Lampkin’s disappointing Beta debut

Dougie Lampkin made a disappointing debut on his factory Beta, as he finished a lowly seventh place at the opening round of the 2008 World indoor championship held in Marseile, France.

This was Lampkin’s first competitive outing for the Italian team since joining them earlier this month.

Although he had only had limited time to adapt to his new mount, the multi World champion arrived in the French city full of confidence following two weeks of intensive training, development and testing on the outskirts of Barcelona.

However Lampkin’s time on the two-stroke had been restricted to the more traditional outdoor environment, and was treated to a baptism of fire as he attempted the indoor sections for the first time aboard his Beta.

Two cleans in the opening two sections gave him a solid opening, but four fives in the remaining five hazards soon pushed the Yorkshireman down the order and left him with no chance of qualifying for the all important final.

A dejected Lampkin was forced to watch the three man final from the sidelines before travelling back through the night to his Spanish base.

He will spend the next two weeks continuing with further testing and training, including a trip to Italy ahead of the second round of the series which will be held in Barcelona on the first Sunday in February.

“It was hardly the start I was looking for. It’s strange as I have been riding well over the last couple of weeks and felt good coming here tonight .

“I didn’t feel particularly nervous, but I obviously was, and after the first two sections my arms went solid to the point where I could hardly use the clutch. Now tonight is over with, all I want to do is to focus on Barcelona and achieving a better result.”

Results:
Final
1: Cabestany 23, 2: Bou 25, 3: Raga 26
Heat
Qualifiers:
1: Albert Cabestany (SPA-Sherco) 4,
2: Adam Raga (SPA-Gas Gas) 6,
3: Antonio Bou (SPA-Montesa-HRC) 11
(faster time),
Non Qualifiers:
4: Takahisa Fujinami (JPN-Montesa-HRC) 11,
5: Jeroni Fajardo (SPA-Beta) 19,
6: James Dabill (GBR-Montesa) 20,
7: Dougie Lampkin (GBR-Beta) 26
(faster time),
8: Jrome Betune (FRA-Beta) 26

Current championship standings:
1: Bou 10, 2: Cabestany 8,
3: Raga 6, 4: Fujinam 5, 5: Fajardo 4,
6:Dabill 3, 7: Lampkin 2, 8: Bethune 1