2006 Trial World Championship Round 9
Polski Zwiazek Motorowy, Myslenice, Poland 9/7/2006
- Attendance: 3,000
Two in a Row - Fujinami Back in Style
Fujinami stood on top of the podium again to cerebrate the victory
at the ninth round of TWC taken place in Poland. After disappointing
home rounds in Japan, Fujinami never missed the podium as the series
returned to Europe for three rounds in three consecutive weeks. By
winning third time in the season, Fuji made a big step to move up second
in the championship.
It was welcome return of the championship for Poland, where the country
had been absent from the GP calendar for ten years. For Fuji, who started
his championship challenge in 1996, it was the first trial round in
Poland. In fact, it was new to every rider except Lampkin, who has
been competing long enough to visit the country back in 1995.
All the sections except the final man-made section were located alongside
the river. The riders found many of the sections too difficult; too
dangerous and risky, when they observed them on Friday. They requested
the organizer to make the sections safe and ridable, so that there
would be a reasonable competition. When they observed the sections
again on Saturday after the European championship taken place, they
found no alternation. The riders insisted the organizer to take action,
and the modifications finally took place on Sunday morning.
Fuji said he was nervous at the warm-up lap being aware of winning
and catching up Raga for the championship, and his riding was stiff.
Then Mr. Cirera gave him a clear advice, and it helped Fuji improve
his concentration for riding and the competition itself. Although it
is hard not to think about the championship at this time of the season,
Fuji has been able to keep his concentration well during the competition
lately. Fuji pointed out that Mr.Cirera's support had been a great
help for him and contributing to the good results in the past three
rounds.
Fuji started first among the leading riders in Poland. He rode well
at the first five sections, marking all cleans except dropping five
points at the section three. The section three was a tough one, and
the majority of the riders fived too. Fuji heard the reports that Cabestany
and Raga were two showing good ride at the beginning of the lap. Indeed,
Cabestany was the only rider, who marked clean at the difficult section
three.
Then the accident struck Fuji at the section six. He fell down when
jumping off to the river from the muddy rock, and he hit the body hard
and went completely underwater. He climbed out of the river but crouched
on the ground groaning with the huge pain for some time. Everybody
saw the accident thought Fuji's day was over. He got bruised all over
his body, but the biggest problem was the wrist being damaged in the
crash. Apart from brutal pain, he couldn't twist it freely after the
crash. There were twenty four more sections to go, and he had to ride
with the wrist with limited motion. While sitting on the ground beaten
up, Fuji saw Raga and Lampkin making errors at the next section. Later,
although Fuji didn't see, Cabestany also fived at the section. He was
relieved to realize that there weren't so many clean-able sections.
His motivation kicked in again, and he could raise the level of concentration
again.
Fuji re-started and hurried his way. He was first to start the lap
and lost time considerably because of the accident, so he didn't have
time to stay with the other riders. He was riding mostly alone, barely
saw the other riders. That also helped him keep his own pace too. Fuji
finished first at the Lap1, and continued steady riding at the Lap2.
At the end of the Lap2, it was Fuji, Raga and Cabestany who were fighting
for the lead, and the gap was very small. Fuji came back first to complete
two laps of tough riding, and the only thing he could do was waiting
for the rest to finish. First Raga and then Cabestany came to finish
the laps, and Fuji was one point better than two, who finished with
same penalty points. It was a big relief for Fuji, and he waited for
the final standing to be announced.
Fuji didn't know then, but there was a protest posted by Raga against
Fuji's score at the section nine on the Lap2. Fuji dropped two points
at the section so the card was punched. But Raga claimed that Fuji's
score should have been three instead of two. It was natural to puzzle
Raga's camp, because there was a small confusion at the section when
Fuji rode. Initially, the observer called three points for Fuji. It
was a mistake, and he soon corrected it as two points penalty. The
man at the exit of the section, who was in charge for the scoreboard
for spectators didn't realize the correction, so he wrote '3' for Fuji.
Raga's camp calculated the point according to the scoreboard, and
it didn't add up. It was a crucial one point for Raga, because if Fuji
had forty five points, the top three riders would have finished in
tie, and Raga would be the winner by the number of cleans. FIM officers
talked with the observer to sort out the situation, and they understood
the overall picture. It took a while till the official announcement
was made, but finally and officially Fuji's victory in Poland was declared.
What a tough and another close battle for Fuji. But as he won the
Polish round, he moved up to second in the championship. However, having
Raga finished second in the round, Fuji could reduce the gap against
the championship leader for three points only. Three more rounds to
go before the season is up, and there are fifteen points still stand
as the gap. Which means, Fuji has to reduce at least five points per
round. The mission is clear for Fuji for the rest of the season, that
is trying to go for victory. He still needs Raga finishing out of the
podium, but there is out of Fuji's control.
As nine rounds of the season have completed, Fuji now holds the most
wins record in 2006: three for Fuji, two for Raga and Bou, and one
for Cabestany and Lampkin. The round ten in the Great Britain will
be held in two weeks time. But before anything, Fuji needs to have
a treatment for his wrist started to hurt a lot after the event, though
he believed it isn't too serious. Everything seems to be going back
to normal for Fuji, and we should be able to see more of Fuji at his
best in the rounds to come.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2006 |
R9 |
Pos. |
rider |
Make |
L1+L2+TO |
Pts |
CL |
1. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
27+16+1 |
44 |
14 |
2. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
31+14+0 |
45 |
16 |
3. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
27+18+0 |
45 |
15 |
4. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
36+23+0 |
59 |
13 |
5. |
Marc Freixa |
Beta |
38+28+2 |
68 |
11 |
6. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
43+25+1 |
69 |
10 |
7. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
38+32+0 |
70 |
9 |
8. |
Tadeusz Blazusiak |
Scorpa |
38+36+0 |
74 |
5 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Point Standing |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
149 |
2. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
134 |
3. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
133 |
4. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
125 |
5. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
124 |
6. |
Jeroni Fajardo
|
Gas Gas |
100 |
|