Dougie Lampkin – Gas Gas took a battling second place at the World famous and ultra tough Scott Trial after having had to complete the last third of the event without any rear brake. Although this effected his speed over the ground in an event where time and observation are rewarded equally and effectively prevented Dougie from challenging for the overall win, he still recorded the best score for observation alone.
Despite having had to overcome this mechanical set back thirty-six year old Lampkin used every bit of his experience to defeat all but one of the nearly two hundred starters with the exception of his Gas Gas team-mate Michael Brown who was the eventual and worthy winner. Dougie himself is a three-time winner of the Scott Trial, his victories coming in 1994, 2006 and 2007.
Absent from the Scott Trial last year due to his well documented ankle injury, Dougie had mixed emotions about returning to one of his favourite events having twice failed to finish during his last two outings in 2008 / 2010 due to terminal mechanical problems and having not been able to start in 2009 due to a wrist injury. Lampkin also knew that it was going to be an even tougher challenge this time out with the veteran campaigner and ex twelve time FIM Trial World Champion having only ridden in less than a handful of trials this year.
That said his rivals will not have under estimated the potential threat Dougie posed, with him having shown that he still has a huge appetite for success when he captured an historic sixth win at the Scottish Six Days Trial earlier this season before then also recording an incredible second place at the Erzberg Extreme Enduro. Dougie arrived in North Yorkshire fresh from finishing as runner-up at the Lagares Extreme Enduro in Portugal just two weeks ago.
As the day progressed it was obvious that Lampkin was once again in contention for some serious silverware as he raced into each of the fuel stops to top his bike up with petrol and himself up with some much needed Red Bull energy for the ongoing challenge that lay ahead. Dougie survived a massive crash during the closing stages as he tried to chase Brown down, before opting to take a more cautious approach to the finish in order to overcome the obvious limitations of trying to ride fast with no rear brake.
Although Dougie was aiming for the top step of the podium, all things taken into consideration he was still relatively satisfied with his runners-up placing.
“First of all I want to congratulate Michael [Brown], he has ridden really well today. His speed would have been hard to match and he has been pretty good in the sections too.
With me riding so little these days the Scott is a big ask but it is still a challenge that I look forward to for some strange reason. Today was as tough as ever, although perhaps not as tough as the enduro I rode in Portugal a couple of weeks ago and from which I have been suffering physically from ever since.”
Lampkin explained “Today my riding in the sections has been OK, I made a really bad mistake in one hazard when I hit the starts card and then there were a couple of bad threes, but apart from that I have been quite steady. Being best on observation at least makes me feel a bit happier at being second.”
Dougie concluded by saying ” Towards the end it was getting dangerous trying to ride quick with no rear brake and I was lucky not to have done some real damage when I crashed heavily from trying to push on too hard. From then on survival kicked in, so given the circumstances I am quite happy to have made it onto the podium beside Michael.”
Results:
1: Michael Brown (Gas Gas) 43 + 0 time = 43
2: Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas) 35 + 22 time = 57
3: Ian Austermuhle (Beta) 44 + 29 time = 73
