Montesa HRC riders Dougie Lampkin and Takahisa Fujinami dominated the latest round of the outdoor World Championship held in Italy yesterday and today, with each rider taking a win over the two days of competition.
While the British and Japanese teammates shared the victories on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, the conditions that surrounded their individual successes could not have been more different.
Round six of the series was staged high in the Italian mountains in the beautiful town of Valmalenco, which is situated north east of the capital of Milan. The steep wooded hillsides that encircle the small alpine resort hosted some of the most slippery hazards seen in the 2002 championship to date. Rain in the days prior to Saturday’s trial and light showers during most of the first day of competition compounded an already severe course.
Lampkin’s winning score of seventy nine marks is one of the highest totals seen for many seasons and confirmed what many of the top riders had predicted during their pre trial inspection. Most of the 15 sections featured a mixture of massive steps with muddy approaches, the remainder comprising of dry boulders on the edge of the riverbed close to the start area. Finding sufficient grip to gain good momentum to crest the large boulders was problem that was faced by all the riders in the majority of the sections.
Two relatively consistent laps in the tough conditions gave Lampkin a clear victory, while Fujinami declared himself “lucky” to have managed to hang on to second place after a disastrous performance during his final lap. Fellow Brit Graham Jarvis joined Lampkin on the rostrom, confirming his liking for the typically British going and marked a welcomed return to form for the Sherco team member who has suffered a string of poor results in recent weeks.
Albert Cabestany found himself demoted to fifth as the young Japanese rider Taichi Tanaka recorded his best ever result to take a close fourth place, as only seven marks separated second to fifth positions.
While the course obviously needed modifications prior to Sunday’s trial, Lampkin warned the organizers that only minor changes were needed to bring the severity back to a more suitable level. Howeve,r the advice offered by the multi-time World champion was not put into practice, as although the official communication to the riders highlighted that only five sections had been changed, in reality the majority had received major re working. The result was a course that hardly resembled what had existed during Saturday.
A vast improvement in the weather helped ease conditions further, making it totally apparent from the very early stages of Sunday’s trial that the second day of competition was going to be a very low scoring affair.
Lampkin’s run through the first seven sections for the loss of just five marks was in stark contrast to 24 hours earlier when at the same stage he had suffered four failures alone, plus several other marks.
Fujinami held a slim advantage over Lampkin and Cabestany after the first tour of 15 sections, his leading score being a mere seven marks.
Lampkin did mount a strong fight back in the closing stages to draw level with his teammate as they arrived together at the finish. After a few anguishing minutes, the result was revealed with Fujinami being declared the winner having by virtue of a tie break, after having recorded one more clean ride compared to Lampkin.
Cabestany climbed back on to the podium on Sunday afternoon, him also having won a tiebreak, his with Raga. The Spanish duo pushing Jarvis down to fifth on this occasion, after another close finish with four marks separating third to eighth places this time around.
