Vertigo’s dizzy heights
By Team TMX on 13th May 15
New kids on the block celebrate SSDT triumph
DOUGIE Lampkin's ninth victory in the Scottish Six Days Trial last week extended his own record breaking number of wins but for the all new Barcelona-based Vertigo team it was the first major win and the beginning of what could become something really special.
Vertigo came to the Scottish with a twin-lead attack of team manager Dougie and factory rider James Dabill and the ambitious aim of pulling off a debut victory on the radical Combat model.
It was the dream of Vertigo owner Manel Jane to win the Scottish Six Days Trial on a machine of his own manufacture and it shows just how good this project is as he achieved this goal at the first attempt.
Said a delighted Manel in the Fort William parc ferme on Saturday afternoon: "This is the first win – but not the last!”
The Vertigo Combat was only launched at the Milan Show late last year and the factory only just managed to complete six machines with which to contest the Scottish, the toughest trial in the calendar. And with the world watching, five of the machines made it to the finish.
The one that didn't was not a machine failure, the problem was Manel himself who was forced to drop out with back problems, ending his dream of finishing his favourite event on his own make of bike.
As well as Dougie's win, Dibsta finished a fighting fourth after having to work his way back from a lowly 25th following a stack of time penalties on Tuesday's tight schedule.
"It's disappointing,” said Dibs "the bike ran perfectly all week and I've been riding really well but that was just too big a handicap to overcome. But I'll be back next year to make it two Vertigo wins!”
Team mechanic Gabriel Reyes finished a fine 29th and took the Best Foreign Rider award while riding shotgun for Dibs as Paul Dixon, in a similar role for best pal Dougie, finished the week in great fettle but as an official non-finisher as he was late on time on Wednesday.
Paul's machine was built at Dougie's house at the last minute, basically from spare parts that arrived back late from the Japanese world round.
It suffered an intermittent fault on Wednesday and eventually stopped out on Rannoch moor. Paul, with no knowledge of the machine – he literally climbed on it Monday morning and set-off – had to wait until Reyes arrived, his start time being several hours after Paul's.
Gaby fixed the fault – as simple as a loose connector to the fuel pump – in five minutes and super-fit Paul sped to the finish but was out of time. The machine ran perfectly the rest of the week.
The sixth Combat was ridden by Manel's son Axel who enjoyed a trouble-free week and collected a second class award for his effort.
"To win on a new bike at the Scottish is simply unheard of,” said Doug, "and makes this win perhaps the most special of my nine to date.
"The bike and team are in a great place but we still know there is much work to do and although we are going to enjoy and celebrate this moment we will be back to work on the project next week as we look to make and take the next steps.”
Next for Vertigo is to look forward to production, the Scottish having thrown up no obvious issues.
The Combat now looks virtually production ready, the only major parts to be finalised are the fuel tank (which wraps round the rear shock, low down on the bike) and the exhaust (the team are still fine tuning for production) and Manel wants it absolutely right first time.
