World Outdoor Trials Championship Sant Julia De Loria, Andorra
Round 9 Day 1 Sunday (1 day event) 02/09/07
 Dougie
Lampkin showed that he remains one of the best trials riders
in the World, when he finished in a morale boasting third
place at the Grand Prix of Andorra earlier today. Lampkin
made a welcome return to the podium and clearly showed the
benefits of being able to spend some quality time on his bike
on the lead up to this the final round of the 2007 championship.
The Belgium GP, which was scheduled to run later this month
was cancelled at short notice last week.
Lampkin looked back at his best, as he made easy work of
the tricky first section, with a ride that was not matched
even by newly crowned World champion Toni Bou. Whilst other
riders also recorded cleans, none were in the manner and style
that Dougie delivered, which clearly signalled that he was
very much back in the hunt despite the very dry and technical
conditions.
Dougie notched up no less than ten clean rides on his opening
lap, where the majority of the sections featured climbs up
and over steep rocky outcrops, with only four river based
hazards later in the lap offering any variety on a course
that was at maximum FIM length. The long tour around the hills
above the town of Sant Julia De Loria caused time issues for
many of the riders, but Lampkin used his experience to come
in exactly on his minute and with no time penalties.
Third at the halfway point, Dougie produced an equally good
performance on his second visit to the sections to claim only
his third podium finish of the year. However, despite Lampkin’s
best efforts, the thirty one year old could not over take
Cabestany in the final standings, and had to be content with
fifth position in a season that has been marred by an injury
that has kept him off his bike between compeitons.
“For the first time in a long time I felt comfortable
on the bike, as only in the last two weeks have I been able
to practice since I dislocated my finger in Japan. It’s
nice to finish the year with a good result as I think a lot
of people have begun to write me off. At this moment my future
is not clear, I would like to continue to ride, but only under
the right circumstances, so we will have to see what happens
over the next few weeks. Anyway it was nice to be on the podium
and to be apart of the celebrations, let’s just hope
it wasn’t the last time I will get the chance to enjoy
that feeling. ”
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