2006 Trial World Championship Round 10

Three Consecutive Victories with a Slim Margin

After three weeks of interval, IWC returned in action as the round ten took place at Hawkstone Park in UK. Locating at the heart of UK, Hawkstone Park - the world's famous motocross course - has many bedrocks around the course providing attractive fields for trial competition.

The weather had been fine prior to the event, but it started to rain the night before the competition took place. Surface of the sections was covered thickly with the dust when the competitors arrived at the venue, and it was very difficult to get efficient traction. Then the rain fell washing all the dust away from the surface. It didn't help too much to ease the severity though, because the wet surfaces became very slippery too. Also, it was mixed weather all day on Sunday, giving the riders a very hard time to adjust their riding with the condition changing all the time.

At the previous round in Poland, Fujinami tried to concentrated on his riding when he was the first starter and didn't have time to observe the other riders. In UK, although he was the final rider to start and had chance to set his game plan by watching how the other doing, he tried to concentrate on his riding, and didn't worry much about the other riders.

One of the early indications to tell the outcome of the round was the section three at the Lap1. While Lampkin and Raga both dropping five points, Fuji and Cabestany managed to stay away from the big problem; Fuji dabbed one point and Cabestany marked clean. When Fuji marked clean at the section eight - only rider to do so, Fuji felt he might have a chance to extend his winning streak, which started from the Italian round.

When all the riders were about to complete the first nine sections, torrential rain struck the area. It didn't last too long, and within a half an hour later, the sun came out and began to dry out the wet surface again. They had occasional rain throughout the day, and it kept the competitors busy adjusting their riding to changes in condition of the surface.

Fuji was doing fine to lead the Lap1, but he gave the top spot to Cabestany when dropping five at the section ten. A section later, Cabestany in turn dropped five points to allow Fuji re-capturing the spot though. Fuji completed the lap by marking clean at the section fifteen, but Cabestany finished with a five-point error. That allowed Fuji building five points advantage over Cabestany. As all the riders completed the Lap1, Fuji was first with fourteen points, followed by Cabestany with nineteen, Raga with twenty-one, Bou with twenty-six, and Lampkin with thirty points. It looked like then it was going to be three men's battle for the victory in UK for the coming lap, between Fuji, Cabestany and Raga.

Like in Poland, although Fuji was in a position to be able to observe the other riders in UK, he was not aware of how his rivals' doing nor point situation, and he focused on his riding. At the Lap2 however, Fuji started to miss the beat a little. He made full point errors at the section three, five and eight. Cabestany also fived at the section three and five, but he scored clean at the section eight to level the score with Fuji. Raga came up strong at the Lap2, and he also climbed up in tie with Fuji and Cabestany as three finished the section eight.

Having frequent fives made Fuji worry how he stood in the score-board at the Lap2. He asked Mr.Cirera about the point situation, but the team boss told Fuji not to worry about the point and continue to focus on trying to mark cleans. The advice woke Fuji up and he was able to regain his ride for the rest of the lap. Fuji had two points error at the section eleven but he marked consecutive cleans at the end of the lap - from twelve to fifteen - to finish the lap with eighteen points. As two laps of competition was over, Fuji finished with thirty-two points, where Cabestany finished two points behind with thirty-four points. Raga had thirty-three points to finish a position better than Cabestany.

After Mr.Cirera's advice particularly, Fuji didn't think about the point situation, so he was very thrilled to fiind out taking the victory that day. Having Raga finishing second, Fuji crawled back three point closer to the Spaniard, and the championship gap stands now twelve points with two rounds remaining. The mission, once again, is very clear for Fuji, which is to try to win at each round. He still needs Raga finishing down in order to take the championship, but who knows.

Quote from Fujigas:

I didn't think I could make it today because I made many mistakes on the Lap2. I finished my ride without knowing the point situation, so I was very happy to take the victory. It was the best feeling I ever felt to tell you the ttruth. It is difficult not to think about the championship, but I know I won't get any extra point thinking about it. My feeling now is that I would be lucky if I can win it. The season hasn't been so smooth this year, but as I am having consecutive victories lately, it wasn't that bad after all. I believe without things happened at the beginning of the season, I wouldn't be in the position I am now. There are only two rounds to go, so I will try to have good ones, so that I will be able to say that the 2006 season was great for me afterwards.

Pix: Mario Candellone

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