Sheffield Indoor Trial - Great tribute to the great man
By John Dickinson on 12th Jan 17
THE Martin Lampkin Memorial edition of the Sheffield Indoor Trial run last Saturday served-up a fitting duel between Toni Bou and Adam Raga for the 22nd staging of the event, now the longest-running consecutive show at the Sheffield Arena.
The Lampkin clan, led by Martin's sons Dougie and Harry, and the Yeadon Guiseley work crew, did Martin proud with the sections which pushed Toni and Adam to the limit without being dangerous to the supporting cast.
When you are stopping the likes of James Dabill – who took a great third place on the night – Jeroni Fajardo and Jaime Busto you know that Bou and Raga are really trying to come up with those clean rides.
The sections aren't just random, it's a technical job getting the heights, distances and angles just right and Sheffield's were millimetre perfect.
The yellow skip sections featured a vertical height of two meters – with no kicker or help of any kind.
At the riders' pre-trial walk-around Doug asked Bou, "How high can you go Toni?”
Bou: "Two metres!
"That'll do,” said Doug, "I could only ever make 1 metre 70!”
Toni and Adam were in a class of their own and the intense battle was lapped-up by the 5,000-strong crowd.
There was a moment when Toni got very agitated when he was fived by the man in the observer's hot seat, James Lampkin, for missing section guide lines marked on the flat-bed trailer as he raced for the exit.
It might not have been an FIM X-Trial Championship round but Toni is hard-wired to win – full stop – and he really worked himself into a state.
Dougie got him to continue just as the crowd began to react and it took Bou several sections before he was settled again but by the end – with the win in the bag – he was all smiles again.
The 5,000 spectator figure was even more impressive when you factor in the Arenacross just 30-odd miles away in Manchester which was a really unfortunate date clash.
James Dabill really impressed and looked totally at home on his return to Gas Gas machinery and was actually riding much better than maybe his score suggests and when the outdoor season gets underway james could well turn out to be the surprise of the TrialGP series.
For Gas Gas UK rider Jack Price Sheffield was a whole new ball game and getting his first Indoor out odf the way is a positive for Jack. Again, he is a much better rider than his score shows and he was clearly very nervous with his timing way out but Jack survived with a smile and now knows exactly what he has to work on.
Jaime Busto had several wildcard rides in last year's X-Trial series and he too discovered then just how hard the Indoor scene is with last place finishes. But Busto has clearly reaped the benefit of being Toni Bou's understudy. The teenager isn't exactly a Mini-Me but the on-bike resemblance to Bou is no coincidence.
Of the remaining two contenders Vertigo's Jeroni Fajardo underperformed and failed to make the final while Sherco's teenager, Miquel Gelabert was, like Pricey, on a steep learning curve as he savoured the atmosphere os an International Indoor.
The trial began with a heartfelt round of applause in memory of Martin and fittingly ended with his wife Isabel sportingly presenting the trophies, flanked by Doug and Harry. Massive respect for the Lampkin family.
