James Dabill Closes In On Top 5
After months of anticipation, the opening round of the 2012 FIM World Trials Championship got underway in La Bresse, France this weekend. With both Saturday and Sunday counting as point scoring day's, all the riders were keen to pull out an early advantage in the championship. Great Britain's James Dabill (Beta) demonstrated that he is now a firm fixture of the 'Big Contenders' but narrowly missed out on fifth place on both days by just a handful of marks.
Continuing with the form set out in previous years, the Spanish riders were again dominant in this weekend's round, but no single rider managed to take the maximum points on offer. Adam Raga (Gas Gas) took the win on the first day ahead of reigning World Champion Toni Bou (Montesa), with Albert Cabestany (Sherco) completing the rostrum. Dabill's Spanish team-mate, Jeroni Fajardo (Beta) finished just off the podium.
Just behind the four Spanish riders, Monster Energy rider James Dabill and Takahisa Fujinami (Montesa) were both fighting for fifth place on the opening day. Both Dabill and Fujinami finished the opening lap on 20 marks, but despite cleaning 10 of the 15 sections on the second lap, James was unable to match the experience laid out by the Japanese rider, and finished in sixth place.
On day two it was Jeroni Fajardo's turn to challenge Bou for victory, but despite leading after the opening lap, Jeroni only managed to take his factory Beta to the runner-up position. Toni Bou resumed normal business taking the top step of the podium ahead of a consistent Albert Cabestany, who again finished third. Takahisa Fujinami and Adam Raga both finished on 18 marks, but fourth place eventually went to Fujinami who successfully cleaned more sections. James Dabill was on tremendous form, and only two marks adrift of the battle for fourth, demonstrating that he is well worth watching as the championship makes the trip to Australia next month.
Taking about the weekend James comments, "It has been really great to get back into the World Championships, and I'm really happy with my performance this weekend. I definitely felt competitive all weekend, and managed to clean a lot of the harder sections. The set-up Beta brought this weekend was brilliant, and the bike felt really great.
"To be just two marks off fourth place has given me a massive confidence boost, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next round in Australia. But for now I'm heading back to the UK to prepare for the Scottish Six Day Trial".
James' next event will be the Scottish Six Day Trial which he won last year for the second time.