What an interesting event. I’ve never had this happen before. Usually, the Pro class is the smallest class with Sport and Expert being the larger. I sure hope this isn’t an indication of the direction of trials in the US. Everyone always talks about the amazing things the Pro riders can do and how tough their sections are. But, in the end, it’s the Beginner and Sport classes that are the future of our small sport. I don’t want to sound ungrateful that we had nine Pro riders but, I have to admit, I am disappointed that there were no Beginners and the other classes were so small.
Okay, so that said, this turned out to be an awesome event. The weather was the best it has ever been at the Trials Training Center. We had a beautiful blue sky, not too hot and a light breeze all day. We did get a few sprinkles of rain on Friday but it wasn’t even enough to get through the trees.
I decided to have the Beginner and Sport classes ride in the morning, 9a-12p, and the Expert and Pro classes in the afternoon, 1p-4p. I’ve had a few requests for this over the years because the Beginner and Sport riders like to watch the Experts and Pros. Also, this increases the potential for riders to volunteer as judges. It seemed to work well so I think I’ll keep it this way in the future.
I also found another new area to set sections this year. It’s another spot where they had some sections for the US Round of the World Motorcycle Trials last year. I think you will agree from the pictures that it made for some very technical sections. Since I am using this event to select the US World Trials Team for the UCI World Championships in September, the Pros used the full UCI rules. Also, Ben decided to use UCI rules for Expert. For those that don’t know, this means pedal and bashguard touches count as dabs, the riders have a 2’30” time limit per section before accruing an additional point every 15 seconds and several other specific conditions. As such, it turns out that my sections were actually a little short. I think only one or two riders were caught by the time limit all day. I’ve heard that the UCI Worlds sections in Scotland will be longer than average so be sure train hard everyone!
I have to give a huge thank you to the Trials Training Center for continuing their integral support of US BikeTrials. Also, to my parents, for their support all these years and the friendship they show to all riders and spectators. Last but not least, to every one of the riders for keeping the dream alive. I hope to see you all and more again next year – same bat-time, same bat-place!
Results:
Sport
- Tim Cash – 42
- Ron Bennett – 46
Expert
- Ben Tignor – 51
Pro
- Cam Kowall* – 16
- Neil Willey* – 21
- Brian Yezierski* – 23
- Tom Ligon – 27 (5 cleans)
- Andy Listes – 27 (3 cleans)
- Dave Campbell* – 28
- Trevor Bodogh – 31
- Chris Pitts – 40
- Tom McNeal – 41
* – Riders selected for the US World Trials Team
Pictures
