James Dabill, JST GAS GAS UK has just finished 3rd at Round 5 of the British Trials Championship..

The event was won by Alexz Wigg who actually did Dibs a favor in beating his main Championship rival Micheal Brown into second place. Browny has now narrowed Dibs' championship lead to 6 points with three rounds to go.

The event was at the superb 'Ruby Rocks' venue near Bovey Tracey in Devon. This venue has alot of scope and was maybe not used to its full potential for a BTC Round. The practice lap on Saturday was well needed to 'bed in' the incredibly slippy 'green' sections and to help the Club to change quite a few sections. The top riders worked with the club to improve the sections accordingly.
This venue has not been used for a BTC for 5 years and the level of riding has improved alot since 2004 and it's very difficult for some clubs to know what is possible or not. In the end the Trial worked out 'ok'

Things didnt go according to plan for Dibs yesterday... It was obvious that the sections would improve so we hung back as much as possible and rode all the sections last. This would not have been a problem if we had no problems but with flicking a tyre off the rim on section 5 and then Dibs going over the bars and crashing on section 6 resulting in a bent rear sprocket we were soon flapping around changing wheels etc. which made Dibs 7 minutes late at the end of the first lap. This was not good and considering the Championship Class was low scoring we knew that to recover these 7 marks was going to be difficult.
However Dibs dug deep and cruised the second lap with the best score on this lap to close in on Alexz and Micheal. Going into the last lap Alexz was leading on total 17, Micheal 19 and Dibs 21, so game on !
A good 'one dab' ride on the hardest section 4 was spoilt by a 'dopey' two marks lost on the next. Dibs then cleaned effortlessly the remainder of the last lap until the last section where he was harshly 'timed out' on the last section which recorded a cruel 'five'.

Disappointed at the finish Dibs congratulated Alexz and said that he was happy with his riding but having 7 on time and two fives was not good. He mentioned on the podium that he was also frustrated with the relatively easy sections and that for a 'British Championship' they should be harder for the main class. This may seem 'sour-grapes' because he didnt win but i know what he means... The BTC should be a 'stepping' stone for the WTC and to be honest yesterday the Trial did not prepair Dibs, Pune, Alexz, Jack etc for this coming weekends WTC in Italy.
Nevertheless there will still be a winner and James' must be able to adapt and to ride all severity of sections. When the sections are not over difficult it brings the level alot closer and makes for a nervy day.

Dibs still has a 6 point lead in the Championship but knows he must bounce back with a win at the next round. Lets just hope it's harder !

Sam Haslam (JSTGG) was 6th on his new RAGA bike and Ross Danby (JSTGG) was 7th.
Craig Robinson (JSTGG) keeps on fighting and proved his ability with a really good last lap. He finished 8th.

The JST GG boys in the Expert Class did not have a good day. Lee Sampson was best gasser in 5th and Thorpy was 6th. Dan still only lost 18 marks in 6th place which proves that this class was also too easy for a BTC... Both Lee and Dan had a five each which ruined their days:(

I must say that the Trial would have perfect for no-stop rules !!?

Thanks to Jack and Factory Kev.
Congrats to Wiggy and Beta.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


There were again some good GG results at yesterdays Womens and Girls BTC Round at Cheadle.
Congrats to JSTGG rider Emma Bristow who finished 2nd in the Adults behind Becky, and Donna Fox (aceGG) in 3rd.

Joanne Coles (ace GG) won her class easily from her younger team mate Hannah Styles (ace GG).
Joanne lost only 2 marks which tied with Becky for the overall win.

Also worth a mention was the winner of the Womens Intermediate Class where 'Trial UK GG' rider Lianda DABILL won her Class !! So well done Dibs' sis !

Regards
Shirty