James Dabill Has 7th British Title In Sights

Factory Vertigo rider James Dabill continued his dominant form in the 2016 British Trials Championship as he recorded his fifth win in a row to maintain his 100% record and give a strong chance of securing a seventh domestic title for himself and a second for Vertigo as the series nears its midpoint. The latest round of the current home campaign saw James travel to deepest Devon where his most recent triumph now sees him stretch his lead to twenty-nine points at the head of the general standings. 

Runner up on the day Jack Sheppard is also now Dabill's nearest challenger in the title race after the ex-Youth World Champion from Suffolk got the better of James' previous closest rival Jack Price by a single mark. Going into the fifth round of the series at the steep wooded venue in the south-west of England, Dabill had identified Price who currently leads the Trial2 class at World level as being the most likely to upset his winning streak. However, in reality James once again was in a class of his own on board his fuel injected Combat and ended the day eleven marks clear of Sheppard. 

Victory number five had to be earned as Dabill found himself under pressure after the initial lap of twelve sections, which followed a similar theme to previous editions of the event run at the same venue. One failure at the seventh hazard at his first attempt, when James came unstuck at the double-step meant he took only a single mark lead into lap two as both Price and local favourite Toby Martyn kept the defending British Champion on his toes. 

Whilst Price lost ground on the second tour, Sheppard drew level with Martyn as Dabill began to stretch his advantage over all his main rivals. Typically, James confirmed his true superiority on the third and final lap as he lost only one mark in the very last section of the day to round out what was once again a convincing and controlled performance.  

Satisfied with his latest win James said. "If I am honest I haven't ridden as well today as I have been doing recently, apart from on the last lap when I was able to up my game. Concentration and motivation was hard today as the sections were fairly similar to what we have ridden here before. Anyway there was a job to be done and that was my main aim, so I am happy to have extended my winning run." 

"To have one hundred points on the board, and five wins from five starts puts me in a good position to now go on to win a seventh British title. There are still several rounds to go, but I will continue to try to win all the remaining events and keep my 100% record for the entire series. Now I am looking forward to Belgium next Sunday." 

Next weekend James and hopefully his factory Vertigo teammate Jeroni Fajardo - who is currently recovering from injury - will contest the sixth round of the 2016 FIM Trial World Championship in Belgium.