British Trials Championship - Dabill
Round 6 – 17/09/06
Kinlochleven, Scotland
The long journey North to the Scottish highlands brought
better news for James Dabill as he recorded his second best
result in this year’s British championship, with a battling
third place for his efforts. Held on the banks of the famous
Loch Leven, Dabill lists this event as one of his favourite
on the domestic tour, with the waterside venue being home
to some of the best natural hazards on the UK mainland.
Since his close second spot at the opening round in Wales
back in late March, James has struggled to find his form back
on home soil despite his string of strong results on the World
scene. Incredibly with only one round remaining this was only
the second time Dabill has managed to make it on to the podium
during the current British championship campaign.
Typically damp weather provided the back drop to a tough
event, with the drizzle throughout the day doing little to
improve conditions in the twelve testing sections that were
ridden three times. Dabill did not make the best of starts
and posted a first lap score of twenty one marks, which included
three fives.
The large limestone rock steps that at best were slippery
were James’ early undoing, but the twenty year old from
Leeds soon got to grips with these as the trial wore on. A
second lap of just twelve marks proved this point, and included
a soft five as his bike failed to fire cleanly on one of the
easier sections.
Dabill confirmed his true potential with a closing lap of
a mere six marks, which was almost sufficient to see him snatch
second place, but in the end netted him a valuable third position
with just one event remaining.
“ Whilst I know that I could have done better, I am
happy with my performance today, as overall this year I have
not ridden well in the British championship when you compare
my results at home to those that I have achieved overseas.”
“ For me this is one of the best rounds of the series,
and is what I would class as being a proper trial. Once again
there were several tough sections, so you knew that it wasn’t
going to be down to one difficult hazard, which has sometimes
been the case this season.”
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