Preview: BTC title chasers ready for Neath battle
By John Dickinson on 27th Apr 18
Neath Motor Club will be staging the third round of the 2018 RT Keedwell British Trials Championship this Sunday, April 29, with their longstanding St Davids Trial.
The current series started in the south east at Hook Wood, Surrey, moved up to the north west of England for the Westmorland clubs Lakeland Trial, held near Kendal just two weeks ago and now it heads to south Wales.
Llety Rafel farm, Aberdulais, Neath, SA10 8HR, is the venue and the course will be the usual format of 12 sections lapped three times. The farm provides a good variety as well with rocks and banks, rock steps, several streambeds and a waterfall.
The first two sections and the last three, 10, 11 and 12, are on the verge of the parc ferme, start/ finish area so everyone can see a lot of the action. In the Championship class factory Beta ace James Dabill has a 100 per cent success rate with a maximum 40 points from two wins in his welcome return to the series, having contested the Spanish Championship last year for Gas Gas.
Originally Dibs was expected to just ride selected BTC events but after winning the first two rounds it looks like James is now set on an eighth British title. Behind The Dibsta, reigning champ Jack Price has been locked in battle with rising star Dan Peace, the Gas Gas duo swapping positions on the podium while Dans younger sibling Jack (Gas Gas) and Cornwalls Toby Martyn have done the same thing for fourth and fifth places, the latter rapidly getting the hang of his Montesa four-stroke.
In sixth, Jack Sheppard has still to find his real form on the Sherco but the results will surely come for the Ipswich rider. The newly-introduced Masters class has yet to really take off but like Dabill in the Premier class, Ross Danby has a maximum two wins from two starts on the TRS with Vertigo-mounted Tom Affleck giving chase while Beta rider Gwynedd Jones is the only other rider to have contested both rounds to date.
Sam Haslam joined in at the Westmorland trial and the Gas Gas rider could give Ross a run for his money.
The Experts sees Richmond club star Richard Sadler with a clear lead on 37, nine ahead of pal and travelling partner Guy Kendrew, both Beta mounted. Ben Morphett won the opening round Hook Wood round but didnt travel to Cumbria. Meanwhile, Chris Stay finished third in the opener and the Isle of Wight rider did make the long tip from the south coast only to suffer a cruel retirement.
Dan Thorpe, never far from the sharp end, currently sits in third overall and finished runner-up in Cumbria. Luke Walker sits fourth and Morphett fifth while fellow Sherco riders James Fry and Womens supremo Emma Bristow somehow contrived to sit together on 19 points.
Mitch Brightmore pulled ahead in Elite Youth, the Gas Gas rider posting a superb performance in a tough Westmorland event to jump ahead of first-round winner Gus Oblein with Brett Harbud just a point behind.
The 2018 series comprises seven rounds but eight events, as the final round at East Lothian in Scotland is a weekend double. Sundays trial will kick-off at 9am.
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