Lampkin disappointed with opening round
Dougie Lampkin endured a disappointing opening to his 2010 FIM Indoor Enduro World Cup campaign when he placed eighth overall at the first round of the series held in Sheffield, Great Britain. This was the first time that this relatively new championship had visited these shores, and Lampkin was determined to put on a strong display in front of his native Yorkshire fans. Over the last decade or so Dougie has been crowned the King of Sheffield due to his many World IndoorTrial victories at the same arena, but he was fully aware of just how tough his switch of disciplines was going to be against such decorated opposition.
Lampkin was in no mood to make up the numbers and soon made his mark amongst his rivals, with a string of lap times that placed him up with the more fancied front runners. The thirty-three year old ex multi World trials champion used the two ten minute practice sessions to his full advantage, and to discover the best lines around a demanding yet compact course that included large tyres, rocks, logs and a murky water splash. Dougie continued his good form into his qualifying race, and used his vast off road experience to take a comfortable second position behind former World enduro champion David Knight. This result was enough to give the lone Beta rider fifth gate pick for the three main final races.
Lampkin’s night was to take a turn for the worse prior to the triple show down, with the tough Yorkshireman suffering a severe migraine attack during the respite period. Far from his best Dougie bravely took his place on the line for the first final and looked to have put himself in a strong position as the pack rounded the first corner, only for his route to be totally blocked as three riders crashed immediately in front of him. Dougie tried his best to make up ground, but could only claim tenth spot as he took the chequered flag on this occasion.
Things went slightly better in the second final for Dougie, when this time he benefitted from some first lap carnage after a mid pack start, to carefully pick his way through to sixth position come the end of the five lap encounter. It appeared that Lampkin had left his best to last as the veteran campaigner got out of the gate brilliantly in the third final and had a share of the lead as the field charged into the first turn.
Dougie’s joy was to be short lived, as the trials star’s front wheel washed out on the sandy surface, leaving him down on the deck as the rest of the pack filed by. Lampkin did manage to pick himself up and come through to ninth place as the race drew to a close, but this was a cruel end to a disappointing evening after Dougie had shown so much promise during the early part of the proceedings.
Lampkin stated. “I am really frustrated, as the bike felt really good during practice earlier this week and I came here full of confidence. I was happy how practice and the qualifying race went, as I felt comfortable with the pace I was running.”
“I have suffered with migraines before, but this one was fairly bad. I felt pretty drained before the first final, and just went out and tried to do my best. You need to get a good start if you want to stay out of trouble, and although I got out of the gate OK I was not strong enough in the first corner and as a result I ended up getting caught up in the mess that then happened right in front of me.”
“The second race went a bit better, but still not good enough and then when I went down at the start of the last final, that very much summed up my night. I am very disappointed, as I wanted to put on a good show for my home fans, but it never happened. We have a few weeks now to get things sorted for the next round, where hopefully I can turn things around.” Dougie finished.
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