World Outdoor Trials Championship La Antigua, Guatemala
- Dabill
 James
Dabill finished the first of two days of competition in Guatemala
eighth after an extremely difficult opening trial. The result
belies the effort the youngster put in amid oppressive heat
and humidity as he tackled the fifteen sections dipping into
and climbing out of a series of river beds at the Autoromo
los Volcanes, located 100Km south of Guatemala City.
Debuting in the championship, the trial in Guatemala looked
like it would be hard work and it was, with James, like the
entire field, finding the going very tough. He started the
first lap of the event well but was caught out when time began
to slip away and he was forced to rush the second half, making
mistakes along the way.
He recorded several dabs early on in the lap but as the heat
grew towards mid-day, he lost his rhythm and began dropping
marks, which would ultimately cost him a better placing, with
several fives he admitted he should not have incurred.
The second lap also began well, with Dabill feeling much
more confident, partly as the heat had lessened slightly.
However, he notched up two more fives in the first part of
the lap and compounded them with four more during the latter
part, where things went very wrong for James. Despite lying
seventh after the first lap, he dropped marks to Jeroni Fajardo
and therefore, finished eighth come the close of play.
Dabill was understandably frustrated after such a strong
performance at the championship opener but vowed to use the
experience gained during the first day to his advantage for
the second. “It’s been a very difficult day –
really hard work. The first lap started OK, but the second
half was a bit of a mad rush, as time was running out. I ended
up with a couple of fives which I shouldn’t have, which
were hard to recover.”
“The second lap also felt very good to begin with.
I cleaned the first section but then fived the next. I had
a dab on section three and it all went wrong from there for
the rest of the lap. I just ended up with far too many fives
and that cost me a better result.
“We’ll change strategy for the second day, by
starting a bit quicker so it’s not so much of a rush
for the second part of the lap and hopefully, that will help
to improve on today’s result.“
|
