Just like Toni Bou did during the years 2005 and 2006, where his results began to amaze all the fans and main teams, Jack Challoner (Beta) is stealing all eyes during this year’s World Indoor X-Trial Championship thanks to his fantastic results, where he has even surpassed Takahisa Fujinami himself on one occasion.
Jack arrived at the World Indoor Championships with no experience, having just turned 20 years old and having a lot to learn. However, he has shown a maturity and wisdom that is surprising in a rider of his experience. Challoner’s best results have come in the final two rounds, where he has managed to qualify for the semi-finals, ahead of his compatriot and reigning British champion, James Dabill. However, the most exciting thing for the British rider was being able to eliminate and overtake the experienced Takahisa Fujinami in one race.
Text: Jake Miller & / TW Photos: FIM
According to Challoner: “I had a great night in Barcelona. To get into the top five and this has certainly given me a mind-blowing boost of motivation and desire. I still have a lot to learn, but I’m really enjoying myself indoors, something I didn’t expect. It’s a completely different experience than outdoors, but I like it. The support I’ve received this year has been incredible, especially in Sheffield and Barcelona.”
“Before the first round I was a bit nervous, because I didn’t really know how I was going to deal with the intensity of the indoor venue, as it’s something you can never really prepare for. When you’re inside a zone, however, you can’t think about the crowd, you have to concentrate a lot, as the slightest mistake leads you to make a fiasco. However, you can feel the encouragementof the people, the encouragement and enthusiasm, so you give your best to put on a good show and achieve an optimal result.”
Having won the Junior World Championship in the last two years, Jack is now only thinking about measuring himself against the best riders in the world, trying to learn, improve and perfect his riding technique to reach the top.
According to Jack: “My goal at the beginning of the year was just to qualify, I really didn’t know how I was going to feel or what my level was compared to the rest of the rivals. I can’t wait to keep improving as each round comes to see how far I can go. Right now I’m sixth in the championship, much more than I could have expected at the start of the season. I will try to defend this position in the last two races and get some decent results.”
The next race, penultimate points, will be this
coming Saturday, March 12 in Madrid
, where Bou can also be proclaimed World Champion. Trialworld has put together a special price for this event.
If you want to see more photos of Jack, you can click on the galleries of the World Indoor X-Trial.
[Pincha aquí para ver la galería del Indoor de Génova]
[Pincha aquí para ver la galería del Indoor de Marsella]
