Price prepares for world trials debut
By Sean Lawless on 3rd May 17
Rising British trials star Jack Price is putting the final touches to preparations for his TrialGP debut in Spain over the weekend of May 13/14.
The 19-year-old Gas Gas rider, who celebrates his 20th birthday later this month, won the 2016 FIM Trial2 World Cup before shifting almost straight into an off-season of intensive training in Spain.
"Since the end of November I've pretty much lived in Spain at Dougie Lampkin's house and just trained out there,” he said. "The best riders are out in Spain, the weather's on your side and also the Gas Gas factory is only an hour away which makes it a lot easier to test.”
With multi-time world champion Lampkin busy developing the Vertigo range of motorcycles, Jack's main training partner has been fellow Brit James Dabill.
"I've spent a lot of time with James over the winter, trying to learn as much as I can from him. We've been riding the same sections and I've been doing my best to keep up with him. His level is very, very high so I can gauge myself against him.”
A British champion at every youth level, Price started his 2017 BTC campaign with victory at the opening round and currently sits second in the points table but knows the 2017 TrialGP championship will be a much bigger challenge.
"I'm riding the best I've ever ridden and hopefully it will be good enough to challenge for a few top 10 finishes this year. Finishing in the top 10 in the championship would be an outstanding achievement but it's more of a sighting year for me. I intend to learn a lot and take that into the following season.
"TrialGP has always been my ultimate ambition. It's pretty much all I've thought about to be honest. It's a massive step and I don't think you can ever be fully prepared for it, you just have to get on and do it. You can train and train and train but it's just about getting out there and doing it now.”
His debut in TrialGP coincides with an exciting fresh format that has been introduced by new championship promoter Sport7 and Price welcomes the changes.
"The world championship for the last few years has been the same and I think it did need shaking up. Jake Miller from Sport7 has a lot of experience and if he wants to try something different then let him have a go.
"I think the changes will be a good thing – the new qualifying system will definitely make it more of a level playing field.”
