CZECH REPUBLIC: Nepomuk , 1-2/9/2001

Apparently, Graham Jarvis is getting tired of his British country-man Dougie Lampkin dominating World Trials, for at the last three tour-stops, the Sherco rider has never been off of the podium - once in France, twice in Andorra and again twice here at the final round in the Czech Republic (including a win on Sunday). Winning Saturday was Spaniard Adam Raga, who continues to be a pain in a neck for Lampkin (the champ admitted to being worried about the Gasgas rider when it comes to defending his title in the future). This, along with the fact that Lampkin didn't win either day of the final round, is of course good news for many trials fans - not because anyone has anything in particular against Lampkin, but because it may hint at a closely fought series in the future. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, however. After all, this round was too easy for the top riders, and at any rate, Lampkin had no real motivation for trying particularly hard. Also, he was impressive on Saturday morning, dominating the first loop on his Montesa before losing concentration and plunging off the podium. In the final points standings, the highly contested second position was ultimately retained by Takahisa Fujinami, with Marc Freixa settling for third. Jarvis managed to hold on to fourth, ahead of Raga. Only Albert Cabestany, with a brilliant performance (his best in this season), was able to advance, overtaking Marc Colomer to steal the number-six position.
Day 1
With rain forecast, organizers were forced to lay out the sections in a relatively easy manner, so despite the fact that the area was steadily

hit by precipitation of varying intensities, conditions were just quite easy for the top riders, lampkin, Fujinami, Cabestany, Raga and Freixa were cleaning many sections. The first surprise occurred at the indoor-style 14th section, where Raga went outside the tape and compromised his excellent first loop. Then the same thing happened to Fujinami at section 15. Lampkin, riding superbly, as usual, managed to avoid such errors on the first loop, and he led at loop's end with two points, compared to Freixa's and Cobos' sevens. Cabestany had one more point, and three riders - Fujinami, Raga and Jarvis - were on nine. In the second loop, the sections were more or less the same, not having been changed much by the mud. Raga rode very well and scored only 4 points, resulting in his second World round victory. Jarvis also had an excellent score, notching six mistakes and securing second place. Lampkin, on the other hand fived twice and made many smaller mistakes, and his 15-points loop-two score (only the 12th best!) meant he was off the podium in fourth (and that only thanks to his great first circuit). In third place was Cabestany, and Freixa, Cobos and Fujinami all tied Lampkin's score.

Day 2
The organizers made a few mirror modifications, changing sections four, seven and 13 in order to make the competition more difficult ( the rain had finally stopped, but the mud remained and compromised traction). The competition was much the same for the top riders, however, with numerous cleans being posted. All of Saturday's top finishers proceeded around the loop together, with the exception of Fujinami, who abandoned the group and rode by himself. At the end of first loop, he delivered his card with six points - not bad, but not quite as good as his Japanese country-man Kenichi Kuroyama's five. Before long, however, Cabestany arrived with just 1 point! Lampkin scored 3, and Raga was tied with Kuroyama. Second best in the loop turned to be Jarvis, who arrived very late.

In the second loop, Cabestany quickly lost the lead, fiving section one, while a cool riding Jarvis gathered many cleans. He repeated his day-one score of two points and won the competition (and two-day overall - his second in a row). The champion was just behind with one point more, and on the third step of podium was Cabestany with eight mistakes in total. Next, on 12 points, were Raga and Fujinami, with the former rider getting the nod based on having more cleans.

Briefly…

· Kramoline is known for its motocross circuit, and is a small town situated a few miles from Nepomuk, the longtime capital of trials in the Czech Republic. This marked the second year in a row that the venue was visited by the World Trials circuit, and things had been improved upon in the past year - thanks, perhaps, to promoting group Octagon Esedos spending the weeks before the event at the site.

· The sections were featured mostly in the forest, except for the first two and the last three, all of which were close to the start, about two and a half miles from the woods. There were no buses on hand to transport spectators, who instead relied upon their own cars.

· In the Junior class, champion Josep Manzano was defeated both days. Taichi Tanaka took the opportunity to win both the days, and also to occupy 11th place overall. On Saturday, Manzano was runner-up, and Swede Anders Nilssn took the third position. On Sunday, Nilsson grasped second place, while Spaniard Israel Escalera reached third place.

· Curious: Riders just coming from "Les 5 Jours du Verdon" performed well in the Czech Republic, proving it is wise to keep in form by hitting every competition you can. The aforementioned event was a Scottish-style contest held in the French Alps was from August 21 to 25. Bruno Camozzi won, with Jordi Pascuet taking second and Graham Jarvis finishing third.

· After the normal trophy presentations, an additional prize ceremony was held to recognize the top finishers in the World Championship Series, since this was the final round.