James Dabill Wins Santigosa 3 Day Trial

Reigning and six times British Trials Champion James Dabill has now added victory at the Santigosa 3 Day Trial to his already impressive palmares that also includes winning the Scottish 6 Days Trial twice too. Dabill who will turn thirty years old next month, rode his way back to the top at this, the forty fifth anniversary of Spain's most famous classic contest to eventually claim the win on the final day of competition. There was even more success for Vertigo and the fuel injected Combat as Francesc Moret and Benoit Dagnicourt took fourth and fifth places respectively come the finish too. 

Thirty-five Vertigo Combats were present over the course of this important event, twenty-five of them making up part of the entry that consisted of more than two hundred and twenty machines, with a further ten fuel injected models being used by officials and minders over the three days. 

Dabill who has executed much of his training on Spanish soil over recent months used his knowledge of the terrain that exists in the mountains around the town of Camprodon to good effect and announced himself as a serious contender for overall honours come the close of the opening day. James placed third at the end of the initial day of thirty-one sections, with Marc Freixa and Miquel Gelabert holding the interim top two positions respectively. However, with only two marks splitting these three riders the next two days were where the eventual overall winner would be decided. 

The second day of competition saw the Vertigo riders dominate as Francesc Moret posted the best performance of the day with a totally clean passage through the second set of thirty-one hazards, whilst Dabill dropped only a single mark over the same course to take a share of the outright lead alongside Gelabert both on four marks in total. Moret's faultless display saw him move up to third overall.  

Showing his true ability James was best of all the riders during the morning session on the third and final day. Dabill's early loss of just one mark even bettered the interim score posted by guest rider Adam Raga who only rode on day three. Dabill continued his good form through the rest of the day to record a daily total of nine marks that would be good enough to take the overall win from Gelabert by just one mark after over ninety sections and three long days of competition. Equally Moret and Dagnicourt both held their nerve to secure fourth and fifth positions respectively to round off an excellent and extended weekend for the Vertigo team.  

Speaking afterwards James said. "It feels good to win again. It's been a long three days where you have really had to concentrate hard so as to avoid any mistakes. After a steady couple of opening days I knew I had it all to do on the final day. All was going well until I crashed heavily in one of the most difficult sections of the whole trial. The five marks was bad enough, but the worse thing was I landed on my ribs. From then on it was a case of survival, as I was in a lot of pain and that definitely cost me some late marks. Anyway in the end I managed to hang on and get the job done, which is great for both me and the Vertigo factory."