World Outdoor Trials Championship Round 3 – 27/04/08
Sequatchie, USA
James Dabill enjoyed a better second day of competition at
this weekend’s Grand Prix United States at the Trials
Training Centre in Sequatchie, Tennessee. Despite rain falling
for most of the morning and making the already challenging
conditions particularly tricky, Dabill finished Sunday’s
competition in sixth place.
However, the result does not tell the full story. For the
second time in as many days, James picked up time penalties
for exceeding the allowance for the first of the two laps.
Without these extra marks, he would have finished the event
fourth, demonstrating his ability to compete with the top
riders in the sport.
The early rain appeared to make the soft earth give better
traction than on yesterday’s dry trial. However, in
contrast, many of the rocky sections became extremely slippery
and treacherous in places. James, like many other riders,
elected to miss-out of several sections to avoid any potentially
damaging falls or mistakes.
Despite this, he started well and it wasn’t until the
final section of the first lap that he made what he felt was
his first avoidable mistake. He tried to complete the long
climb in one attempt, as opposed to breaking it into several
different parts as he did on Saturday and on his second lap
today. This didn’t work and he picked up a five that
he felt was unnecessary.
His first lap score placed him fourth with thirty-six marks,
but with the additional penalties for the time, he was joint-fourth
with Jeroni Fajardo, on thirty-nine. His second lap also began
well and he was pleased to leave the second section on lap
two with three marks, this being one of the sections he skipped
on the first loop. However, he went on to make several mistakes
that earned him a series of fives that, again, he felt he
should not have picked up.
Despite these, he completed the day with a total score of
seventy-six, just two marks behind both Fajardo and Mark Freixa
and tantalisingly close to the fourth place he could have
taken without the time penalties.
“I’m pleased with today’s riding,”
said James. “It was a definite improvement on yesterday,
but it could still have been better. Although the result was
good and could have been fantastic without the time penalties,
I still don’t feel I’m riding at 100%. But this
does show that I am capable of competing with the top six
riders – particularly reassuring after yesterday’s
result.”
Results –
Total (L1 + L2 + Time)
1: Bou 33 – (23 + 10 + 0)
2: Fujinami 38 – (22 + 16 + 0)
3: Raga 54 – (33 + 21 + 0)
4: Fajardo 74 – (39 + 35 + 0)
5: Freixa 74 – (41 + 33 + 0)
6: Dabill 76 (36 + 37 + 3)
7: Cabestany 79 – (41 + 38 + 0)
8: Lampkin 84 – (48 + 36 + 0)
9: Oliveras 117 – (67 + 50 + 0)
10: Brown 150 – (75 + 75 +0)
Current championship standings:
1: Bou 74
2: Fujinami 67
3: Raga 65
4: Cabestany 48
5: Fajardo 44
6: Lampkin 40
7: Freixa 40
8: Dabill 34
9: Oliveras 26
10: Brown 26
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