Motorsport: Lampkin defies injury

From the archive, first published Friday 3rd Feb 2006.

Dougie Lampkin recorded his best result to date in the World indoor series.

He finished fourth in Milan on Sunday and came within six seconds of qualifying for the three man final.

However, he narrowly lost out on the time-tie decider to his team mate Fujinami, after the Repsol Montesa HRC pair both finished the first lap on 15 marks.

Lampkin's result was a remarkable achievement, considering he is riding with a broken rib. he picked up the injury in France two weeks ago and the injury has led him to only being able to practice for 45 minutes during the last week.

He said: "Although I'm still in a lot of pain, it definitely felt better than it did last week, and having a better result is always a good tonic when you are struggling with an injury.

"The problem is that I really am having difficulty breathing after I have ridden two or three sections."

"I had over two and half minutes left to ride the last section, but I had to stop to recover. I waited nearly a minute before making my attempt.

"Taking the rest cost me a place in the final, but there was no way I could carry on," he said.

Lampkin added: "This week is going to have to be the same, with perhaps a little time on the bike on Friday ahead of the competitin in Barcelona. I just need to get through the next few weeks without making the injury any worse and hopefully it will get better slowly but surely."

Fujinami broke the stranglehold that Spain has on the winners' podium by being the first non-Spanish rider to make it through to the final this season. However, the Japanese rider was unable to prevent another Spanish victory as he finished a distant third place.

Raga increased his advantage at the head of the overall standings by taking his second win of the series with his main rival Cabestany filling the runners up berth.

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