Motorbike aces set to return to Sheffield Arena for 25th Indoor Trials anniversary

Later this month, some of the most skillful motorcycle riders on the planet will come to the FlyDSA Arena for this year’s Sheffield Indoor Trial, which will take place this time on the slightly earlier date of Saturday 28 December.

The impressive line-up assembled for this celebratory occasion will again be headed up by the reigning and undisputed Trial World Champion Toni Bou, who over the last decade or so has also earned himself the title of King of Sheffield too with a record number of victories inside the now famous Yorkshire venue.

Bou and his fellow competitors will face a fresh challenge this time around with the re-introduction of an element that was a firm favourite, well certainly amongst the fans and some of the riders when it was last used back in the late nineties.

Speaking on behalf of event promoters Avondale Management, twelve time Trial World champion and an eight time winner of Sheffield Indoor Trial himself, Dougie Lampkin who is now responsible for the course design explained more: “We wanted to do something that celebrated the early days and gave both the riders and fans something extra on this special occasion.”

“The high jump was always one of the most spectacular parts of Sheffield during those early editions and created some of the most memorable and dramatic moments. As a rider I remember hitting the bottom of the take off ramp and never quite knowing what might happen when you were launched high into the air, but always knowing that you might just have jumped off mid-flight if it was going slightly wrong.”

“For me Amos Bilbao was one of the best at the high jump, he was always so stylish despite often being out of control, but that is what the fans loved. With him being a fair bit shorter than me in height, he was definitely better in the air than I ever was, but as they say big men don’t fly!”

Lampkin added: “The great thing is that we spoke to the riders about bringing back the high jump for the 25th anniversary of Sheffield and they were all up for it.”

The high jump, which will take centre stage, will be used for a stand-alone competition between the heat and final on the evening of the event, using a knock-out system to determine the eventual winner with the bar literally being raised round by round. All ten riders will take part.

The full line up is as follows:

Toni Bou – Repsol Honda

Adam Raga - TRRS

Jaime Busto – Vertigo

Jeroni Fajardo – Sherco

James Dabill – Beta

Jack Price – Gas Gas as the six seeded riders.

They will be joined from the best two from the young guns shoot-out that will include

Toby Martyn – Beta

Dan Peace - Sherco

Jack Peace - Sherco

Pau Martinez – Vertigo.

Tickets are selling fast with prices again held at the same level as the previous editions - £38.51 for adults and £27.26 (including fees) for under 14s. Standard tickets can be purchased from the arena box office - 0114 256 56 56 or online at www.flydsaarena.co.uk

A limited number of VIP tickets - £99.95 – are available exclusively from G2F Media – 0161 763 6660 or online at www.g2fshop.com.