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Two
consecutive years, Day 1 - Saturday, April 3rd Fujinami won the opening round on Saturday last year. One of the major contributions to his victory was a steep rock with a short run up. Fuji scored clean in both laps, and the main competitor Lampkin fived both times. Fuji managed to build some lead there, and it saved him when he added some points at later sections. In fact, it is Fuji at the rock section in the opening flash movie of this web site. They
had that steep Condition-wise, Fuji wasn't in the top form that day. He pushed himself and rode carefully at each section. In a long and tough battle for the championship, it's important to derive the best result possible even things aren't perfect. That's how Fuji was riding that day. Fuji kept the lead and finished Day 2 - Sunday Fuji has never accomplished the perfect victory by winning both Saturday and Sunday events. Along with a championship hunt, the perfect victory is the goal Fuji shoots for this year. At the section 2, Fuji marked 1 point for the lap 1 and 2 for lap2. Lampkin however bettered himself on Sunday, scoring clean on lap1 and 1 point on lap2. Ironically, the section gave Fuji advantage on Saturday turned to be a trigger for Lampkin to catch up Fuji on Sunday. One
of the biggest mistakes for Fuji on lap1 was stalling the engine at
section 12. The section wasn't a big problem for the top riders, Condition on Sunday for Fuji was practically equal to the previous day, and he didn't feel so comfortable. Finishing 2nd on lap1 and putting himself into a position to play catch up, Fuji had to sort out his game plan for lap2 to turn the things around. However, Lampkin was clearly on the rhythm on Sunday, and he became even better on lap2. Fuji soon found himself fighting for the 2nd place. Based on experiences he has learnt through his career, he then shifted the game plan to protect 2nd place. Although winning is important, it's pity trying too hard to jeopardize the position he already has and dropping back farther. Given circumstances, the best result doesn't always mean winning. Fuji continued to ride with decent performance on lap2, and he kept
the score low. But Fuji suddenly missed his beat when he arrived at
the section 12. He added huge 13 points from section 12 to 14 (5-5-3).
In contrast on lap1, he added 6 points through the sections, including
5 So after 2 days of tough battles, it was interesting to see the results were exactly same as last year: 1st and 4th for Fuji and Lampkin had 2nd and 1st. Same results, but it gave Fuji a chance to find out his weakness and the way to handle the game. He dropped down because of some failures at late sections, but as far as fighting for the 2nd place, he did not need to score clean at the sections. He went for it, but failed and dropped down. Fuji would have kept his 2nd place if he were able to keep the penalty 5 points less. It was a tough way to learn the lesson, but hopefully Fuji will show us the difference with the secrets he learned in Northern Ireland. Quote from Fujigas:
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Official Results PDF- Saturday