SHEPPARD SLIPS TO FOURTH IN SAN MARINO

Round 6 - 2010 SPEA FIM Trial World Championship
Baldasserona - San Marino - 18/07/10

Jack Sheppard - Beta was unable to continue the momentum that had taken him to two back to back wins at the last two rounds, when he slipped to fourth place at the San Marino Grand Prix. Sheppard never looked at ease in the easy sections and saw his day get even worse as he suffered mechanical problems towards the end of his first lap. To compound the situation, Jack's main rival Pol Tarres was in devastating form and romped to an easy victory at round six of the 2010 SPEA FIM Trial World Championship.

Jack would have been only four years old, when the series last visited this tiny principality close to the east coast of Italy and near to the famous resort of Rimini. Whilst much has changed in the World of trial since 1998, the event followed a similar format to all those years ago. Based at the ex Grand Prix motocross circuit of Baldasserona, the course took the riders two kilometres to the main group of sections.

These were based in a dry river bed, where water was at an absolute minimum. The threat of rain meant that the organisers had left the sections on the easy side, and when this did not arrive the trial was always going to be a battle of nerves. Jack needed steadying dabs in sections two and five to get his day underway, but his heaviest loss for the lap came in the tenth hazard. A three here took his total to eight, which compared to Tarres on clean, left Sheppard down in sixth spot at this point.

The sections were not Jack's only problem, as he was forced to change a complete clutch after section thirteen, when one of the fibre plates broke up whilst under severe load leaving debris in the gearbox that would cause ongoing issues as the day wore on. Sheppard did his best to recompose himself, in an attempt to salvage something from his day.

Whilst his closing lap of ten marks was nowhere near what his best could have been, it was enough to lift him up the closing order and into fourth place. In the end just three marks separated the sixteen year old from Suffolk from the final podium place. With the best nine from eleven counting days to decide the final championship standings' Jack will be hoping that this is a result he can afford to drop.

A disappointed Jack said. "I would rather forget today for a few reasons. I have not rode well and felt quite nervous this morning. Riding first in these conditions was definitely not an advantage for me. Knowing Pol was riding so well did not help my confidence, and when the clutch went I really knew it was going to be one of those days."

"On the second lap I did my best to forget about what had happened in the morning, and although I still made some mistakes I did manage to recover some places and was quite unlucky not to be on the podium in the end. My only focus now is to win in Italy next weekend, and to keep the championship alive." Sheppard concluded.

Jack will again spend the week in Italy with his Top Trial Team to prepare for the Italian Grand Prix next weekend.