World Outdoor Trials Championship
By G2F on 30th Jul 06
Dougie Lampkin finished his home round of the Round 8 Day 1 Sunday (1 day event) Hawkstone Park, England 30/07/06.FIM World Trial Championship fourth at the Hawkstone Park circuit in Shropshire today. Lampkin fought back from a poor start, which saw him drop as low as twelfth overall, before climbing back up the order to finish just off the podium.
The results means he maintains third place in the overall standings, with his Repsol Montesa team-mate Takahisa Fujinami having taken his third win in a row and fourth of the season. Albert Cabestany took the final podium position but Dougie maintains third in the championship with a six-point margin over Cabestany.
Dougie was understandably optimistic returning to Hawkstone Park, having won the event a year ago, as the Trial World Championship returned to the UK mainland for the first time in four years. More than eight thousand excited trials fans turned out to watch the action and cheer their local hero on, as he tried for his historic 100th Grand Prix victory.
The heat-wave which was baking the English countryside held in the run-up to the event, despite several thunderstorms in the preceding days. However, overnight rain dampened down the dust in the area, yet wasn't sufficient to clean the rocky sections in the hills surrounding the motocross circuit. Many riders found it difficult to gain traction in the sections shrouded by woodland and consequently struggled on the more technical sections. Lampkin had a poor start and found himself as low as twelfth at one point on the opening lap. However, he put in a typically determined ride to climb back up the positions to finish the event in fourth, despite a heavy rainstorm mid-way through the first lap.
"A disappointing day for me, I have to say. I've been struggling a bit on the last couple of rounds and hoped that I could turn it around on my home event. I felt that, if I could have a good start, which you seem to need here at Hawkstone, I could get a good result. But I lacked confidence in the package in practice and that carried over into the event itself. I didn't feel I was on top of the bike this weekend - I was in front of it or behind it. Even with the public support here - the fans were fantastic and really got behind me. But I'm not really enjoying finishing in these sorts of positions at the moment, so I need to go away and look at the last few events and work out how to improve."
Temperature: 25 c Weather: Bright Sunshine and showers
Results:
Rider Nat Machine Total=L1+L2+Time L1 L2 Time
1: Takahisa Fujinami JPN Montesa 32 14 18 0
2: Adam Raga E Gas Gas 33 21 12 0
3: Albert Cabestany E Sherco 34 19 15 0
4: Dougie Lampkin GB Montesa 49 30 19 0
5: Antonio Bou E Beta 51 26 25 0
6: Marc Freixa E Beta 52 30 31 1
7: Jeroni Fajardo E Gas Gas 65 32 33 0
8: Tadeusz Blazusiak POL Scorpa 87 41 46 0
9: James Dabill GB Beta 90 34 56 0
10: Graham Jarvis E Sherco 91 49 42 0
Championship current standings :
1: Raga 166, 2: Fujinami 154, 3: Lampkin 146, 4: Cabestany 140, 5: Bou 135
Dougie Lampkin's next event: 03/09/06 Sunday –La Rabassa, Andorra- Rnd 9 World Outdoor Chp
Issued by: G2F T: + 44 (0) 161 763 6660 F: + 44 (0) 161 763 6663 E: worldpress@g2f.co.uk