James tops the 'bill at the Mitchell Trial
By TMX Archives on 28th May 09
MAY has been a hectic month on the trials calendar, with the Scottish Six Days Trial immediately followed by the British round of the World Trials Championship at Carlisle - and now it is back to the ACU British Solo Trials Championship series this weekend with the Mitchell trial in Merthyr Tydfil, writes Colin Bullock.
The venue for the event, the fourth round of the 2009 series, is Morlais Quarry, which was successfully resurrected' for trials use last year and the organisers have been hard at work finding new sections and fine tuning some interesting hazards. Expect, however, some rocks and then some more rocks! Morlais will be signed off the A465 Heads of the Valley road.
James Dabill has got off to a dream start to the series, winning all three rounds to date on the two-stroke Gas Gas and, with Beta's Dougie Lampkin taking second at both Scarborough and Lochaber, it has been a less than ideal situation for serious title challenger Michael Brown on the Sherco. Browny, who only just lost out on becoming Champion in the final round in last year's series, now needs to win a couple of rounds quickly to ensure his pal Dibs does not manage to establish an insurmountable series lead.
Beta-mounted Shaun Morris has been consistent to date and currently holds third spot in the standings and, especially on big rocks, is capable of causing an upset. And following his excellent second-place finish in the Scottish, could Alexz Wigg upset the apple cart and get on the podium?
Southern ace Sam Connor and east Yorkshireman Ian Austermuhle have been setting the pace in Expert A. Ian was in superb form at the recent SSDT, but there are battles throughout this class and Jonathan Richardson, who currently holds fifth place and best 125cc is currently right on the pace.
In Expert B, Scorpa-mounted Sam Ludgate heads the table with first, second and third placings to date, but Ricky Wiggins and John Crinson are his main challengers and are both looking in good form.
All we need now is some fine weather, which has been in short supply of late!
There will be 12 testing sections on offer to challenge all three classes with three laps to be completed in the five-and-a-half hour time limit. Signing-on will be available on Saturday between 1pm and 3pm with the official practise session taking place between 2pm and 4pm.
The trial is scheduled to start with the Expert B class at 9.30am on Sunday and there will be a riders' meeting 30-minutes before the first rider is flagged away.
For anyone intending to stay over on Saturday night, camping is available in the Quarry but please note that while there are toilet facilities, there is no fresh water on site. Alternatively the organisers suggest contacting Abergavenny Tourist Board if you are looking for B&B or local hotel accommodation.
So the question is can James Dabill keep his 100 percent record intact? Find out all about it in next week's T+MX!