As 2022 nears its end and the new year draws closer, preparations are entering their final stage for the DL12 Indoor Trial in Sheffield.
The DL12 Indoor Trial will be almost a unique one for the UK, as some of the top trials riders in the world descend on the Utilita Arena Sheffield on 7 January 2023.
The event, as suggested by its name, has been organised by 12-times World Trial Champion, including five times indoors, Dougie Lampkin.
“I’ve won the world indoor championships quite a few times,” Lampkin told Visordown, “and I’ve always wanted to run my own event. There’s not been one for a while in England, [...] and I was just keen to do one myself, really. I probably didn’t realise how much work was involved in it, but here we are.”
For Lampkin, the Sheffield event will be the first he has been involved in to this extent, but he has experience working on events with Red Bull to combine with his vast experience of the discipline itself.
“So, I think I’ve been able to bring a lot of that experience to it, and the riders trust me that I’m going to make a good event and a challenging event. But also I want it to be safe as well, that’s a big thing on my mind.”
The riders competing in the event also demand a certain level. Lampkin is a legend in his own right, of course, and therefore commands a level of respect himself, and surely the respect he has earned through his career has been a significant part of putting together the rider roster for the event.
The headline name is of course Honda's Toni Bou, a 34-time World Trial Champion by now, indoor and out combined, but he also has a strong field of riders behind him. Jaime Busto finished second to Bou in the 2022 TrialGP series, while Adam Raga was third overall. Gabriel Marcelli completes a Spanish quartet and was fifth in the 2022 TrialGP championship.
Trial2 World Champion for 2022, Sondre Haga, having recently signed for GasGas for 2023, will also be in attendance; as will 2022 British Champion Toby Martyn; 2022 Trial3 Champion Harry Hemmingway; and 2022 British Championship runner-up Jack Peace.
Getting such a high-level roster together was important for the event, Lampkin said, especially Bou. “Absolutely, I mean everyone has seen him on social media and it’s incredible what he’s doing at the moment,” Lampkin said.
While Lampkin is pleased to have Bou in attendance, he is also appreciative of the timing of the event and Bou’s relatively restricted schedule. “He (Bou) rides a lot less now in events outside the World Championship,” Lampkin said. “For example, he’s stopped riding in the Spanish championship now, even. So I spoke to him about it and told him what I was doing, and he put his hand out and said ‘I’m coming’. So that was really nice to have that sort of respect [...] from people like that.”
The same could be said of the other riders, as Lampkin explained. “Adam Ryder was exactly the same [as Bou], and Jaime Busto, so I didn’t have to convince them they were just a big ‘yes’, so that makes a difference because there’s a lot of effort to go into it, and when you’ve got people like that sort of keen to get themselves over at what is a sort of ‘home’ time of the year- it’s the Day of Three Kings on 6 January which is a big day in Spain. So, I needed it to fall into place so I could get them all to come, but they are doing which I’m really pleased about.”
Getting such a collection of riders together also requires a level of challenge from the course, about which Lampkin is confident in his abilities. “We’ve got the best mix of riders, and it’s up to me to put the best sections on which I’m confident I can do.”
Lampkin feels his competitive experience of trials, particularly indoor in this case, has helped him to build a challenging course. “Obviously I’ve been there and done that and seen all the things that make things great, and obviously not so great,” Lampkin explained. “I think the [section] on the 25-degree angle will be interesting. It’s been giving me a few sleepless nights working out how hard I want it [to be] because obviously it’s quite steep in case you do fall off.
“Sheffield is going to be a hard event, [and], you know, we’ve got a great rocks section, a log section mixed with tyres, and some big concrete pipes, so we’ve got a good mix of everything, all very different and all very challenging.”
Tickets to the event can be found on Ticketmaster.
Images courtesy of Red Bull Content Pool.
