The showdown for the British Trials Championships took place last weekend at the Lakes Trial, Fell green in Cumbria.
The Championship class was once again down to two people reigning number 1 James Dabill and his long-time rival Michael Brown. As this was a new venue both started on equal footing and despite a torrential downpour shortly after the start the standard of riding over the varied course was superb.
Michael cleaned the slippery mud and rock at section four whilst James suffered a loss of three. Brown lost a similar score on the uphill climb out of the next hazard and then cleaned all the other sections on lap. This gave him a six mark advantage of Dabill which was enough to keep him in front right to the end of the event. After lap 1 Andy Chilton was holding third place but the Beta rider could not keep up the pace and would have to settle for a top 10 overall. Ian Austermuhle may not be a regular on the Championship circuit these days but he has lost none of his ability coming home third in front of Alexz Wigg and Ross Danby. 5th place for Ross was however good enough for the Jotagas rider to retain his number three plate for next season. At the top though it was Dibs and Brown equal on points with two wins each in the series but it was Michael and Gas Gas that would be taking the 2013 number 1 award on the tie breaker. This rule would give the Championship to him as the best result at the final event.
In the Expert class things were virtually sewn up before the Lakes with Sherco's Darren Brice coming home a clear winner. On the day he took the class win riding as he often does in front of his rivals and on home soil the Cumbrian was not going to take any chances. Three laps all in single figures gave him a comfortable victory on the day from Josh Woods who had his best 2013 result in the class with a fine second from Ossa's James Carr. Tom Affleck took third on the day which gave him runner up spot in the overall standings.