2006 Trial World Championship Round 12
Spa Francorchamps, Belgium 24/9/2006 - Attendance:
5,000
Fourth for Fujinami, Second for the Season
The
final round of the season, Belgian GP took place at the famous international
racing course, Spa Francorchamps. The course is surrounded by the deep
forests, providing the ideal fields for the trials competition. Although
they arranged stones to set up some of the sections, there were still
many sections with natural landscape. Overall, Fujinami liked the sections
in the round.
Fujinami had a clear goal for the final round, which was to concentrate
on his riding and not worrying about the points and the rival. That
was the attitude he's been having toward the competition lately. And
it was a big driver for his good performance and a huge recovery in
the championship especially since the French round. He would try the
best, and the results should come.
Fuji showed decent rides at the beginning of the Lap1, marking five
consecutive cleans with two points failure at the section six. He was
lying second following Cabestany by one point, and one point ahead
of his archrival and the championship leader Raga. At Belgium, Raga
was the first rider to start, and it seemed that he was rushing his
way; almost he was trying to stay away from Fuji. Eventually, it helped
Raga to capture the victory by his competing time when he finished
in a tie with Cabestany at the end of the day.
At the section eight, Fuji stuck his front wheel when trying to climb
triple or quadruple step, suffering his first five of the day. Fuji
dropped to third as Cabestany rode the section with one point and Raga
with two points penalty.
Alhough Fuji knew what he had to do in Belgium, he was a bit nervous
about the progress of the event. It was a tough call for him to challenge
for the title, and it must have affected him psychologically. It wasn't
the first time for Fuji to become nervous at the final round of the
season; this is the subject he has to work on for the coming seasons
too.
After his first five, at the section nine, Fuji could not clear the
rock at the end of the hill climb to suffer another five. He was still
third, but the point gap against top two became bigger. As the Lap1
was over, Raga was first with six points and Cabestany followed with
eight points. Fuji made some small mistakes here and there to let the
top two riders get away.
At the Lap2 however, Fuji bounced back. At the section eight where
he fived previously, he rode with a single point, where meanwhile,
both Raga and Cabestany fived. Fuji went on to drop one mark at the
section nine. Raga fived again, so Fuji recovered eight points at those
two sections alone.
Just about Fuji got back onto the rhythm, a major mishap struck him
at the section ten. He was a little bit off the balance when he reached
the rock at the top of the hill, and he went over the hill and crashed
to the bottom. Luckily he stayed away from any major injury except
twisting his wrist a little. He recalls that he could play safe by
footing when he was off the balance, but he knew he had to take a risk
in order to reduce the point gap.
At the following section in turn, he thought he was too vigor during
the climb, and he slowed down a little. But he ended up not being able
to climb all the way, dropping another five points.
As the two laps of the competition was over, Fuji was fifth following
Bou. He missed the podium first time since Japanese Grand Prix in June.
The 2006 season was full of injuries and problems for Fuji. He was
in a condition far from competition for at least five rounds. Still
apart from those rounds, he was either winning or at the second place.
So, it was a while for him to be fully defeated. The final and important
round for Fuji turned out to be a frustrating one as he could not repeat
the performance he has shown since the French round.
So, the season is over, and Fuji stepped onto the box for second in
the championship. He had an expression far from his satisfaction, but
it was understandable after the way he fought that day.
Montesa meanwhile captured the constructor's championship thanks to
both Lampkin and Fuji's effort. For Fuji, it was seventh runner-up
place in his career. He was told that it was the new record taking
runner-up position for seven times in the history book.
Quote from Fujigas:
World Championship 2006 |
R12 |
Pos. |
rider |
Make |
L1+L2+TO |
Pts |
CL |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
6+22+0 |
28 |
19 |
2. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
8+20+0 |
28 |
19 |
3. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
25+15+0 |
40 |
15 |
4. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
18+23+0 |
41 |
14 |
5. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
21+23+0 |
44 |
15 |
6. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
22+24+0 |
46 |
14 |
7. |
Marc Freixa |
Beta |
31+33+0 |
64 |
8 |
8. |
James Dabill |
Beta |
37+39+0 |
76 |
6 |
L1: Lap1 L2: Lap2 TO:
Time Over Pts: Penalty Point CL:Clean |
Point Standing |
1. |
Adam Raga |
Gas Gas |
201 |
2. |
Takahisa Fujinami |
Montesa |
184 |
3. |
Albert Cabestany |
Sherco |
177 |
4. |
Dougie Lampkin |
Montesa |
169 |
5. |
Toni Bou |
Beta |
160 |
6. |
Jeroni Fajardo |
Gas Gas |
131 |
|