The first round of the FIM World Indoor Trials Championship took place on Saturday the 9th of January in the Hallam FM arena in Sheffield and it was an extraordinary event! Tribal Zine’s translator Ben Swales went along to see how the moto boys do it. It was the first time he’d been to a moto event and he didn’t really know what to expect!
Despite adverse weather conditions (the arena car park was unusable due to the snow!), spectators still made it out in their thousands to watch the world’s best riders pit themselves against Martin Lampkin’s famous sections. The seven sections were enormous, constructed from skips, cable reels, rocks, logs and artificially constructed obstacles. The famous waterfall section was back and looked particularly daunting in the corner of the arena, beside the podium. This was the first round in which the new (some might say confusing) format was to be used, and it threw up some surprise results!
Ten of the world’s best riders hade come to Sheffield to test themselves on these difficult looking sections; current World Champion Toni Bou (Montesa) (Best of Toni Bou by Sergio), his fellow Spaniards, Albert Cabestany (Sherco), Adam Raga (Gas Gas) and Jeroni Fajardo (Beta), 2004 World Champion Takahisha Fujinami (Montesa), France’s Loris Gubian, Brits Michael Brown (Sherco), James Dabill (Gas Gas) and Alexz Wigg (Beta) and five-time Indoor World Champion Dougie Lampkin MBE (Beta). With such world-class riders in attendance, it was sure to be a tense and exciting event!
The Sections
Qualification :
In the qualifying round all ten riders had to ride one lap of five sections, with the two highest scoring riders being eliminated. Section 1 was the rock section with some big gaps and steps that were to claim a few points over the course of the evening. 20 year old Alexz ‘Wiggy’ Wigg was first out and managed to get through the first half of the section with no problems. Unfortunately a mechanical fault mid-section meant an early five for Alexz. French National Champion Loris Gubian had a scary looking fall in the cable reels section which seemed to shake his confidence as he fived all five sections in the qualifying round. Toni Bou was the only rider to clean all five sections, and the rest of the scores reflected the difficulty and nature of the sport, ranging from 1 to 25. Alexz Wigg and Loris Gubian were unfortunately eliminated at this stage, while the remaining eight riders proceeded to the next round.
Qualifying Results
| Position | Rider | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toni Bou | 0 |
| 2 | Jeroni Fajardo | 2 |
| 3 | Takahisa Fujinami | 3 |
| 4 | Adam Raga | 6 |
| 5 | Dougie Lampkin | 6 |
| 6 | James Dabill | 9 |
| 7 | Albert Cabestany | 13 |
| 8 | Michael Brown | 17 |
| - | - | - |
| 9 | Alexz Wigg | 19 |
| 10 | Loris Gubian | 25 |
Final :
TX 1
TX 1 consisted of four two man races over the speed trials course which comprised a double quarter pipe and a series of metal barrels. The winner of each race automatically qualified for the main trial and the losers had to ride a “last chance” section with the two highest scoring riders being eliminated. Dougie Lampkin, James Dabill, Adam Raga and Albert Cabestany went through while Toni Bou, Takahisha Fujinami, Jeroni Fajardo and Michael Brown had to ride one more section to decide who would be eliminated. All four riders cleaned the log section, but Brown and Fujinami were eliminated as the two slowest through.
TX 2
The remaining six riders then rode three more sections, this time in reverse, with all but Lampkin cleaning all three. Fajardo was eliminated along with Dougie as he had recorded the fifth slowest time over the sections, despite having dropped only one point all evening, a victim of the new format. The four riders left in the competition then raced again, with the slowest two riders, having two points added to their scorecards before beginning TX 3.
TX 3
Bou, Dabill, Raga and Cabestany all went on to ride four more sections, including the previously unridden white boxes section and the infamous waterfall section. The white boxes section, built by Dougie’s minder James Lampkin, claimed fives from all four riders, proving to be the hardest section of the day. The black oil drum section and the skip section followed, with all riders giving it their all in this final. The rocks were next, and this could be an important section if it came down to a tie break after the final waterfall section. In the event, it did, with Raga and Dabill tied on points after both fiving the waterfall. Dabill just edged Raga out to take third place. It was down to Toni Bou and Albert Cabestany, who were just a point apart, to fight it out for the top spot. In the end it was Bou who took the victory after Cabestany fived the waterfall and Toni put in a spectacular effort, cleaning the last section of the day and making it look easy!
Final Results
| Position | Rider | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bou | 5 |
| 2 | Cabestany | 11 |
| 3 | Dabill | 15 |
| 4 | Raga | 15 |
FIM Championship Standings
| Position | Rider | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bou | 20 |
| 2 | Cabestany | 15 |
| 3 | Dabill | 12 |
| 4 | Raga | 9 |
| 5 | Fajardo | 6 |
| 6 | Lampkin | 5 |
| 7 | Fujinami | 4 |
| 8 | Brown | 3 |
| 9 | Wigg | 1 |
| 10 | Gubian | 1 |
Danny MacAskill still injured...
Internet superstar Danny Macaskill had been supposed to be performing during the interval, but his injured shoulder meant that he was still unable to ride. He was on hand for an interview with the commentators though and promised to come back next year! Also interviewed was Downhill World Champion and local hero Steve Peat, who was obviously impressed by what the moto boys could do!
Photos :
Thanks to Ian Cross (www.pics4all.co.uk), a professional photographer who specialises in Trials, Motocross and MTB photography, for the photos. Click here to go to the main gallery and check out some of his other stuff. Thanks also to Matthew Holdsworth (Tyke Trial) for the photos of the sections.
Voici les premières dates des compétitions de Trial régionales de la nouvelle saison dans la partie est de l’hexagone. Le Trophée (...)
Le Montauban Trial Club a le plaisir de vous annoncer la "SESSION II" de sa Compétition Nocturne. En effet, pour ses 10 années d’existence, (...)
Le club du Vélo Vert Savignolais organisera la 6ème manche de la Coupe Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2017 de Trial ce dimanche 17 septembre ! Une (...)
L’équipe de bénévoles du Vélo Club Sportif de Betton s’est mise en marche pour tracer le trial de Betton et vous attend de pied (...)
Voici le programme complet de la 4ème étape de la Coupe du Monde UCI Trial 2017, qui investit pour la troisième année consécutive Albertville et (...)
Le club de Vélo Trial Petit-Coeur La Léchère organisera la 5ème manche de la Coupe Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 2017 de Trial ce dimanche 25 juin ! Une (...)
La finale de l’édition 2017 de la Coupe FFC Grand Sud de Trial se déroulera le 25 Juin dans la petite ville de Saint-Sulpice-sur-Lèze en (...)
La finale du Championnat Centre / Ile-de-France Ufolep 2017 de Bike Trial se dispute ce dimanche 11 juin à Larchant. Retrouvez les infos sur ce (...)
