10/12/11 - FIM SUPERENDURO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP,LODZ, POLAND -

Images by kind permission of Jonty Edmunds

Dougie Lampkin - Gas Gas once again showed gutsy determination as he rode through the pain barrier to record a top ten finish overall at the second round of the 2012 FIM SuperEnduro World Championship held at Lodz, Poland.
The thirty-five year old veteran campaigner flew to Poland having been unable to ride his enduro bike since he sustained the injury to his chest at the opening round of the series in Italy two weeks ago. Lampkin under went treatment when he returned to the UK to rectify what was finally diagnosed as a misaligned rib.
Following treatment to deal with the problem, Dougie was then unable to return to riding due to the ongoing pain. Whilst most riders may have opted to sit out tonight's event, as SuperEnduro is tough at the best of times, the ex multi World champion decided to put himself in the mix despite knowing that his physical condition was always going to be a limiting factor in terms of his overall performance.
Lampkin played it safe and used his vast experience to survive qualifying, eventually placing eighth in a group that was topped by eventual overall winner Taddy Blazusiak.
The seven laps recorded by Dougie during qualifying confirm the enormity of the challenge that lie ahead of the Gas Gas factory rider, and with this in mind it looked unlikely that Lampkin would even complete the three - ten plus lap superfinals that would count towards the overall result come the end of what promised to be a demanding evening.
Even with the odds stacked heavily against him Dougie lined up for the first superfinal determined to grind out a result and that's exactly what he did, over ten long laps that would see him cross the line in a creditable ninth spot against a field of World class riders. Two more similar adventures for the tall and broad Yorkshireman brought two more balanced and deserved results, as Lampkin placed ninth and tenth respectively in the remaining pair of superfinals.
This put Dougie in tenth place overall, which was perhaps much better than he had expected at the start of the night given his injury and the extent of the pain he had to endure throughout the evening.
Speaking after the last superfinal Lampkin stated. "To be honest after qualifying I was not too sure if I would be able to finish one race let alone three as the pain was pretty bad. The course was really physical which was far from ideal for me, but it was just a case of getting my head down and getting on with it."
"Not being able to ride my enduro bike for the last two weeks really set me back as you need to put the hours in before these events as they are hard going from start to finish. I obviously wanted to finish higher up the order, but all things considered it has been a night for damage limitation and in that respect it has probably gone as good as I could have hoped for. " Dougie continued.
Lampkin ended by saying. "My priority now is to get fit and to be 100% ready for the start of the new year and the new season."
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Dougie Lampkin, Gas Gas, non molla mai, neanche nell'Enduro Indoor mondiale. Nonstante una costola incrinata, per una caduta alla prima prova, disputata nell'arena di Genova due settimane fa, ha voluto esserci alla seconda prova che si e' corsa sabato in Polonia.
Stringendo i denti, come da sempre e' abituato a fare ed i dodici titoli mondiali (7 outdoor e 5 indoor) ne sono la prova lampante , ha chiuso nei primi dieci del ranking mondiale!
" In tutta onesta', dopo essermi qualificato, non avrei scommesso di poter finire neanche una delle tre finali, perche' il dolore al petto si faceva sentire. La gara era prettamente fisica e quindi non adatta alle mie condizioni. Ho dovuto combattere contro la mia testa che mi diceva di smettere..." le parole di Dougie.

Per onor di cronaca: gara vinta e campionato fino ad esso dominato dall'ex-trialista polacco Taddy Blasuziac