TMX SAYS: Head to the World X Trial
By TMX Archives on 6th Jan 16
And so its begun. Were only just into January and already Im consumed by that mad crazy rush that seems to happen earlier and earlier every single year. Im not on about the new sporting season kicking off by the way but that ultimately more important task of off-loading all those unwanted Christmas presents.
It seems to be a trend that the older you get the less people understand you and this ultimately means that they struggle to find appropriate gifts to hand over on Jesus' birthday. For example, it used to be the case that I'd receive a plethora of dirt bike related goodness come my way on December 25 but last year my friends and family hit an all-time low with nothing even remotely dirty popping out of my festive stocking. Bad times.
Some might say I'm ungrateful but if you want a Pizza Chopper (yes, it's a pizza cutter that looks just like a custom motorcycle), a Lynx gift set or some Marvel slippers that are two sizes too small so badly then please go ahead and search them out on eBay where you'll find them all for individual starting prices of £0.99p plus package and postage.
One unwanted gift you won't find on the world's biggest online auction site is tickets for this weekend's Sheffield Trial. As the opening round of the 2016 X-Trial world championship they're a fairly precious commodity and everyone who's already got theirs either as a present or the old fashioned way of buying them oneself is keeping a tight grip on 'em and I don't blame them one bit.
The Sheffield Indoor is always a cracking show and with a couple of riders mounted on new bikes there's the hope that we'll see a surprise or two on the night. Obviously, Toni Bou is gonna take some beating but Adam Raga and the TRS will be formidable competition and it'll be interesting to see how Jeroni Fajardo and the Vertigo get on together indoors. The sole British entrant will be James Dabill who'll no doubt be hoping for the home crowd to give him an extra lift.
I wonder if Bou, Raga, Albert Cabestany, Takahisa Fujinami, Alexandre Ferrer or Eddie Karlsson will take the opportunity to scope out Tong ahead of the world championship's inaugural visit there on the weekend of July 16/17. Literally a one-hour drive up the motorway from Sheffield Arena, the Parkwood Off Road Centre will offer up a very different challenge to what Penrith ever did with a plethora of slippery bankings, tree roots and a stream bed all waiting to test the WTC elite.
Potentially this venue will offer a very traditional British trials treat that is a bit of a rarity in the world series these days so if I were one of the feet-up stars doing the biz so closely then I'd definitely be across there casing the joint. Just saying...
And if they head to Tong the day after Sheffield then they'll be in for a real treat as Eddy's Xtreme Enduro – which is also the opening round of the ACU British Extreme Enduro Championship and FIM Europe Extreme Cup – will be in full flow. With the entry list reading like a who's who of hard enduro – Knighter, Grimbo, Bolts and Ben Hemingway – it's bound to be an exciting event on an intelligently designed circuit.
It would seem that Yorkshire really is the place to be this weekend. Don't forget your wellies...
