City slickers!
By John Dickinson on 27th Sep 13
Manchester City Centre played host to a major off-road event on Saturday as the Red Bull City Trial returned for the second year in succession to stop thousands of shoppers in their tracks.
Home heroes including Dougie Lampkin, James Dabill and Michael Brown took on International aces Adam Raga and Jeroni Fajardo from Spain plus 18-year-old Swede Eddie Karlsson who flew in at the last minute to replace the injured Takahisa Fujinami.
The venue had been switched from Picadilly Gardens last year to the buzzing Exchange Square, where Martin Lampkin, Jake Miller and crew had put together an awesome dual lane course – incorporating a pair of city centre trams – for the all-new format.
The event comprised a knockout series of head-to-head races, with four rounds in total, each consisting of heats, semis, a Last Chance Qualifier and a final.
It was a very slick, fast-moving event and the format kept the ever-changing crowds enthused and entertained.
With eight riders in total each of the four rounds kicked-off with four quick-fire heats followed by the innovatory (but not universally popular!) eliminator which was by ballot.
You could win your heat but still face an eliminator and James Dabill was particularly unlucky with the eliminator draw and faced the extra race no fewer than three times!
Top man on the day was undoubtedly Jeroni Fajardo. The Beta factory No.1 looked pure class, mixing speed with a silky smooth style, gliding over the big obstacles to win the opening three rounds – and the overall – with ease.
The only time he came unstuck was in the final round when he was pipped by his Beta team-mate James Dabill in the semi, which set up a
crowd-pleasing grand finale of Dabill versus Dougie Lampkin.
Adam Raga wasn't a happy bunny and was critical of the ballot format for each heat and the Gas Gas rider also avoided the eliminator each time which meant no second chance of progressing.
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE TMX SEPTEMBER 27
RESULTS
Overall: 1 Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) 20 points, 2 James Dabill (Beta) 14, 3 Dougie Lampkin (Gas Gas) 8, 4 Jack Challoner (Beta) 6, 5 Adam Raga (Gas Gas) 4, 6 Michael Brown (Gas Gas) 2, 7 Eddie Karlsson (Jotagas) 2, 8 Jack Sheppard (Beta) 0.
