World Outdoor Trials Championship La Antigua, Guatemala
- Dabill
Day 2
 James
Dabill equalled his career best in Guatemala today, as he
finished the second of two days of competition in South America
in an excellent sixth place, just two marks adrift of the
far more experienced Spanish rider, Marc Freixa.
After a performance, which James felt was below par during
yesterday’s trial, James adopted a different approach
for the second day, despite clearer skies making the temperature
even higher. But the weather brought out the local crowds,
who turned out in their thousands to watch the World’s
best compete in Guatemala for the first time.
Dabill’s tactic for the second day was to complete
the first lap quicker, as he felt that running out of time
yesterday meant he had to rush to ensure he didn’t incur
time penalties. However, while the plan seemed to work, he
also admitted to taking a five in the day’s third section
and another in the fifth, when his front wheel simply washed
away.
By the end of the day’s first lap, James found himself
in eighth place, matching his perfomance from yesterday. However,
his second lap would prove to be much more rewarding.
In contrast to the first tour, he didn’t record a single
five the second time around, losing just eleven marks and
even finishing early. He admitted that moving through the
section more quickly helped him to maintain his concentration
and rhythm and this resulted in the fifth-lowest score of
the lap. His performance was sufficient to move him up to
sixth place overall, just a tantalising two marks behind Freixa
at the end of the day.
“We took on a totally different strategy today,”
said James. “Not only was I getting on with riding the
sections and not allowing myself to lose concentration, Jack
[Lee, James’ minder] was minder for Ogawa [Tsuyoshi,
team-mate] as well, while Ogawa’s minder Sergio was
mechanic for us both and that seemed to work very well. In
fact, the whole team has worked extremely hard this weekend
– it’s been just as tough for the minders as it
has for the riders.“
“Of course I’m delighted with today’s result.
To equal my best performance over some of the hardest sections
and certainly the toughest conditions I’ve faced is
great and I feel I’ve learned a lot from the experience.”
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