Radson rider Dougie Lampkin took an important and initial advantage in the new Indoor World championship, when he won the opening round in Monza, Italy late last night. Having finished runner up to Raga and Cabestany respectively during the last two seasons, Lampkin has started the new campaign with renewed motivation to win back a title that he has missed greatly. Whilst the younger riders style may be better suited to the artificial sections, Dougie believes that his more consistent approach can still net him another World crown.
“Over the last few weeks I have been practising non stop on Indoor sections ready for this. I felt the most confident I have done for a long while going into tonight’s competition and that has certainly shown in my result. If I am going to have any chance of beating the likes of Cabestany and Raga to the title, then it’s vitally important for me to win all the rounds outside of Spain, as those guys are going to have strong support on home ground. To win the first round is a great start and a great boost, so now it is a case of maintaining that momentum and doing a similar job in Hong Kong next Friday.”
Lampkin finished second in the heat behind team mate Marc Freixa, the Spanish rider showing a single mark advantage to lead the top four riders through to the final. Dougie didn’t start the evening well as he dropped three marks in the very first section. However the reigning outdoor champion fought his way back into contention with a brilliant one dab ride on the waterfall, where Raga was the next best with a scrappy three.
The final was a tense affair with Lampkin and Raga trading places throughout the six observed sections. Dougie stole the early lead by being the only rider to clean the first section in the reverse direction, whilst the chasing trio all failed. Lampkin saw his advantage slashed as Raga delivered a reverse action by completing the difficult waterfall hazard for the loss of just one as the rest all collected maximums. Dougie put himself in a safe position by cleaning the high jump thus allowing himself the luxury of being able to be defeated in the final race to clinch the overall victory.
