Motor Sport: Dougie Lampkin snatched victory in the first round of the FIM Embassy World Indoor Trials Championship at Sheffield.

In his first ride for Radson Montesa, the 23-year-old from Silsden won by a point from Manxman Steve Colley, the competition not finishing until 12.30am.

But triple world indoor champion Lamp-kin had to survive a spectacular crash en route to the title in front of a sell-out 8,000 crowd at Sheffield Arena.

Lampkin rode his new machine straight out of its packing case on a fork-lift truck at the venue to the accompaniment of fireworks.

A calculated approach helped take him through to the four-man finale. Lampkin led the qualifiers with nine points, ahead of new team-mate Marc Colomer (Spain), Canterbury's Graham Jarvis and Colley, who all had 16 points.

All eight riders suffered time penalties in the qualifying round, having only 11 minutes to complete seven tough sections.

In the final the riders tackled the same obstacles in reverse order.

Showing his nerves, Lamp-kin made a shaky start and then had his spectacular crash, toppling off the Castrol drums at the fourth section.

But he was not injured and seized his chance at the next obstacle, clearing it to regain the lead just seconds after Colley had failed his wooden block test.

Lampkin managed the high jump with ease, but fell on the descent, cracking his hip on the arena floor, which was laid on top of the ice rink.

Lampkin was ahead of Colley, but the 27-year-old reduced his lead to two points and then one after winning both speed deciders.

Afterwards Lampkin said: "I am glad that's over with - I can't tell you how much it means to win at Sheffield yet again. I didn't ride my best, but the crowd really got behind me and spurred me on.

"Steve Colley rode well and really pushed me, but after I crashed he made a mistake and I knew that the next obstacle would be decisive. It was all or nothing, and thankfully it paid off and gave me the victory."

Lampkin thus secured 20 World Championship points, but the GasGas-mounted Colley was second to earn 17 points.

Second seed Colomer was third, picking up 16 points, and third seed Jarvis, 24, was fourth - a Sheffield best for him.

Colomer said: "I was in great form and ready for Sheffield." But he slipped out of contention when he failed the wooden block section at his first attempt in qualifying.

Bingley's Martin Crosswaite missed the cut for the final, but scored nine world points on his Gasgas, beating Arena trials expert Amos Bilbao, but losing out to fellow Spaniard Marcel Justribo by just two penalties.

The World Championship circus now moves on to Valencia, Spain, on January 21.

Lampkin's next test is an indoor arena trial at Koblenz on Saturday. The highlight here is the 'magic carpet' conveyor entry from the stadium roof, with man and bike balancing on a hidden platform.

FIM Embassy World Indoor Trials Champion-ship first round, Sheffield Arena - Final: 1 Dougie Lampkin (England, Radson Montesa) 11 pts; 2 Steve Colley (Isle of Man, GasGas) 12; 3 Marc Colomer (Spain, Montesa) 16; 4 Graham Jarvis (England, Bultaco) 23.

Non-qualifiers: 1 David Cobos (Spain, Bultaco) 24; 2 Marcel Justribo (Spain, Montesa) 28; 3 Martin Crosswaite (England, GasGas) 30; 4 Amos Bilbao (Spain, Montesa) 39.

World Championship standings: 1 Lampkin 20, 2 Colley 17, 3 Colomer 15, 4 Jarvis 13, 5 Cobos 11, 6 Justribo 10, 7 Crosswaite 9, 8 Bilbao 8.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.