Dabill's Brimham with confidence
By TMX Archives on 4th Aug 10
Six of the best from James at Yeadon Guiseley Mackenzie Trophy
Six rounds of the ACU Events British Solo Trials Championship down and two to go. Can anyone halt a rampant James Dabill and his JST Gas Gas? On Sunday, in the Yeadon Guiseley MacKenzie Trophy Trial at Brimham Rocks, Dabill significantly threw his Ace card into the trial on the first of three laps with four miserly dabs including a miraculous single on the seventh section where the serious action kicked in.
Make no mistake, all 12 sections in Brimham Rocks were hard but Andrew Carter and Danny Cockshott managed to provide a rising severity format that Dabill, Michael Brown and a hot Jack Challoner all had the answers. Alexz Wigg also unzipped the code on lap two with the second best lap of the trial but unfortunately ended the day bruised and bloody when the seventh section got him.
The top trio breezed the first six sections and that included the brand new pair in the newly opened-up East Wood where the angled slabs under the dense woodland took maximums from Challoner and Jonathan Richardson. Sam Haslam, Ross Danby, George Morton, Richardson, Ben Morphett and Shaun Morris all dropped heavy marks in the second section where the twists in and out of giant boulders grabbed marks on lap one. The main casualty on the first section was Craig Robinson who slammed into the first rock step, all five feet of it, on lap one.
Dabill and Brown were the Everest specialists on the mini-cliff in the third section with brute power and a light touch to nail two cleans and a brace of dabs, second lap for Dibs and final visit for the Atom. Challoner was on it on lap one but soft rain did just alter the attack. Wigg maxed it for no obvious reason. It took a lap for Alexz to fire on all cylinders and then he put in a cracking five dab second lap.
Penny Ludgate was also on high at the adjoining sixth section. The routing took them to four and five in East Woods and then back to a string of sections on the rock face. Mrs Ludgate took the high ground while Wendy Sherwin punched the riders. Sam Haslam did not gel with the trip across the rock face at all and dropped 15 marks on the section. Only
Brown and Challoner got it right while Mike Jennings took the demon seventh which really did punch its weight. The initial leap up two steps onto a huge flat-topped rock launch pad did not question bravery but the flight into a narrow slot did. Bare in mind the under the left foot peg was nothingness, only a ten foot flight into space, for all classes! Ross Danby and Sam Haslam almost glided over the final pinnacle for two and three dabs on lap one after Dabill had fought the JST Gas Gas out for a fleeting dab. Ross and Sam did it without any fuss. Only Wigg, Brown, Challoner, Danby, Haslam, Morton and Shaun Morris managed to get up.
For Wiggy it was a battlefield as he launched the Beta, and then it launched him on lap three. "Yes, I lost the bars and head butted (read face butted) the rock face, I feel as I have just done ten rounds.”
That section, watched by Dougie and James Lampkin and families, took Dabill for ten of his 19 marks. Brown was never on the case on lap one as his score of 14 testified while Wígg did a brace of 21s but a scorching middle lap of just five, just one over the four that Dibs posted on lap one.
The class act in Expert A was without doubt teenager Jack Sheppard with a two-two-one sequence. The Ipswich Beta rider lost three in the seventh, a dab in East Woods and a single on the flat in fourth climb at the eighth where the feature was the monkey ropes hanging from the trees. The sight of a minder hanging on a rope-loop 20 feet up a sheer rock slope is one to savour. And the star of the aerial ballet, Harold Crawford waiting for Wiggy to arrive.
Gary Macdonald still holds sway in the class from Sheppard and Jack Spencer but Ricky Wiggins, Andy Chilton and James Fry have closed the gap on Spencer.
Recent Reeth Three Day winner, Darren Brice, went down to Guy Kendrew in Expert B with John Crinson and Dan Hemingway in close company. Richard Timperley finished the day in seventh place after an eventful ride on Jonathan Richardson's MRS Sherco 300 after his own mount developed a gearbox malfunction. "Yes, it took me about a lap to remember what size engine was under me but eight was somewhere near.” The prize guys in terms of laps were Crinson and Kendrew on four dabs, three of which went away on that evil seventh section.
Chris Stay
And finally, one young man travelled home happy to the Isle of Wight on Sunday night – Chris Stay. He won the Youth class from Richard Sadler and George Gosden. Said Chris: "Yes, for the first time ever I have managed to beat Richard, by a dab. And I will never beat him again as a Youth competitor as he will be in the Adult class and I will miss the final Class A and B round next week in Northumberland.”
Verdict: Nice day, great course and a large spectator turn-out who gave the riders plenty of support. And it was a real tester of a trial.
ACU EVENTS BRITISH SOLO TRIALS CHAMPIONSHIP Rd 6 – MacKenzie Trial
(Yeadon Guiseley & DMC Ltd)
CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS
1 James Dabill (Gas Gas) 4 + 7 + 8 = 19
2 Michael Brown (Sherco) 14 + 7 + 6 = 27
3 Jack Challoner (Beta) 6 + 18 + 12 = 36
4 Alexz Wigg (Beta) 21 + 5 + 21 = 47
5 Shaun Morris (Gas Gas) 27 + 20 + 13 = 60
6 Ross Danby (Gas Gas) 21 + 20 + 28 = 69
7 Sam Haslam (Gas Gas) 25 + 21 + 29 = 75
8 George Morton (Beta) 28 + 32 + 17 = 77
9 Jonathan Richardson (Sherco) 30 + 22 + 31 = 83
10 Ben Morphett (Beta) 37 + 35 + 24 = 96
11 Craig Robinson (Gas Gas) 35 + 27 + 37 = 99
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Dabill 120 points, 2 Brown 96, 3 Wigg 82, 4 Morris 72, 5 Danby 62, 6 Haslam 62, 7 Morton 54, 8 Richardson 53, 9 Morphett 40, 10 Challoner 30, 11 Robinson 29.
EXPERT A CLASS
1 Jack Sheppard (125 Beta) 2 + 2 + 1 = 5
2 Gary Macdonald (Gas Gas) 7 + 3 + 4 = 14
3 Jack Spencer (Beta) 3 + 4 + 8 = 15
4 Ricky Wiggins (Gas Gas) 5 + 10 + 4 = 19
5 Ben Hemingway (Beta) 6 + 4 + 9 = 19
6 Josh Brain (Gas Gas) 6 + 7 + 12 = 25
7 James Fry (Sherco) 10 + 8 + 11 = 29
8 Andy Chilton (Sherco) 8 + 12 + 11 = 31
9 Ben Wibberley (Gas Gas) 8 + 17 + 11 = 36
10 Michael Phillipson (Beta) 11 + 13 + 14 = 38
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Macdonald 109 points, 2 Sheppard 93, 3 Spencer 77, 4 Wiggins 66, 5 Chilton 60, 6 Fry 60, 7 Austermuhle 54, 8 Jonny Walker 45, 9 Wibberley 45, 9 Wibberley 45, 10 Brain 34, 11 Hemingway 19, 12 Thorpe 16, 13 Phillipson 6.
EXPERT B CLASS
1 Guy Kendrew (Sherco) 4 + 6 + 9 = 19
2 Darren Brice (Scorpa) 8 + 8 + 10 = 26
3 John Crinson (Scorpa) 10 + 4 + 5 = 19
4 Dan Hemingway (Beta) 12 + 9 + 9 = 30
5 Phil Disney (Beta) 12 + 7 + 11 = 30
6 Buster Regan (Beta) 9 + 11 + 12 = 32
7 Richard Timperley (Sherco) 8 + 15 + 11 = 34
8 Dan Farrar (Gas Gas) 9 + 9 + 16 = 34
9 Danny Gamble (Beta) 7 + 14 + 16 = 37
10 Josh Woods (Beta) 13 + 11 + 16 = 40
11 Adam Milner (Beta) 15 + 12 + 14 = 41
12 Andrew Blackman (Gas Gas) 20 + 16 + 17 = 53
13 Zac Sherwin (Beta) 9 + 23 + 22 = 54
14 Harry Harvey (Gas Gas) 11 + 27 + 17 = 55
15 Nick Baker (Sherco) 21 + 18 + 21 = 60
SERIES STANDINGS after 6 (of 8) rounds: 1 Brice 112 points, 2 Crinson 82, 3 Kendrew 80, 4 Farrar 67, 5 Woods 56, 6 Timperley 53, 7 Regan 51, 8 Robert Harries 39, 10 Gamble 31, 11 Milner 21, 12 Baker 19, 13 Sprigg 19, 14 Fox 17, 15 Carr 15.
YOUTH SUPPORT CLASS (Non-champs)
1 James Dabill (Gas Gas) 4 + 7 + 8 = 19
1 Chris Stay (125 Gas Gas) 18 + 14 + 14 = 46
2 Jake Evans-Luter (125 Beta) 12 + 16 + 19 = 47
3 George Gosden (125 Gas Gas) 19 + 16 + 13 = 48
4 Tom Dexter (125 Gas Gas) 29 + 23 + 29 = 81
5 Chris Short (Gas Gas) 40 + 40 + 40 = 120
NEXT ROUND: August 21/22 – Rene Pearce Memorial Trophy Trial at Brousentor Farm, Peter Tavy (Torridge & DMCC).