2005 World Trial Championship Round 7
9-10/7/2005 Valbondione, Italy
Back in pursuit with Victory on Sunday
As the season turned into the closing stage, the championship hope became
subtle for Fujinami after 2 days of nightmarish results in France. Still,
he believes that he has the odds in his favor, and he went to Italy with
a positive attitude. Round 7 took place in Italy - once again in northern
part of the country, and Valbondione hosted its first WTC event.
Saturday, July 9th
"Natural sections"; as Fuji described the sections in Italy, there
were outdoor style hazards along the river using natural obstacles. It was
quite a contrast to the previous round, where majority were man-made indoor
style sections. There were about 5 water hazards and the rest were set up
near the river using slope and rocks. Very slippery surface of rocks gave
tough time for the riders, but they loved the way sections were arranged.
It was rain and shine mixed weather on Saturday, but the competition took
place basically in all wet condition.
After the French round, Fuji had intensive meetings with team boss, and
they agreed that it was best to forget about negative aspects to go forward.
Preparing for the Italian round, Fuji felt great and had some good practice
sessions. There was no problem with the bike too, so he arrived at Italy
with refreshed mind and ready for the fight.
Being cautious with slippery surface, Fuji played safe on lap 1. He footed
early to avoid getting maximum penalties. His plan worked out, and he finished
first with 3 points advantage against Raga. Fuji stuck with the game plan
on the following lap, but he decided to go more aggressively to score cleans
when he heard the news that Raga was showing excellent ride. However, things
went backwards, and Fuji dabbed 1 point more than he had on the lap 1 to
finish 2nd on Sunday. Raga was 11 points lesser than Fuji, and won the day
with 9 points advantage. It was frustrating to give away the victory, but
Fuji was at least happy to finish better than Cabestany; one of two Spaniards
standing in front of Fuji in the championship, with one point advantage.
Sunday, July 10th
Rain continued to fall in the morning, but it began to clear off by the
time the competitors starting their ride. It was interesting to see how change
in condition would contribute to the battle. When Fuji arrived at the section
4, the sun showed up and rocks began to dry out. It was the section he marked
clean on the lap 2 on Saturday, but he slid the rear tire a lot and he ended
up taking five. Raga learned the condition by watching Fuji's mistake, and
he rode the section with 3 points.
When the lap was over, Fuji dabbed 23 penalty points with a total of three
fives. He knew Raga made a record lap on Saturday with 5 points, and it brought
him back a bad memory in France. Then he had a report telling that it was
Fajardo who was leading the lap with 21 points. Freixa was 2nd with 22 points,
and Fuji was 3rd. He couldn't believe to be up there after having so many
fives.
At one point it looked to be hopeless but the news lightened him up. He
re-concentrated and started the lap 2. Fuji had a clear goal for the lap,
which was to be ahead of Raga for taking the day's victory. Fuji knew he
had 5 points advantage over the rival, so he tried to keep it till the end.
At the final section of the day, team boss approached Fuji for a word. "You
are 1st now, but it is possible dropping down to 3rd if you five here".
Fuji knew adding three points wouldn't hurt him too much, but he braced up
one last time to ride with single penalty point to capture the victory on
Sunday.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2005
Valbondione, Italy |
Saturday |
|
Rider |
Make |
L1 |
L2 |
TO |
Pts |
CL |
1 |
Adam Raga |
GasGas |
19 |
5 |
0 |
24 |
18 |
2 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Honda |
16 |
17 |
0 |
33 |
16 |
3 |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
20 |
14 |
0 |
34 |
15 |
4 |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
29 |
15 |
0 |
44 |
15 |
5 |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
24 |
26 |
0 |
50 |
13 |
6 |
Marc Freixa |
Montesa |
24 |
29 |
0 |
53 |
12 |
7 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
Beta |
40 |
25 |
0 |
65 |
8 |
8 |
Graham Jarvis |
Sherco |
41 |
27 |
0 |
68 |
7 |
9 |
Jeroni Fajardo |
GasGas |
42 |
31 |
0 |
73 |
13 |
10 |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
GasGas |
49 |
39 |
0 |
88 |
7 |
11 |
Jordi Pascuet |
GasGas |
45 |
45 |
0 |
90 |
7 |
12 |
Shaun Morris |
GasGas |
52 |
39 |
0 |
91 |
7 |
13 |
Daniele Maurino |
GasGas |
57 |
36 |
0 |
93 |
5 |
14 |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
Scorpa |
51 |
43 |
0 |
94 |
5 |
15 |
Isao Shibuya |
Scorpa |
54 |
41 |
0 |
95 |
7 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Sunday |
|
Rider |
Make |
L1 |
L2 |
TO |
Pts |
CL |
1 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Honda |
23 |
10 |
0 |
33 |
18 |
2 |
Jeroni Fajardo |
GasGas |
21 |
15 |
0 |
36 |
15 |
3 |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
26 |
11 |
0 |
37 |
17 |
4 |
Adam Raga |
GasGas |
28 |
13 |
0 |
41 |
15 |
5 |
Antonio Bou |
Beta |
27 |
18 |
0 |
45 |
14 |
6 |
Marc Freixa |
Montesa |
22 |
27 |
0 |
49 |
12 |
7 |
Kenichi Kuroyama |
Beta |
33 |
28 |
0 |
61 |
11 |
8 |
Graham Jarvis |
Sherco |
31 |
33 |
0 |
64 |
11 |
9 |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
29 |
36 |
0 |
65 |
8 |
10 |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
GasGas |
52 |
41 |
0 |
93 |
4 |
11 |
Jordi Pascuet |
GasGas |
49 |
48 |
0 |
97 |
6 |
12 |
Isao Shibuya |
Scorpa |
55 |
42 |
0 |
97 |
4 |
13 |
Shaun Morris |
GasGas |
48 |
51 |
0 |
99 |
6 |
14 |
Fumitaka Nozaki |
Scorpa |
49 |
51 |
0 |
100 |
8 |
15 |
Dario Delle Re Gandine |
GasGas |
47 |
56 |
0 |
103 |
6 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Ranking |
1 |
Adam Raga |
182 |
2 |
Takahisa Fujinami |
165 |
3 |
Albert Cabestany |
163 |
4 |
Dougie Lampkin?@ |
153 |
5 |
Antonio Bou |
125 |
6 |
Marc Freixa |
121 |
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