mich lin

neosurge, point well taken! Getting all the practice you can with the world's best is very important for improving performance. I believe that Smage and company are planning just that. I remember Canadian Champion Ryan Bell riding at the Andorra world round in 2000 with Christy Williams as his minder, while our national champion was a spectator at the event! It was the weekend before the TDN in Spain. The Andorra world round proved great practice for Bell and it really did help his riding. Bell had the lowest score of any rider in the B group that year. Even Beating Geoff Aaron, our US champion who sat out the week before in Andorra. My point is this,as a rider your best value and greatest chance of scoring world championship points comes in your home round. It's a very selfish position for some US Pro riders to take, voting to make this experence impossible for those who have an interest in riding the world round. Then for dbrown the organizer to also take this position creates a double hit agaisnt these riders with an eye for world round experence. Clearly this thinking is one of the major roadblocks in the quest to bring US riders back up to world championship levels. When the topic comes up of the USA as a world round contender, look no farther than some of our own riders and organizers as the main problem.

If it's here, let the FIM make a mandatory seat and minimum 1 gallon gas tank rule for all bikes. Modern trials bikes don't look like a regular motorcycle anymore. You can't trail ride them very well and to sit on them you either have to live with your knees in your chin or sit up on the back fender.

Ringo, I totally understand your positon on Geoff and his business interests. He simply has NO interest in doing world rounds! He only cares about the US championship and his shows. The situation that riders like Chris and other Americans who want to ride the world round find themself in is this. They must choose between either riding the Jr. World Round/ US Championship line or the World Round line. They simply cannot ride both the national and the world round at the same time. I call this Catch 22! As dbrown has pointed out, it was by the choice of some of the US Pro riders with no world round interests and Dan himself. I was very aware of this vote, because Dan had mentioned it in a post here before. What this vote does is undermine the US TDN team's chances this year of a good dress rehersal with the world's best. The US world round would be great experence for our American Pro class riders. I can understand the frustration that the riders who want to ride with the world's best have with those who don't.

OutlawDave, sure their market projections were wrong, That's obvious! Remember Bultaco USA was selling 2500 Sherpa T's per year at that time in the USA. The Japanese didn't think that Bultaco could outsell them like they did. The Japanese have made a few mistakes over the years, they simply have the volume to overcome them! Now if Bultaco had required each dealer to buy 2 Sherpas when they only had sold one by shipping them two per crate. I doubt that Bultaco would have moved nearly as many bikes either. The other point I made was simply, the US importers wanted trials to grow! The NATC didn't want trials to grow! Without improved organization, increased numbers of riders cannot be obsorbed into the sport. US trials simply was not willing to or in a position to up their national, regional and local organization. The reason for that failure to take the sport to the next level can be debated over and over again. 20/20 hindsight is always perfect. Now do we still want the sport in the USA and Canada to stay as is? Or do we want it to be more on the level of what trials is doing in Great Britan? What's your answer to my question Outlawdave?

trialsurfer, boiling blood is good! I'm really glad that Chris scored last year, he's the first male US rider to score FIM championship points since Ryan Young in the middle 1980s. I find that a really amazing dry spell for USA male riders. I think we agree more than we disagree if we sat down nose to nose! I figured that Chris would again want to ride the world round in 06, that's what I would want to do in his position. The question simply remains, who else is willing? Since the NATC has decided that our riders are not up to the grade to compete with Raga, Dougie and Fugi on the world championship course. We simply now wait and see where in the USA top ten Sanz can finsih on the Jr World championship/US national course? she is riding the same course as the US Pros, this will be interesting! Remember, I want to see Chris and the top US pros in with Raga, Dougie and Fugi also, just like you. Now the NATC has put Geoff, Chris, Webb and the others in the position of trying to not be beat by the ladies world champ. If they are, it's a blow they may never recover from.

fivemeister, couldn't agree with you more! I ride both modern and twinshock trials. Everytime I get back on my Bultaco I can't beleive how comfortable the bike is to ride. It would make sense to make a rule that in the world championship all the bikes have a useable seat and a minimun gas tank size, say 1 gallon. Not only would it make trials bikes look like real motorcycles again but it would make a trials bike a great trail bike again. This would not only help promote the popularity of trials but increase bikes sales. Remember the more bikes that are sold, the more interest there is in the sport, the more money there is for rider support. Really everyone would be better off.

Thanks Mario for sending me the new Photo Trial annual yearbook of the World Trials Championship. It's simply fantastic and has to be the very best one ever. Lane

trialsurfer, your comments are well stated! If our best riders intend to excel at the TDN A class they certainly cannot continue to coast along as they have in the past. The first BIG mistake is creating a national scedule conflict for our riders to contest the US world round, which would be a good dress rehersal for the TDN A class debut this year. There is no doubt that TEAM USA outclassed everyone last year in the B group by a mile. Our riders have what it takes in style, technique, organization, equipment and sponsorship to be TDN A group contenders, all they lack is CONFIDENCE and a game plan! We did have two US world champs, Bernie and Debbie! Nobody bothered to draw from Debbie's knowledge of what it took to be the best when she was available! Why would we think that anyone would approach Bernie when he is even harder to find? I tend to beleive that Team USA's secret plan is to lose big this year at the TDN, then drop back and be the big fish in the small pond again. I don't believe this generation of US riders really wants to ride with the world's best. My plan for team USA would be pick off the "A group national teams one by one starting with the Cech Republic. Then year after year fight and train our way to the top or at least rise as high as we can get in the A group. In my view, the USA belongs in the big leagues of our sport, not the minor leages.

Going along with what Scorpa3 suggested, our local club the ITS has a ton of events each year. Bill Markem sets up each and everyone of these trials with a desire to supliment his retirement income. This man enjoys what he does and works tirelessly, of course observers are the biggest problem for him. what he does is offer anyone $20 to observe his 3 lap 5 section course trial, which usally takes only a couple hours. Then when there is not enough observers he simply does what Scorpa3 has suggested. Puts the punch on a stake at the end of the section and we self check. Do the riders cheat? Maybe, but who really cares! We are not riding the world championship, which dose not even have professional officals and observers yet either. Trials is not world cup football, its sportsmen fun, even at a world championship level at this time in history.

Ringo, sorry to hear about your knee! Your a tough cookie and still young enough to heal in a hurry. I've got at least 25 buddies who have had this surgery and are doing fantastic, in fact I talked to one yesterday about it. She is skiing up a storm and doing well. The ohter popular rebuilds amoung my friends is hip replacements, neck fuses and total knee replacements. If you want to talk rebuilds, just ask a stuntman! So with you out for 06, does that mean I've got to go it alone at the US world round? Hey, last year only 13 Europeans and Japanese riders showed up, if it's the same this year, I'll grab 14th place points.

Ringo, man I'm glad you were out in that motorhome, it dumped fresh powder in Big Bear. It would have been a shame to have your tracks spoil all that fresh powder skiing we had. Why should either Citytrials or me send a resume to any current US Pro riders? We know our current jobs as minders are almost over, neither of us could stand the pain of another minder job rejection!

Remember it was SoCal trials that created the Schribernator! Now we have Mary Poppins rides the nationals, not bad just differnt.

Wayne, you really hit the nail on the head with how the Japanese were treated by US trials. It's funny, everyone wanted the bikes but not the sport needed to keep the Japanese in the game.

Sendero, now that's the way I remember the Pro class back when, thumbs up dude! It's the reason the NATC didn't want any more American world round contenders, they were tough, mean, lean fighting machines. So was their support crews! Pity the riders who swam with those sharks. That's the type of tough guys Smage will have to face off with. If you go into the first turn at a supercross race, that's the same attitude you will find on both sides of you in RC and Bubba. In fact that's the same raceface you will find at the endurocross finals. Great represenatation Sendero. Ringo, hope your having a great trip. Snow in Big Bear dude.

Let me point this out, be blunt and yet fair at the same time. For someone to ever beat Geoff Aaron, they will have to have some contempt for him! If he is put up as an unbeatable god with a small g as he has been for a decade, he will continue to dominate the US Championship for another 10 years. To beat someone like Geoff, you need some contempt and disrespcet for them! Nobody has had that for him for a very long time. To see that contempt now jump up is a GOOD thing! Maybe somebody else will come along and beat Geoff, to be realistic, it's about time. Geoff has little or no interest of stepping into the international arena to put the USA back on the world trials map. It will take someone younger, stronger and tougher to be the next Bernie or Debbie for American trials. It's time for Geoff and Christy to get beat! Let's get them out of the way and get some young tough guys and gals in there who are willing to take on the world. Don't get me wrong, we need both of them as stepping stones and sparring partners for the next generation of young tigers. Past champions are a very important part of the championship mix. Please, don't take this wrong, I have no personal animosity toward either Geoff or Christy. I'm simply pointing out the mindset needed to take them on and steal their national championship away from them.

Not so fast citytrials! This sport can be many things to many people! I agree with both veiws of the sport, one of personal progress and one of "slash and burn" beat any and all comers that might show up to take a title. Both paths are good for the sport and have equal merit. The age classes at the nationals are the personal progress path! Why try to win an age title except for personal satifaction? To be the very best in the nation or world is the other path, sadly only one person can hold that title each year. That's the reason the NATC opened up the US championship to the 17 plus differnt classes and champions, to appeal to the personal progress riders! Each winning their own personal championship.

The AMA may not be the perfect national organization but they are much better than most national motorcycle organzations affiliated with the FIM. If you want to ride the ISDE, endurocross, Scottish, International trials or the US Trials Championship, you must be a part of the AMA. Our local trials club the ITS has a website with some pictures of members riding over some rocks. Our non-AMA insurance company went to the website, they insure MX events mostly and other forms of racing. When they saw the pictures of riders going over rocks they cancelled us, it looked sooooooo dangerous! We now use the AMA insurance program, otherwise we would have no events.

northernorm, I agree with your outlook that most people are after family friendly sport. More power to Ya. Pity Poor citytrial and the Smages, they are in for it for sure! They are looking to step into the tough world of international trials. They are looking to swim with the sharks for sure! Better him than you, eh! Geoff and company has opted out of the international meat grinder of world championship trials long, long ago and decided to be a big fish in a small pond. Can't say that I blame him! The easy, happy go luckey atmosphere he competes in is almost a gift. It for sure was not the world of Bernie, Marland and Lane competed in, where it was a dog eat dog world. Just like Supercross, or any other sport the big 4 Japanese compete at. So citytrials is really one of the best equipted Americans I've run into for the job. Nobody else I've seen into the American or Canadian trials scene today seems to have the intestinal fortitude needed to swim with the European and Japanese sharks. All that's left is to see if they eat or get eaten!

I'll donate 100 bucks for team Smage to go, Provided they really do take the pilgramage to trials mecca, the UK A-B Youth championships! Remember citytrials when you get there, your tourists! If you tell UK immigration your a trials rider they will stop you at the border, turn you around and send you packing! They only allow people from third world countries in to stay. I think that's because they know none of them will ever take up trials. Now, just so someone dosn't accuse me of hi-jacking this tred by talking about yanks in Europe! Did I tell you how horrible citytrials is? He's trying to beat Geoff Aaron, a legend! Keeping the gossip flowing ,did I tell you that the Irish-Canadian lady trials rider Geoff is going to marry, is also trouble? ! Most women try to stop a man from riding! This one supports his riding habit! Is that right?

Did evertone ride the same line in the sections or did they have splits for differnt classes? Also was this a mail entry event or was there sign up the day of the trial? Congrats to Alex on his win.

Everyone needs to have a go on the left with a right hand drive car! Be it far from me, was I the chap that brought up Americans in Europe on this tred? Or the fact that Yanks wear pads when they play football, or was it my cousins on the other side of the pond? Gee, social trials seems just like social golf, its a gentlemen's sport! Take it to the masters or the TDN's top level competition and things get tense really fast. So indeed trials can have some edge as any sport can as the stakes go up. It does attract a very high class caliber of people! That is if you exclude Ringo and myself from the equation.

bikespace, agree with all your manly manors needed for success in life but you failed to mention one! Learn to drive on the right side of the road. Yes, barging Bernie had hootspa! Remember him sneaking into the Scottish Six days UNDERAGE AND NOT ENTERED, riding a set of sections with Charlie Coutard's bike and cloths? Bernie was not entered and Coutard had retired! Bernie got a huge write up in the UK press and claimed he would have WON THE DAY! Now that's " HOOTSPA " I'VE got a can of Hootspa I'm putting on E-Bay if your wanting to bid on it? Starting bid, $10,000 bucks. Just what you need, Martin! I only had three cans I found at Italjet that Bernie had forgot and left there, the Lampkins, then Raga each bought one can from me, I've got one can left if you want to buy it? Start bidding.

Neo and Wayne, man you guys are right on the money! One reason US trials was so big in the 70s was Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki were interested in trials growth. They put a lot of money into our sport, so did the Spanish big three. So the magazines really pushed trials giving us a lot of coverage because of the Japanese big 4. Two factors stopped the Japanese interest. ONE, the lack of professional organizers for trials like we have for MX and Enduros, which created overcrouding at the limited number of events available to ride in the USA. If a strong core of Pro organizers like Bill Markem had popped up accross the nation, perhaps this story would be differnt. Instead of multiple events organized each week for trials like you would see in the UK each weekend, perhaps 30 or more in a nation the size of California. US event numbers stayed the same accross the nation, perhaps 10 nationwide each weekend. Yet the number of bikes and riders increased greatly. With increased bike sales and promotion,the numbers of riders swelled, lines at the sections became longer and longer. It became more difficult to handle the bigger entries with so few events nationwide. Simply it was not much fun sitting in long lines breating 2 stroke smoke. The NATC instead of taking an interest in trials growth,national, regional and local organization, they simply adopted a NO GROWTH policy. Which was a simple solution to the overcrouding problem the local events were having. To be fair, these men were volenteers and to expect such broad reaching vision may have been expecting to much of them. We must realize that US trials also had a strong ANTI-PRO rider, organizer and AMA movement then. Many felt it was unsporting to make a buck off the sport. So this negative, also must be factored in! If we would have had several individuals pop up in each area of the country who promoted trials for fun and profit, like we saw for enduros and moto-cross. The overcrouding problem would have been solved, we would have had more events like in the UK. Then with help from the NATC of course with standard rules and classes nationwide. Then some kind of regional championships tossed in for good measure,along with the excellent NATC US championship PRO series we had. TWO- The fatal mistake the Japanese Big 4 made was lagistics, that cost them dearly. I don't think they ever realized what they did to sink their trials ship! Japan made the decision to ship trials motorcycles motorcycles in a similar fasion to the USA that they shipped their small street bikes, two per crate. It was impossible to buy just ONE, a dealer had to take a box with TWO bikes in it. A customer would come in and order a TY or TL and it would come with another in the box with it. The dealer had to take two! This second bike would often just sit there on the floor, burning up flooring interest on his inventory loan for the dealer who had his inventory on consignment. When the bike did sell it was at a loss. It got to the point were dealers would not even order a trials bike when a customer wanted to buy one. Sorry for the boring history lesson but history is supposed to be boring except to those who love it! Neo, is right, that if in the 70s somebody organized a World Series of Trials in the USA, it would have attracted the best worldwide. Today, we simply don't have the industry and press support. What we do need is 50 Bill Markems accross the USA, people who organize trials for fun and a few dollars. More trials like the Wendsday night event Ishy talked about on this tred. Then as today, we still don't have the choice of the large number of trials people enjoy in the UK each weekend. We have to drive hundreds of miles to ride events maybe once a month. Without events, nobody will come and ride, nobody will buy bikes and we will see importers like RYP, US Montesa, Scorpa, Beta and GASGAS running on Micro budgits. Not to mention, no interest from KTM, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki or Kawasaki for trials.

Very true words spoken by copemech, Geoff is a great fellow and an under rated/acheiving rider. It's amazing that he has never scored a single world championship point with all those national titles under his belt. With a little more Hootspa he could ride with Dougie, Raga, Cabby and Fugi, then give them some riding lessons. He simply lacks confidence against the Europeans and Japanese. Smage is still a schoolboy and eligible for next years Youth Nationals! Think about that, a youth rider stepping up to challenge the US Pros. Will he win the US title first full season out? Chances are no, but he will build incredible confidence and momentum. I think Smage has much higher goals than just knocking Geoff down from the top spot of the US national championship. I beleive he wants to be world champ! It will not be Smage that is worried about the Pro class competitors he will face but the other way around.

Frank, your observations about US rider levels may be right on the money? That's the whole topic here, US riders as world round contenders! Why is it we can win at MX, roadracing, speedway and just about any other type of motorcycle competition but not trials anymore? Is there a fundamental flaw to the US grooming of top riders? For sure that's the topic here. Thanks for your imput!