An out of sorts Dougie Lampkin - Gas Gas struggled with ill health at round two of the 2011 FIM Indoor Enduro World Championship, held at the atmospheric Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona on Sunday, 6th February. After a comfortable qualifying heat Lampkin finished a disappointing eighth overall on a night where Taddy Blazusiak - KTM stamped his authority on the series with a convincing victory.
Lampkin’s day started well. A good start in his qualifying heat saw him take the lead early and he never once looked like relinquishing it. However, with two laps to go Alfredo Gomez - Husaberg closed the gap when Lampkin slowed and rather than risk a crash, Dougie let him past to take the win knowing he would progress into the main event with a second place finish.
“I felt good in practice and qualifying,” said Lampkin. “The track offered a good mix of rock and log sections and I felt fairly quick. At that point I was looking forward to the night’s racing and I was confident of a good result. However I have been suffering with headaches quite a bit recently, and between qualifying and the finals I started to feel really dodgy.”
“I went out for the first final and got a rubbish start, then within a lap I started to get blurred vision,” continued the twelve times trials World Champion. “To be honest it was pretty dangerous and I probably should have pulled over and stopped. Instead I just backed off a bit and continued to ride around. The same thing happened in all three motos and I just wanted to get the races over and done with. There is nothing you can do when you feel like that.”
Despite suffering from a migraine Lampkin recorded a ten-eight-nine result across the three finals to finish inside the top ten overall. At the sharp end of the field David Knight debuted KTM’s 350 EXC-F, but even he could do little to prevent Blazusiak winning all three races en route to a well-deserved triumph. Knighter finished second while Sweden’s Joakim Ljunggren - Husaberg was third."
Lampkin will hope for a much better result when the 2011 FIM Indoor Enduro World Championship resumes in Lisbon on Saturday, 5th March. Until then, the thirty-four-year-old Yorkshireman aims to get to the bottom of the headaches that have plagued him in recent weeks.
“I need to work out why I’m getting these migraines each time I ride at the moment,” explained Lampkin. “When they come on so quickly like that there is little I can do. I will have a couple of days rest and if they continue I will visit the doctor. At least I have a full month before the next round in Portugal, so there is plenty of time to get to the root of the problem.”
