2008 Indoor World Trial Championship Round 6

Madrid, Spain - 15/3/2008 - Attendance: 7,500

Stalled at High-Jump

The short 2008 Indoor Championship was completed at the evening in Madrid, Spain, which saw Toni Bou taking his two consecutive titles in the sport. Fujinami started first among the nominated riders in Madrid. He spent a tough time without valuable information leading up to his fatal mistake at the end. Fujinami had a personal goal there to stand on the podium to bring his top three finishing rate to over 50%, but he was unable to accomplish it.

Daniel Oliveras participated in the event replacing Dabill, who was absent due to his Italian championship appearance.

Fujinami thought there were many time-consuming sections in Madrid. During his warm up, he carefully watched the rides of two wild card riders how they would use their time, but they didn't give him much of helpful information by fiving at early phase. Fujinami started his ride, and he too became a sample for the riders to follow.

Dropping a single mark at the section one wasn't a bad way to start the lap, but dropping five at the next section was. Fujinami reached the final phase only to fail at the last part to drop the maximum penalty points, and he used a lot of time at the section too. The time he 'wasted' there eventually costed him a chance for the Final Lap in the end.

Fujinami showed a strong ride till the section seven apart from a single point at the section five. He escaped the section seven to preserve time, and another single point at the section eight to complete his observed sections with 15 points.

Fuji lined up for the Double-Lane with Cabestany, who had 17 points. Loosing the fast race would only give Fujinami a point if he could stay away from further mistakes. He rode confidently and won the battle. Fujinami was on route to the Final Lap at the final event of the series. He then proceeded to the lat section - High Jump- with three points advantage over then fourth place Cabestany.

It was the first High-Jump of the season, which the organizer decided to put in the menu at the last minute. After making many modifications to the bike, Fujinami wasn't sure about gearing for his first High-Jump of the year. He asked Bou, who already experienced High-Jumps in the Spanish Indoor series, for his choice. Bou responded without hesitation said "The 3rd gear". Bou's advice confused Fujinami however, because he had always chose the 2nd gear at High-Jump in the past, and 3rd sounded too fast for it.

Fujinami chose the 2nd gear believing his instinct, but his bike didn't accelerating as he wished. Not only he couldn't fly over the top, he dropped three bars out of four. Fujinami thought he had a healthy cushion between himself and Cabestany, but when the Spaniard cleared the High-Jump their point became equal. Fujinami finished fourth decided by the finishing time - 11m 42sec for Fujinami and 10m 42sec for Cabestany - and his final round of the series was over.

Fujinami tried one more time at the High-Jump as all the riders going back to the paddock before the Final Lap. He chose the 3rd gear that time, and he cleared the highest bar with a huge gap. Too late to regret, but he felt stupid not to take an advise from the team-mate.

Fujinami thinks he spent a solid Indoor season apart from the results itself. He missed the podium at three rounds, but the Barcelona round was the only time that he felt completely out of chance. Overall, Fujinami had a positive response from this year's series.

2008 Indoor series is over, and the Outdoor series will begin in Luxemburg at the end of March, where 2008 model will make its debut. Having a positive feedback from the Spanish Championship too, Fujinami thinks he is ready to exert his maximum at the important Outdoor series.

Quote from Fujigas:

Simply depressing. It was a big mistake to spent a lot of time at the section two and to five, but the biggest mistake of the day was the High-Jump. Omit I tried one more time after the event, and I could easily clear the bars. I couldn't believe the difference that I dropped not one bar but three!. Anyway, I had a decent Indoor series this year, and I enjoyed it. I can proceed to the Outdoor season with my spirit high. Catching cold will be the biggest enemy before the season for me I guess.

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