Despite having sealed his seventh British title at the last round in September, there was no relaxing for Vertigo’s James Dabill at the tenth and penultimate round of the 2016 RT Keedwell ACU British Trials Championship, hosted at the Bob MacGregor Trials Academy in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Second place on the day went to Jack Price – Gas Gas with Jack Sheppard – Beta turning in a remarkable final lap score to claim the remaining podium place.
It was a typically cold autumnal morning that greeted the competitors at the highly popular Scottish venue, but untypically Scottish was the sun that remained present throughout the day, making for dry, but still tough conditions. Dabill set out his stall early with an impressive score of eight, given the hard nature of the sections, at the end of the first lap, dropping his only five on the fourth section – the one that was to prove his nemesis as the day progressed. The very much on-form Price wavered a little, dropping threes on the third and fifth sections as well as another five on the fourth. That accompanied by four more points picked up, put him on fifteen at the end of the first of three laps of the twelve sections, seven adrift of Dabill. It was Welshman, Beta-mounted Iwan Roberts who held third place after the first visit a further three points behind Price.
Things didn’t run quite so smoothly on the second lap for the reigning Champion as he dropped thirteen in total to Price’s ten allowing Jack to cut the margin between them to just four points with one lap remaining. Roberts had a second lap score of twenty-three which allowed him to retain his third place, but with Michael Brown – Gas Gas, who eventually finished fifth, on the same score.
The third and final lap saw a settled Dabill return to a single figure score, dropping nine overall – including yet another five on the fourth, to Price’s twelve and ensuring himself of his ninth victory from ten starts in the 2016 series. In the battle for the final podium place, the comeback kid of the day was Sheppard who, once over his shaky start, returned the best lap score of anyone in the Championship Class, dropping a mere four marks.
With the Championship winner decided and just one day of competition remaining, both Jacks – Price and Sheppard find themselves tied in second place on 146 points apiece in the overall Championship standings. Whoever prevails on the final day tomorrow will guarantee themselves the runner-up spot and relegate the other to third.
Whilst the main Championship Class winner had previously been decided, there was still all to play for in the Expert and Youth Classes. In the Expert Class, the battle was between young Tom Minta – Gas Gas and Dan Thorpe – Gas Gas and it was to go to the wire. It was Thorpe who took the early lead with a score of five marks for his first lap with Richard Sadler just one mark adrift in second and Minta on nine. The second lap saw Minta close the gap, dropping just six to Thorpe’s nine, with Sadler still in the running, but the final lap was to be the decider with Tom finishing the day in absolute style, recording just a single dab for the entire lap. With Sadler dropping three for his final lap and Thorpe having a bit of a nightmare, dropping a very unlucky thirteen, Minta now has twenty four point lead in the Expert standings and with only twenty points available, has assured himself of the 2016 Experts title.
Over in the Youth Class, the World 125cc and European Youth Champion, Jack Peace – Gas Gas added another title to his belt as he continued his clean sweep of victories in this class, totally dominating his rivals and finishing with a thirty-eight point margin over second place Duncan MacColl – Beta whilst Kieran Child – Beta claimed the final podium place.
The Championship returns to the Bob MacGregor Trials Academy again tomorrow for the finale to the 2016 British Series.
Results
pdf Download Championship Class Results (211 KB)
pdf Download Expert Class Results (19 KB)
pdf Download Youth Class Results (15 KB)
Download Championship Standings After Round 10
Photo Coverage
Trials Central Supporters - Large gallery of 190+ images, hi-res and unwatermarked can be accessed by clicking here