2006 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 1
Hallam FM Sheffield Arena, United Kingdom - 7/1/2006
- Attendance: 8,500
No final appearance at season opener for Fujinami
The firstroundof 2006 IWTC took place at Sheffield in UK. There
were five fixed riders - one less than previous years - and three wild
card riders participated the event. Things were a lot better as going
into the season compared to 2005 for Fujinami. Last year, he had to
fight the championship while working on the new bike development. Bike
set-up was different at each round, and he often had to switch from
the 'works' bike to the standard bike. There was no spare 'works' bike
ready at the team for the whole 2005 indoor season either.
For this year, both Lampkin and Fuji had well prepared own 'works'
bikes at Sheffield. Lampkin, who bases in UK, brought his second 'works'
bike as a spare bike too. Fuji couldn't bring spare bike to UK, as
his team's work was in progress at the Barcelona camp. So, there was
a spare bike with compromised settings for both riders; the handle
bar set to suit Dougie's taste and the foot pegs set to suit Fuji's
taste.
Based on 2005 championship, Fuji was the first fixed riders to start
the qualification lap. The wild card riders rode before Fuji, and he
was glad to have Bou among them. The Spaniard showed strong performances
last year, especially he finished runner-up in Spanish indoor championship
next to Raga. Fuji thought he could learn some riding hits from Bou's
ride.
When Bou finished the lap with four points with an additional time-penalty
point, Fuji thought it would be the benchmark points for the observed
sections. He never knew then that the target he set in him mind was
in fact the best record set by the eventual winner of the day.
Fuji started his lap with a single point at the first section, and
he marked clean at the section two. Then at the section three, he made
a mistake to have first five. "I forgot to down-shift." Fuji
said after the event. The double step section wasn't supposed to be
a big challenge for Fuji. Since he had a good drive out of the first
step, he kept the 2nd gear for the second part of the section but he
failed to climb to add five points. Already Fuji was a point worse
than the target points. Fuji believed that the rest of the fixed riders
would ride better than Bou, so he felt he was in a danger of finishing
down at the sixth place.
Such concern might have affected Fuji's concentration and his riding,
and he fived again at the following section. There was also a bad luck
struck him at the section six, where he suffered a puncture. He strived
to get away from being five to add three points there. Interestingly,
Fuji's team-mate Lampkin also suffered a puncture at the section later,
but he had to face five points. Fuji switched to the spare bike, and
he marked clean at the section seven. Adding another point at the final
section, he completed the observed sections with fifteen points.
Fuji didn't think he did awful although the result was a lot worse
than he originally planned. Soon he found out when all the riders completed
the observed sections that no one rode better than Bou. Fuji lost a
double-lane to Lampkin adding another point to finish the lap with
sixteen points. As the qualification lap was over, Fuji was four points
down from Fajardo, who finished the lap at third with twelve points
to proceed to the final lap.
So Fuji's day was over. It wasn't the ideal way to start the season,
but he wasn't too discouraged. It was unfortunate for Fuji to miscalculate
the game plan based on the wild card's performance, which surprisingly
well. However, there were some mistakes he could avoid, otherwise he
could still proceed to the final lap. Lesson leaned, and it is interesting
to see how he will fight back.
Quote from Fujigas:
Indoor Trial World Championship 2006
Sheffield |
Final Lap |
1. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
10 |
2. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
11 |
3. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
16 |
Qualificarion Lap |
1. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
6 |
2. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
7 |
3. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
12 |
4. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
12 |
5. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Repsol Montesa HRC |
16 |
6. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Repsol Montesa HRC |
17 |
7. |
James Dabill |
Beta |
36 |
8. |
Shaun Morris |
Gas Gas |
40 |
Point Standings |
1. |
Toni Bou |
10 |
2. |
Adam Raga |
8 |
3. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
6 |
4. |
Albert Cabestany |
5 |
5. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
4 |
6. |
Dougie Lampkin |
3 |
7. |
James Dabill |
2 |
8. |
Shaun Morris |
1 |
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