King James the Fourth
By TMX Archives on 20th Sep 12
The 2012 British Trials Championship came to its climax on Sunday, when the East South Wales Centre put on the final round of this years series with their Mitchell Memorial Trophy Trial, at Glebe Farm, near Newport in South Wales.
Both main classes were to be decided on the day, with the main interest being in the Championship.
Beta's James Dabill took a two-mark lead into the final round, knowing that only a victory over his friend and Gas Gas mounted rival Michael Brown would ensure him his fourth consecutive British Championship.
However, a win for Brown would hand him his first adult domestic Championship by a single point, assuming of course that the two on-form riders would take the first two places.
The Expert class was a little clearer, with John Crinson (Beta) taking a ten-point lead over Richard Timperley (Sherco) into the final round and no other rider able to catch them.
This year has of course seen a return to no stop rules, which received a mixed reception from the riders, but the final round round would present another major talking point in the Championship.
The sections on both courses were deemed a little on the easy side after the practice lap on Saturday, with organisers opting to stiffen up a couple of the less taxing hazards for Sunday, with the possibility of rain holding them back from making any radical changes.
The problem is that both World Championship contenders, Dabill and Brown can flatten anything put in their paths these days.
And although the former fived the sixth section, after failing to crest the muddy climb out of the stream, that five-mark loss turned out to be his total for the day.
Brown meanwhile had sailed through the first lap without loss – but was deemed to have been given outside assistance on section ten, when a ‘helper' (not his official minder) manually altered the section.
Browny was subsequently awarded five penalty points which eventually cost him the title.
A clean second lap by Brown was followed by nine cleans on his third and final circuit, before arriving back at the tenth, where he was caught for a three on the rocky bankside.
At the finish, Dabill's total of five was three better than Brown's eventual score.
The inevitable protest came in from the Gas Gas camp but after a lengthy meeting the officials threw out Brown's challenge, thus handing Dabill the trial win and the Championship.
"Not the way I would have wanted to win the TRC British Championship” said Dibs.
"But I'm a professional rider and a win is a win so I'm delighted to have taken my fourth title.”
Meantime Ross Danby (Jotagas), was quietly going about his business with laps of seven, eleven and five, including two fives plus a clean on the tricky tenth.
