Monday August 22, 2011 at 12:12pm
This past weekend the FIM World Trials Championship travelling to Japan for a two day event. In the FIM World Mens championship it was Spain’s Adam Raga that took the win, while British Rider Michael Brown came away with 9th and 6th place on each day.
Jitsie factory Beta rider Jack Sheppard claimed his first ever World title as the eighteen-year old from Suffolk won the second day of the Japanese Grand Prix to take the 2011 SPEA FIM Youth Trial World Championship. The eighteen-year old added a second day win to Saturday's first, and by a wider margin. Sheppard won by twenty-one marks on Saturday, today it was forty-five. Sheppard's twenty-six marks lost were nearly a third of the total of second best Jesus Martin riding his Gas Gas, lost seventy-one. Third place, another eight marks down, was Ignacio Martin on his Gas Gas.
Also taking place this weekend in Germany was the opening round of the FIM World Trials Championship. The event was won by Laia Sanz, while compatriots Emma Bristow and Rebekah Cook became entangled in their own battle, as both riders matched each other at almost every section. Come the end of the first lap twenty-year old Bristow was on ten, leading third placed Cook by only a single mark. Making her return to the World stage after a two year absence, Donna Fox rode an impressive opening lap to record a total of just twelve marks.
Bristow and Cook continued to drop similar marks throughout their final lap. As the rain increased further so did Emma's pace. Despite dropping maximum marks in three sections on her final lap, Bristow was eager to finish before the hazards became too difficult. Cook on the other hand employed a different tactic, waiting for the bad weather to subside. Pausing for over thirty minutes at the penultimate section of the day, Rebekah played a waiting game, hoping that the course would dry out. Unfortunately for her the rocks remained slippery and despite her best efforts she failed at the technical hazard. Although she went on to clean the final challenge of the day Cook finished in third place, four marks behind Bristow.
Donna Fox slipped one place from her first lap position and rounded out the top five after recording a score of twenty-five during her second tour.The championship now heads west across the boarder into the Czech Republic for the second round of the series, which will take place next weekend.