Dougie Lampkin introduced trials riding to Russia when the ninth round of the Indoor World Championship was held in St Petersburg last weekend.

It was the first time World trials of any description had visited Russia, and it proved to be an outstanding success with the locals.

The city was gripped by 'trials fever' and fans had to be turned away from the 6,500 capacity stadium.

The start of the event had to be delayed as the authorities dealt with massive crowds.

The Silsden rider stopped Spaniard Adam Raga winning his sixth consecutive trial, but missed out on victory after a tie-break speed section.

Lampkin and Albert Cabestany went head to head in a sudden death section to decide the winner after a thrilling night of competition.

Dougie went first and applied pressure, cleaning the chosen hazard in a nineteen seconds, however Cabestany rose to the challenge and also remaine 'feet up', but stopped the clock in fourteen seconds to snatch the all important win.

"I only paused once in the deciding section, so I really thought I had done enough. Cabestany was simply brilliant, no one could have matched his time, it was on the edge, but fantastic to watch, although I probably didn't think that at the time," Lampkin said.

Lampkin only dropped two marks in the heat, opting to take safety dabs at the third and last hazards to ensure his place in the final.

Cabestany equalled Dougie's performance, leaving Raga to complete the qualifiers having dropped one mark more than the leading pair.

In the final it was a two horse race, with Dougie and Cabestany again matching each other mark for mark. Lampkin only dropped two marks on observation, the other two marks coming from time penalties when he exceeded the allotted one minute per section by a fraction on both occasions.

"To have pulled five points back on Raga would have been brilliant, but as it is I only managed to close the gap in the overall standings by a couple of points. Raga is still in the driving seat, but it isn't all over just yet."

Tonight (Friday) Lampkin is in action in Nice, in the south of France, with two rounds of the championship to go. There is a maximum of 20-points available for the winner at each event.

Championship: 1 Raga 165, 2 Lampkin 152, 3 Cabestany 139, 4 Freixa 115, 5 Fujinami 104, 6 Graham Jarvis 98.