Dabill Lochs on to another win
By Colin Bullock on 22nd Apr 11
James Dabill kept his incredible unbroken run of British Trials Championship victories well and truly on the rails with an emphatic victory in the Macdonald Trial, third round of the current series and staged on the shores of Loch Leven on the outskirts of the village of Kinlochleven in the Scottish Highlands.
Dibs lost just half the marks of runner-up Michael Brown who in turn almost dropped half the marks of third placed Alexz Wigg as the Lochaber club staged a fitting test for the Championship contenders. Local boy Gary Macdonald was a clear winner in Expert A, from 125 mounted Jack Sheppard, while in the closest finish of the day Richard Timperley just got the better of series rival Guy Kendrew in the always closely-fought Expert B.
Riders in all three classes were faced with three laps of 12 technical hazards that required precise bike positioning and careful throttle control, especially when the mud dragged up onto the rocks. Sunday's event was greeted by fine weather but that would not make the hazards any easier as Experts B set off from the schoolhouse to the first four subs.
Guy Kendrew did not take too long to get in his stride and opened up clean alongside his rival Richard Timperley. Josh Woods, who had looked good in the Saturday practise, needed a swift dab but he used it well as did Zac Sherwin. Section two caused few problems for these riders but it was not so forgiving on the other routes! Richard and Guy both needed single dabs on section three at the bottom of the bank whilst Woods cleaned - the only rider to do so on lap one. The final three sections took marks off everyone with number 10 being especially tricky. At the end of the lap it could not have been closer with Timperley on seven, Kendrew eight and Woods nine.
Lap two generally saw scores increase with the exception of Adam Milner and Kyle Hayes. They both shaved some points off and kept themselves in contention for a good finish.
At the front, Timps kept the pressure on his rivals although a max for Kendrew on the very long 12th was not what the Ossa rider needed. Guy came back on lap three but it was not quite enough and Sheffield's Timperley got the verdict by a single mark. Zac Sherwin lost out on a podium finish by one point to Josh Woods.
There was a welcome return in the Championship A group for Gary Macdonald. Gary missed the opening skirmishes with a sliced finger but he was happily fit enough to be able to compete in his local event. A group has again turned out really competitive.
ACU EVENTS BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP
Rd 3 – Macdonald Trial (Lochaber & DMCC Ltd)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 James Dabill (Beta) 10 + 8 + 6 + - = 24
2 Michael Brown (Gas Gas) 18 + 21 + 9 + - = 48
3 Alexz Wigg (Sherco) 37 + 25 + 21 + - = 83
4 Jack Challoner (Beta) 31 + 38 + 20 + - = 89
5 Ross Danby (Gas Gas) 34 + 28 + 36 + - = 98
6 Sam Haslam (Gas Gas) 30 + 38 + 32 + - = 100
7 Jonathan Richardson (Sherco) 38 + 47 + 41 + - = 126
8 George Morton (Beta) 45 + 43 + 47 + 7 = 142
9 Craig Robinson (Gas Gas) 51 + 42 + 54 + - = 147
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dabill 60 points, 2 Brown 51, 3 Wigg 45, 4 Danby 33, 5 Haslam 32, 6 Richardson 29, 7 Challoner 26, 8 Morton 25, 9 Robinson 20, 10 Morphett 15.
EXPERT A CLASS
1 Gary Macdonald (Gas Gas) 9 + 12 + 16 + - = 37
2 Jack Sheppard (125 Beta) 27 + 16 + 24 + - = 67
3 Jack Spencer (Beta) 34 + 19 + 19 + - = 72
4 Ricky Wiggins (Gas Gas) 29 + 32 + 23 + - = 84
5 Andy Chilton (Sherco) 29 + 29 + 32 + - = 90
6 Josh Brain (Gas Gas) 38 + 28 + 39 + - = 105
7 Michael Phillipson (Beta) 31 + 35 + 43 + - = 109
8 James Fry (Sherco) 36 + 38 + 38 + - = 112
9 Jake Evans-Luter (Beta) 40 + 38 + 35 + - = 113
10 Richard Sadler (Sherco) 41 + 39 + 43 + - = 123
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 8) rounds: 1 Wiggins 48 points, 2 Fry 43, 3 Spencer 41, 4 Chilton 35, 5 Sheppard 34, 6 Brain 24, 7 Wibberley 23, 8 Evans-Luter 23, 9 Macdonald 20, 9 Macdonald 20, 10 Phillipson 19, 11 Sadler 17, 12 Harries 15, 13 Short 11.
EXPERT B CLASS
1 Richard Timperley (Sherco) 7 + 9 + 17 + - = 33
2 Guy Kendrew (Ossa) 8 + 11 + 15 + - = 34
3 Josh Woods (Gas Gas) 9 + 19 + 28 + - = 56
4 Zac Sherwin (Beta) 14 + 20 + 23 + - = 57
5 Adam Milner (Beta) 20 + 17 + 27 + - = 64
6 Kyle Hayes (Beta) 22 + 19 + 29 + - = 70
7 Ben Sprigg (Gas Gas) 20 + 22 + 31 + - = 73
8 Andrew Blackman (Gas Gas) 23 + 24 + 27 + - = 74
9 Philip Kettlewell (Gas Gas) 23 + 27 + 28 + - = 78
10 Shaun Fox (Gas Gas) (6x0) 29 + 27 + 23 + - = 79
11 Buster Regan (Beta) (5x0) 26 + 26 + 27 + - = 79
12 Tom Affleck (Sherco) 25 + 31 + 33 + 1 = 90
13 Chris Barnfather (Gas Gas) (4x0) 36 + 29 + 30 + - = 95
14 Harry Harvey (Gas Gas) (2x0) 25 + 35 + 35 + - = 95
15 Josh Law (Gas Gas) 27 + 34 + 35 + - = 96
SERIES STANDINGS after 3 (of 8) rounds: 1 Timperley 57 points, 2 Kendrew 54, 3 Woods 37, 4 Sherwin 34, 5 Regan 30, 6 Milner 28, 7 Sprigg 23, 8 Hayes 21, 10 Fox 15, 11 Mark Harries 14, 12 Blackman 13, 13 Disney 8, 14 Kettlewell 8, 15 Affleck 7.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 Bradley Cox (125 Beta) 42 + 43 + 39 + - = 124
NEXT ROUND: June 12 – St Davids Trial at Ysguthan Farm, Heol y Mynydd, Garnswilt, Ammanford (Neath MCC ).
FOR FULL REPORT AND PICTURES SEE T+MX APRIL 22
