2006 Trial World Championship Round 7
La Chatre, France 25/6/2006 - Attendance: 4,000
Almost had it!
TWC returned to Europe as the round seven took place at a small town
in central France, La Chatre. Bruno Camozzi once again designed the
sections, and most of the sections were man-made using "6,000
tons of stones brought in to the venue", according to Bruno. The
weather was hot and dry prior to Saturday, as the temperature reaching
thirty-five degrees centigrade.
Fujinami took the inspection tour with Lampkin. Watching those man-made
obstacles brought back Fuji bad memories of the French round last year.
It was same for the team-mate, who had a nasty fall to suffer injury
at the event. At the moment, it looked like it was going to be Raga's
favor. However, heavy rain fall struck the area in the evening. The
rain washed the dusty surface as well as bad images the Montesa riders
had during the inspection. Smile came back to them as the condition
turned to the better way for the Montesa riders.
Competition got under way, and Fuji couldn't ride well on Lap1. "I
felt like it wasn't me riding the bike.", Fuji said, and he wasn't
up to aim for the cleans at many of the sections. It was depressing
ride for him, and he frequently footed to build up penalty points.
His rivals on the other hand were trapped by the severity of the sections,
and they in turn were ending up suffering many fives. Ironically, 'vigorless'
riding helped Fuji maintaining decent score, which was the fact he
did not know at the moment.
Fuji was deeply depressed when having two fives at the section nine
and ten, and he realized it wasn't the day for him at all. However,
he had a surprising news from Mr. Cirera, the team boss, that Fuji
was leading the lap when the first eight sections were completed. Even
after the double fives, he was still in a close contention for the
top spot. "You have a very good chance, so go for it!" The
words of Mr. Cirera encouraged Fuji a lot. When the Lap1 was over,
Fuji went back to the paddock to get himself going for the battle for
the Lap2, where normally, Fuji doesn't take any break between the laps.
Both Fuji and Lampkin picked up their pace at the Lap2. Lampkin especially
rapidly picking up the position after finishing sixth at the Lap1.
Raga, who finished first at the Lap1 on the other hand lost his beat
at the opening stages with four consecutive fives.
Fuji concluded the lap with four cleans from the section twelve, and
he was confident that he had the victory in his hands. He saw Lampkin
making two points mistake at the section twelve as well as having a
five point mistake at the following section. He noticed the team-mate
protesting against the judge, but Fuji hurried the way to complete
his lap.
It was a amazing turn out of the event for Fuji, and he had a big
smile on his face at the paddock waiting for the victory call. However,
he found out soon that Lampkin's appeal was granted and the penalty
points at the section thirteen was reduced from five to two. That made
two Montesa riders finishing in a tie in points, and Lampkin took the
victory as he bettered Fuji with two more cleans.
The event was full of surprises for Fuji, but after all it was a great
event for the team Montesa taking 1-2 finishes. The team congratulated
Lampkin's first victory of the season, as well as Fuji's welcome podium
finish.
After having heartbreaking results in US and Japan, Fuji finally came
back to where he was supposed to be at. At the moment, Fuji still struggles
a lot due to his condition, yet things are definitely going better.
Let's hope to see Fuji making a full recovery very soon.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2006 |
R7 |
Pos. |
rider |
Make |
L1+L2+TO |
Pts |
CL |
1. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
41+11+0 |
52 |
14 |
2. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
38+14+0 |
52 |
12 |
3. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
39+19+0 |
54 |
14 |
4. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
32+25+0 |
57 |
11 |
5. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
39+23+0 |
62 |
13 |
6. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
40+26+0 |
66 |
11 |
7. |
Marc Freixa |
Beta |
49+35+0 |
84 |
6 |
8. |
James Dabill |
Beta |
54+42+0 |
96 |
6 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Point Standing |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
121 |
2. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
110 |
3. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
102 |
4. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
94 |
5. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
93 |
6. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
75 |
|