Italian Championship
Round 5 - Barzio - Dabill
Despite only placing second at the latest round of the Italian
domestic series, James Dabill still heads the overall standings
on board his Future TRW Montesa Cota 4RT with five out of
the eight rounds now completed. At an ultra high scoring event,
just forty kilometres away from the team’s Bergamo base,
Dabill once again had to play second fiddle to his more experienced
team mate Fabio Lenzi.
James had to ride the majority of the trial in some pain
after he crashed heavily at section five on the second lap.
Dabill had been the only rider to conquer the huge undercut
step here on the first lap, but on his next visit he failed
to get enough grip at the critical moment and ended up slamming
into the rock face front wheel first.
The three laps of ten sections comprised of mainly limestone
outcrops that were both difficult and very slippery in places.
Even with the severe bruising to his lower ribs, James did
not give up on the victory without a fight and pushed Lenzi
throughout the competition.
Lenzi’s winning margin may have only been slight, but
it was still enough for him to close within three points of
Dabill in the general standings with just three counting trials
remaining, the first of these being next Sunday.
Close attention will be paid to the swelling around James’
ribs over the next twenty four hours, with the need for a
further medical examination probably being necessary to rule
out any cracked or broken bones.
“My ribs are very sore at the moment, and there is
a lot of swelling and bruising near to the injured area. I
certainly could have done without the crash, as it didn’t
do a lot for my chances of a win today.”
“I think the pain is being made even worse by the fact
that despite the injury I was so close to still winning. It
has not been the best of trials today, and it was always going
to be so close with so many sections being impossible. Most
of the day it has been more about pushing rather than riding.”
James will remain in Italy this week, ahead of next weekends’
Italian championship showdown with Lenzi and co.
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