DOUGIE LAMPKIN retained his World Indoor Trials crown as Spanish fans called for his blood in Madrid.
The Silsden rider eclipsed local hero Marc Colomer, who crashed out of the qualifying rounds when he lost control of his machine and plunged down a 15 metre high artificial waterfall.
Lampkin knew he only had to finish to collect the World Title , but he went for the win, crashing out of two sections which pushed him back into third place - but it was enough.
"The crowd at Madrid is always hostile to overseas riders, but they were booing and jeering every move I made, Dougie said.
Lampkin was in command during the qualifying runs which he won fromSpanish tenager David Cobos with Colomer third, but he took no further part in proceedings after his crashing fall.
Amos Bilbao, who finished fourth, movedup to take a place in the final.
With Lampkin 'failing' two sections Cobos won the event just one point ahead of Bilbao.
Now Dougie is preparing to take on the top riders in the outdoor World Championships and early this week was back in training.
"It was great to retain one World Title, now I am determined to continue with another win in the outdoor championship," he said.
l Robin Luscombe and passenger Wayne Kershaw took second place in the opening round of the Sidecar Trials championship after struggling through a muddy course in Wales.
Arch rivals Robin and Gill Morewood from Cheffield won the event with Keighley passenger Neil Watson and driver Bruce Rushton in fourth place.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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