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enduro
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 2010
FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup - Round Four Barcelona, Spain Sunday
31/01/10
Dougie Lampkin ended his night with a trip to hospital as he crashed out of the last race of the fourth and final round of the 2010 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup. Lampkin had begun the day so well with a strong showing throughout both timed training sessions and his qualifying race. The thirty-three year old ex multi World trials champion followed up his opening performances with respectable sixth and fifth places in the first two main races before disaster struck in the final encounter. The closing round of the 2010 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup took place in a near capacity crowd at the imposing Palau Sant Jordi arena that sits high above the city of Barcelona. Dougie is no stranger to this famous setting having competed many times at the World Indoor trial event in the past. This time Lampkin was an interested spectator for the early part of the evening as the indoor trial series joined the enduro World Cup for the first time to create a unique and highly successful event. Confirming his smooth transition to this relatively new discipline, Dougie topped his timed pratice session ahead of recently crowned FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup Champion Tadeusz Blazusiak. Weaving its way around the trials sections the enduro course offered little respite for even this elite group of riders, with the never ending rock section along the back part of the track being one of the most evil tests. The technical nature of the circuit seemed to suit Dougie as he once again topped Blazusiak during the second time session to give himself first gate pick for his qualifying race against David Knight and co. Unfazed by his relative lack of experience compared to his rivals, Lampkin made a good start in the first qualifying race and slotted into a safe second place behind Knight. With the top four riders guaranteed an immediate transfer to the main races, Dougie adopted a conservative approach and cemented his position behind Kinight to book his place in the final, whilst still lapping up to third place. Average starts in the first two finals meant Lampkin had to work hard on both occasions to secure his sixth and fifth places respectively, despite never having the opportunity to challenge the guys he had held his own against earlier in the proceedings. Another solid placing in the last outing of the evening would have given Dougie a top five finish overall against a truly World class field, but this was not to be the case. Another mid pack start left Dougie in the mix, and despite holding his own for the first four laps disaster was to strike as another rider wiped him out in the log section. Lampkin did try to get restarted, but an injury to his left ankle meant he was unable to continue. Medical attention trackside was soon followed with a trip to the local hospital, which thankfuly revealed no broken bones, but ligament damage to the joint. Sore and frustrated Lampkin stated." It was definitely not the end I was looking for, as another top five or six placing would have probably been enough to have put me fourth overall, which is the best result I could have hoped for against such strong opposition." "My lap times show that I have the speed, I just now need to be able to translate that speed into a race strategy. My ankle is quite swollen, I will try to ride on Tuesday, and after that I will decide if I am fit enough or not to go to Hell's Gate. There is no point going to Italy if I can not put my full weight on my ankle, as there is a lot of pushing to be done." Dougie ended. Results: Championship Final Standings: Dougie Lampkin's next event: 06/02/10 Saturday - Lucca, Italy - Hell's Gate International Extreme Enduro Embeded web quality image by kind permission of rayarcher.com. |