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REPSOL – MONTESA HRC REPORT
Toni Bou obtains a new victory, now just needing one point to win the championship. Second consecutive podium for Takahisa Fujinami.
Toni Bou (Montesa-HRC Cota 4RT) has taken a gigantic step towards obtaining the world indoor trial championship by winning this Saturday the fourth and penultimate scoring event, held in the Datch Forum of Milan. With this victory, his third in the present edition of the championship, the Montesa rider just needs to participate in the Madrid Indoor Trial next Saturday 15th to be proclaimed World Champion in the speciality for the second consecutive year.
Toni Bou dominated this fourth world championship event from beginning to end, finishing the classification lap without having penalised a single point and decided with authority a play-off, which was much more selective due to its reverse direction zones.
Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa-HRC Cota 4RT), recovered from the physical problems caused by his flu, obtained his second consecutive podium position. The Japanese rider concluded the first lap with six points.
Toni Bou: “I’m very satisfied with this victory, which has meant practically securing the world championship for the second year. The last event is just a formality, so now I’m sure I can begin thinking of myself as champion. I hope there are no problems and in a week’s time the whole team will be celebrating in Madrid.”
Takahisa Fujinami: “After a week of physical problems and not having been able to train at all, I think this podium position is an important result. Evidently, the first lap went much better for me than the second, where I suffered a lot and got loaded with points. Another good result for the team and especially for Toni, who has again proven his worth.”
The event that will decide the world championship is to be held next Saturday in the Community of Madrid Sports Palace, starting at 20:00 hours.
Attendance: 8000
Results:
Final
1: Bou 9, 2: Raga 19, 3: Fujinami 33
Heat
Qualifiers:
1: Antonio Bou (SPA-Montesa-HRC) 0,
2: Adam Raga (SPA-Gas Gas) 2,
3: Takahisa Fujinami (JPN-Montesa-HRC) 7
(faster time),
Non-Qualifiers:
4: Albert Cabestany (SPA-Sherco) 7,
5: Jeroni Fajardo (SPA-Beta) 8,
6: Dougie Lampkin (GBR-Beta) 19 (faster time),
7: James Dabill (GBR-Montesa) 19
Current championship standings:
1: Bou 38, 2: Raga 29, 3: Cabestany 27,
4: Fujinami 22, 5: Fajardo 16,
6: Lampkin 11, 7: Dabill 9, 8: Bethune 1
Dougie Lampkin Report
Dougie Lampkin finished in sixth position at the latest round of the 2008 Indoor World championship held in Milan, Italy. Lampkin put up a brave performance and looked at his strongest in the series to date, but in the end had to rely on a quicker time to defeat his younger compatriot Dabill for sixth place.
Lampkin begun well with a solid clean on the opening hazard and appeared to be confident with the task ahead. Unfortunately this initial high was soon lost as Dougie failed to crest the final step in section two to record his first five of the night.
This pattern was to continue throughout the lap as moments of pure brilliance were cancelled out by two further mistakes that saw Lampkin’s total begin to rise quickly. A five on the log section and one more when he sumped out heavily on yet another step, left Dougie with no chance of making it through to the final, where just three riders would fight it out for the top honours.
This result comes after an intense and successful week of testing in Northern Italy for both Dougie and Beta, as the team readies itself for the fast approaching outdoor World championship. Unfortunately Lampkin’s latest performance did not reflect the collective progress that has been made over the last few days.
Dougie will now travel to Spain to complete further testing ahead of next weekend’s indoor event in Madrid, Spain.
“Things are just not coming together for me at the moment, despite all the hard work and effort that everyone is putting in. After the trial in Bolzano on Thursday night I felt really good and very positive about the changes we had made to the bike.”
“As tonight has proved again, the indoor World championship is not the most forgiving place to adapt to a new bike. However despite the result I feel we are definitely moving in the right direction and can be competitive once we move outdoors.”
“In the short term all we can continue to do is to work as hard as we can, it’s as simple as that.”
James Dabill
James Dabill’s rookie season on the Indoor World championship came to a disappointing close at the penultimate round held in Milan, Italy. This was Dabill’s last outing in the series, due to an unfortunate clash of dates over the forthcoming weekend. James will not contest the final indoor event in Madrid, Spain next Saturday, but instead will compete in the second round of the Italian outdoor championship next Sunday.
Dabill had arrived in the famous Italian city with great confidence after having finished on the podium at the International Invitation Indoor trial in Bolzano, Italy on Thursday evening. Here James progressed to the three man final by beating his British compatriot Dougie Lampkin in a thrilling head to head to race.
Whilst the youngster from Leeds had no answer to Adam Raga or Albert Cabestany in the final, Dabill proved the progress he has made on the indoor scene this year. However despite this result James was unable to make any impression on his far more experienced rivals at the championship event in Milan just two days later.
The evening started well with Dabill cleaning the first section, but this was instantly cancelled out as he suffered a soft five right at the end of the very next hazard. James bounced straight back with another faultless ride at section three, however more failures later in the lap would leave him in seventh spot, and nothing to show for his efforts.
With Dabill’s indoor exploits over for the time being, he can now fully focus on his packed outdoor schedule. James currently heads the Italian domestic series following his emphatic first round win, and will look to extend his lead in the championship prior to switching his attention to his World campaign.
Frustrated with his most recent performance, Dabill stated. “I am really disappointed to finish the series with such a poor result. After my performance in Bolzano I really thought I could be a lot closer to making it through to the final tonight.”
“Whilst I am disappointed, I am also realistic and always realised that it was going to be tough with it being my first full season on the indoor World championship. I am happy with the way I am riding in general and I am now looking forward to concentrating on just riding outdoors for at least the next few months. Another win next weekend at the Italian championship would be great, especially ahead of the first World round.”
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