World Trials Championship - La Chatre, France
Lampkin takes first victory in France
Dougie Lampkin – Repsol Montesa HRC took his first
victory of the 2006 outdoor season with a win today, at the
fifth round of competition at La Chatre in France. Runner-up
spot went to Takahisa Fujinami – Repsol Montesa HRC
with Spaniard, Antonio Bou – Beta taking third place.
 It
was a dry, hot and dusty course that greeted the riders for
the practice session yesterday; however thunderstorms and
torrential rain overnight dramatically changed the course
with eleven of the fifteen sections being changed this morning
prior to competition commencing.
It was championship leader, Adam Raga – Gas Gas who
set the early pace in a high-scoring event with a first lap
score of thirty-two marks, however he could not manage an
exceptionally low score in the second lap that has become
his trademark and found himself off the podium for the first
time this season.
Lampkin, who was lying in sixth place at the end of the first
lap dropped just eleven marks on the second lap to take a
slim victory over Fujinami. Both were tied at the end of the
event on fifty two marks, however Lampkin’s fourteen
cleans to Fujinami’s twelve saw him take the top podium
position. Raga still leads the championship, but his lead
is now cut to eleven points over second place Lampkin.
In the Junior championship, Daniel Oliveras – Gas Gas
took victory over Daniel Gibert – Montesa with Michael
Brown – Beta taking the remaining podium position. Oliveras
now has a slender four point lead over Brown in the championship
at the halfway mark. However as only the best ten results
of the possible twelve days of competition count this is a
fight that could go right to the end.
The Youth class saw Alfredo Gomez – Gas Gas improve
from a poor result in Japan to take victory over a rejuvenated
Ross Danby – Gas Gas. Third place on the podium went
to Matteo Grattarola – Sherco. This win allows Gomez,
who is currently second in the series to close the gap between
himself and championship leader Loris Gubian – Sherco
who could only manage fourth place today.
This week marks the start of a three-week run of competitions
with the championship race continuing in Italy next weekend.
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