuji
knows he needs to work on such areas, but time being, he is more focused
on practicing with outdoor style section with slippery surface.
So the day was over with another tough results for Fuji, but he was
at least happy that the event was held with a day format. It could
have been very dangerous to let Spanish riders gaining too much confidence.
The next round will be Fuji's home round in Motegi Japan. Hopefully,
he will get his momentum going there and for the rest of the season.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2005
Pampilhosa da Serra |
Sunday |
|
rider |
|
L1 |
L2 |
TO |
Pts |
CL |
1 |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
13 |
8 |
0 |
21 |
21 |
2 |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
6 |
16 |
0 |
22 |
23 |
3 |
Marc Freixa |
Montesa |
10 |
14 |
0 |
24 |
18 |
4 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Honda |
18 |
15 |
0 |
33 |
16 |
5 |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
21 |
16 |
0 |
37 |
18 |
6 |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
26 |
15 |
0 |
41 |
14 |
7 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
Beta |
25 |
25 |
0 |
50 |
13 |
8 |
Graham Jarvis |
Sherco |
41 |
26 |
0 |
67 |
9 |
9 |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
52 |
32 |
0 |
84 |
6 |
10 |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
Gas Gas |
46 |
43 |
0 |
89 |
1 |
11 |
Sam Connor |
Sherco |
53 |
44 |
0 |
97 |
5 |
12 |
Jordi Pascuet |
Gas Gas |
53 |
51 |
0 |
104 |
0 |
13 |
Jerome Bethune |
Gas Gas |
53 |
53 |
2 |
108 |
3 |
14 |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
Scorpa |
53 |
55 |
0 |
108 |
1 |
15 |
Shaun Morris |
Gas Gas |
60 |
56 |
0 |
116 |
3 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
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