2005 World Trial Championship Round 3
21-22/5/2005 Twin Ring Motegi, Japan
Day 1 - Saturday, May 21st
Fujinami fights back in Motegi
After disappointing first two rounds without any victory in the season,
Fuji came back to his home round in Motegi being 5th in the championship.
Although it wasn't the way he was thinking to make his triumphant return
in front of home fans, massive crowd welcomed the new champion. As
there was no question about Fuji's riding skills and the potential
of the new Honda 4-stroke machine, he just needed some extra strength
and the luck in order to score the first victory of the year. It was
then a very good sign having such a strong support from the local fans.
The day started out well for Fuji until the section 5, where he couldn't
climb the steep rock to take five points. He then stepped out the line
a little at the next section to add five again. He had another point
at the section 7 building up a total of 11 penalty points by the half
way mark. Lampkin was leading the field at the time with 5 points,
followed by Kuroyama with 8 and Cabestany with 10 points. It looked
to be tough for Fuji to recover the point gap. Adding three more points
at the section 10 and 11, Fuji finished the lap with 14 penalty points.
However Fuji showed a brilliant performance from the end of the lap
1 and throughout the lap 2. While his rivals began to miss their rhythm,
Fuji continued to score cleans. He climbed up to the top of the scoreboard
when he completed the section 6, but he was not aware of it at the
time, and he continued to push for the recovery. It was in the half
way point of the lap when he realized that he was leading. It was then
a matter of if he could keep his concentration strong for the rest
of the lap to maintain the point gap against the rivals.
Fuji completed the lap 2 with 4 points, and he captured his first
victory of the season with 6 points advantage over the teammate Marc
Freixa. Fuji celebrated the victory with his loving daughter Yumena
at the podium in front of home fans. Job well done.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2005
Twin Ring Motegi |
Saturday |
|
rider |
|
L1 |
L2 |
TO |
Pts |
CL |
1 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Honda |
14 |
4 |
0 |
18 |
22 |
2 |
Marc Freixa |
Montesa |
16 |
8 |
0 |
24 |
21 |
3 |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
11 |
14 |
0 |
25 |
21 |
4 |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
10 |
16 |
0 |
26 |
23 |
5 |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
14 |
12 |
0 |
26 |
19 |
6 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
Beta |
11 |
17 |
0 |
28 |
18 |
7 |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
15 |
14 |
0 |
29 |
21 |
8 |
Graham Jarvis |
Sherco |
30 |
13 |
0 |
43 |
13 |
9 |
Taichi Tanaka |
Gas Gas |
24 |
18 |
7 |
49 |
13 |
10 |
Jordi Pascuet |
Gas Gas |
31 |
24 |
0 |
55 |
10 |
11 |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
Scorpa |
32 |
24 |
0 |
56 |
13 |
12 |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
41 |
18 |
0 |
59 |
11 |
13 |
Tomoyuki Ogawa |
Honda |
37 |
25 |
1 |
63 |
10 |
14 |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
Gas Gas |
42 |
22 |
0 |
64 |
9 |
15 |
Isao Shibuya |
Yamaha |
35 |
36 |
0 |
71 |
10 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Ranking |
1 |
Adam Raga |
50 |
2 |
Albert Cabestany |
47 |
3 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
44 |
4 |
Dougie Lampkin |
42 |
5 |
Marc Freixa |
42 |
6 |
Toni Bou |
32 |
7 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
27 |
Day 2 - Sunday, May 22th
Early mistakes haunted Fuji till the end
Despite scoring 15 straight cleans on the lap2; 23 consecutive cleans
counting from the section 8 of the lap1, Fuji could not recover from
the mistakes he had at the beginning of the lap1, and he missed the
victory number 2 at his home to finish 3rd on the day 2.
After having only Fuji and Lampkin managed to score other than five
at the section 6, overnight modification took place. The riding line
became tighter, but a crosstie was placed at the entrance of the section
to make the section easier. Organizer modified some of the sections
to increase severity, but as a whole they were still very easy for
most of the riders.
The winner of the day 1, Fujinami was the final starter of the day.
He had 4 cleans at the beginning, but he failed to climb the steep
rock at the section 5 to five, as he did on the lap 1 on Saturday.
He had two more points at the section 7 building up his penalty points
as 7 before the halfway stage. As Cabestany, Raga and Bou continued
marking cleans, it looked to be another tough battle for Fuji.
Bou made his first mistake at the section 9, so as Cabestany at the
section 10, but both riders added only two points. While Fuji's rivals
stayed away from big mistakes for the rest of the lap, Fuji didn't
have a chance to catch up. Bou added another point at the section 10
to finish the lap with 3 points, and Cabestany completed the lap with
2 points. Raga meanwhile set 15 straight cleans and finished the lap
with zero point. Lampkin had an early mistake at the section 3, adding
2 more points later to finish with 4 points. Fuji rode mistake free
after the section 7, but he finished the lap at the 5th place with
7 points.
It was the same scenario for Fuji as the previous day to start the
lap 2. On Saturday, his rivals got out of shape with themselves on
the lap 2 to allow Fuji's recovery, but on Sunday, they did not crack
so much.
At one point Raga looked to be on course to take the victory, but
he could not climb the rock to five at the section 5, just like Fuji's
mistake on the lap 1. He added 2 more points later in the lap, and
his chance for the day's victory slipped out from his hands completely.
Cabestany finished the lap with 2 points, and he took the victory
of the day with 4 points overall. Lampkin rode well on the lap2, adding
only a single point to finish 2nd with 5 points. Bou dabbed 6 points
on the lap 2, and he dropped from 3rd on the lap 1 down to 5th overall.
Fuji fought patiently on the lap 2, and he complete the lap with 15
straight cleans. Fuji shared the same penalty points with Raga, but
Fuji captured the final spot on the podium by marking 28 cleans - one
clean better than the Spaniard's 27.
Fuji returned to Japan with a clear goal to repeat the double-victory
as last year. The battle was so close, and Fuji missed the victory
by only 3 points. Championship battle is also close this year, and
Fuji stands now in 4th with 8 points away from the championship leader
Cabestany, 4 points to the 2nd place Raga, and shared the same points
with Lampkin for the 3rd place.
The next round will be in U.S.A. in two weeks time. Fuji took the
double-win in the round last year, and his is ready to repeat the performance
again.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2005
Twin Ring Motegi |
Sunday |
|
rider |
|
L1 |
L2 |
TO |
Pts |
CL |
1 |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
2 |
2 |
0 |
4 |
27 |
2 |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
4 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
26 |
3 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Honda |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
28 |
4 |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
0 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
27 |
5 |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
3 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
24 |
6 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
Beta |
14 |
5 |
0 |
19 |
22 |
7 |
Marc Freixa |
Montesa |
13 |
8 |
0 |
21 |
23 |
8 |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
Scorpa |
27 |
9 |
0 |
36 |
18 |
9 |
Graham Jarvis |
Sherco |
24 |
17 |
0 |
41 |
14 |
10 |
Isao Shibuya |
Yamaha |
26 |
19 |
0 |
45 |
17 |
11 |
Taichi Tanaka |
Gas Gas |
22 |
23 |
0 |
45 |
12 |
12 |
Tomoyuki Ogawa |
Honda |
23 |
23 |
0 |
46 |
15 |
13 |
Jordi Pascuet |
Gas Gas |
28 |
20 |
0 |
48 |
14 |
14 |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
Gas Gas |
28 |
35 |
0 |
63 |
14 |
15 |
Sam Connor |
Sherco |
39 |
35 |
0 |
74 |
11 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Ranking |
1 |
Albert Cabestany |
67 |
2 |
Adam Raga |
63 |
3 |
Dougie Lampkin |
59 |
4 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
59 |
5 |
Marc Freixa |
51 |
6 |
Toni Bou |
43 |
7 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
37 |
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