mich lin

Some solid advice that I'd like to give to the NATC is to run the nationals like a business. The customers are the riders and the customers are considered always right. Provided you want to stay in business, that is. The NATC should remember that there are a lot of Sports entertainment options available out in the market today, from MX, off road riding, quads, roadracing, car racing, golf, tennis, hang gliders, ultra lights, skiing, boating and a host of other sports that they have to compete against for customers/riders. To say the least I was a little surprised how the NATC treated this paying customer at this years nationals. I sent in my entries for both the Southern Calif and the Eastern rounds of the US national championship which they confermed and accepted. I rode the first two rounds and had a blast, finished 8th both days and learned a ton at each round. Then for the final eastern events the NATC also accepted my entries, so I booked my round trip non refundable flights and planned to share a car rental and hotel expenses with Bill Markem. The USA Sherco importer was kind enough to step up and offer me the loan of a bike for the Eastern Nationals. Which was way beyond the boundries of customer service in my view. I had simply wanted to rent something from them and they offered it without charge. That's why we ride Sherco motorcycles, their excellent rider support, they have also done the same for us at the World Championship, twice. Everything seemed in place for my first trip to an eastern national in over 25 years, then the NATC did something weird. I had a call from the top guy, telling me they were not going to let me ride. Letting me know also of the 10 round rule, meaning that only riders contesting 10 rounds or more would have their points counted! Which means that neither Smage's, the Irish Champions or my points would be counted toward the US championship. Now is this anyway to run a business? You take these riders money and won't give them any championship points! In my case I lost my airfare investment as well. Because my tickets were not refundable, costing me several hundred dollars besides losing the national championship points I'd gained for two 8th place finishes. The NATC claims they want to more riders in the tiny Pro class, yet their customer service is not up to the standards a rider/customer would get somewhere else. Maybe golf is my game? Refusing to reward points to Smage or the Irish Champion make little sense. In my case if they don't want bums like me riding Pro, they should have refused my entries. Putting me in a position to lose a small bundle of money on a useless air ticket is not a way to win more customers. Neither is not giving riders the points they have earned. Try running the US Championship like a business! Provide some customer service. We customers/riders have a lot of options for spending our sporting entertainment dollars as Americans. Your not going to get my repeat dollars if you guys can't give us what we want as customers. Beave

Thanks Tim! Hope your well down there on the cape. Hey we appreciate the loan of your lad Bruce to America, it has been really fantastic. What a good guy he is. He's a great teacher and a credit to your country. What a great job he did with the kids at the youth nationals, by far one of the best teachers ever at the Trials Training center. His riding levels have really shot up while being here. I'm sure his pushing Geoff really forced Mr. Aaron to ride better. We'd love adopt him! So that he could be on our TDN team. We could use a good African American trials rider.

Ringo, I was chosen for the US Vase B ISDE team in 1973 and finished 11th in the ISDE qualifier national championship that year. So I did a little off roading with the best of the best myself. I even managed to have the fastest times in the speical tests at one round of the championship on a speical build Frontera Phrototype. Build just for me by a speical department of Bultaco America, it was a fantastic bike. I only got to ride the bike once however but we proved what it could do by setting fastest times in the speical tests. We lost the overall because a taillight didn't work, darn. The factory wanted me to ride the bike they sold, the Matador which I hated, so I gave up my spot on the ISDE team to factory Kawasaki rider Lar Larson. I simply got cought in the middle of a design squable between America and Spain! So I stepped out of the off road racing sport and back into trials only. Up until then I did both and was perhaps one of the reasons that Bultaco paid me so much to ride for them. So when I watched the Endurocross it brought back a lot of memories of riding against the Penton boys, Malcom Smith and a ton of other famous off road legends. I know first hand what Geoff, David and you faced. I've been in your shoes. Beave

Let me just say in closing. Each individual must dig really deep to compete at Championship trials. What each individual finds for that motivation is very personal. We should not judge other people's motivations or expect them to be excited over what excites somebody else. What keeps Geoff going is very differnt than say a Gary Hoover. What motivates you or me is also differnt. What brings success to any sport is when it can motivate a lot of different people to take it up. What harm was there in me chasing after the personal goal of trying to get through one Pro section? So what if I ended up National Number Seven in the Pro class for the year, what harm did it do? Instead, consider the loss of another family dropping out of the sport. Consider the loss of a past national champion who has been lucky enough to score world championship points not being around to mentor and sponsor American youngsters. Consider the loss of a trainer that wrote the book that finally revealed the secrets of championship trials to the general public for the first time. Consider the loss of another American world Champion "Debbie" not being around to mentor American girls. All because the national organizing body refused to approve of a differnt style of training and motivation! I don't believe they did this out of spite or by design! They simply have dug themselves into a rut, boxed the sport in and created an atmosphere where riders of any age can no longer chase their dreams.

Alan using your progression to the playoffs concept is a good one. Something everyone can relate to if they watch pro sports. We simply don't have that now with only 5 US riders in the Pro ranks. American trials is not what it used to be! When I worked for Bultaco we sold more Sherpas per year than all the current trials bikes brands do combined. Then if you added, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki Ossa, Montesa and a few Italian and British bikes the world wide market was much bigger for trials than today. You have to decide what you want to get out of the sport as an individual rider. Especally since the sport is a shadow of what it used to be. For me I had a training program all mapped out and a program that I'd planned to follow for future nationals, useing the 3 rules! I planned to train in the gym and on the bike everyday, with the goal of getting through one Pro section if I could. Of course I would have to train like mad to pull that goal off. Then I'd be able to watch and observe the best we have, learn from them, scope out the competition in my age group and then come back and contest the sportsmen 55 class next season. After winning the 55 class, I planned to work with the American youth riders including my son. Build a team and give everything we had toward building another American world champ. That plan worked for me! It was very personal and motivated me to do the work I needed to get in shape. Since the NATC called and told me I could not ride at the back east nationals I've not been on the bike a single time. I'm not even sure If Daniel, Debbie, Rebecca and I will even continue in with the sport. I simply can't find the motivation and enthusiasm to do the work required to compete. For me as an individual, riding the Pro class was a goal I needed. I needed to watch, train and learn. What I learned is that the rug is pulled out from under riders dreams by the NATC system. But hey I knew that before but had simply forgotten or maybe hoped things had changed in USA trials. They have not, that's why we have not produced another American who can score world rounds points or win a world title. The question simply remains, will the NATC change to allow riders to dream again?

What worries me is the VN number of the engine. You cannot replace that. Also If someone could claim an engine for $300 bucks, why buy spare parts when you can claim an engine for 1/10 it's value? I'm not sure if a claiming rule would work when you cannot buy a trials engine in a junk yard like you can a small block chevy. I doubt anyone would cheat! To keep the critics happy however a protest system has to be thought up for the 125cc CLASS to pass the smell test. Now if we adopt a claimer rule, I'm buying one of the world round bike engines. To be trials practical, losing money if you lose the protest seems not a bad path to take here. Trials guys hate to lose money!

Yes!

Ok guys, I've given you the keys to the kingdom, the three rules! Use them with much wisdom. I've also layed out the principles lacking for Americans to get back on the world championship podium. Leave the NATC program as is or adopt some new programs to provide what's lacking, your choice. Get to work or relax and don't worry! I'm not married to these proposals, I was simply asked by the head of the NATC to present something capable of turning around the problem of a slumping riding standard in the country without destroying the sportsmen nationals. These 3 proposals would work! The ball is with you guys now,I've done my part once again. I've given you much, Use it wisely. Lastly, my Pro points where stripped because of the 10 round rule. Points don't count unless you ride 10 rounds out of the 12 rouunds. My points didn't count, nor did the Irish Champions or Smage's. None of us did 10 rounds. We all rode for nothing, which is a rip to ALL THREE OF US. Only those who rode 10 or more rounds in the Pro class score points. By those standards, Bernie would not have won most of his US national titles. He would not have been able to attend enough rounds and still do the world championship. Maybe that's why our 8 time national champ has never scored a single world round point? He is put in an impossible position by the NATC? I rode the nationals for two reasons, one because of the three rules. I believed I could score points, I had a blast and I learned a ton watching and riding with our countries best riders. Second, if you don't enter you can't figure into the results. Those are the two lessons I successfully passed on to those wise enough to understand them. BE WISE!

Now, I agree with you that training is good but consider that the best training is riding trials with tough riders. Getting dedication from the riders is as simple a giving them a reward for riding! There are 3 rules to championship trials and every rider must be able to say yes that he is following the 3 rules or else he will not continue riding. Here for the first time in public, are the 3 rules to championship riding They are the key to success- number one- Score Championship points number two- Have fun or be paid a lot of money Number three- Learn something everytime you ride Now if a rider cannot say yes to all three of these rules, he cannot stay in the game for very long. This is very deep but most definetly the key to success at championship sport. REMEMBER THEM! The NATC is horrible at maintaining the needed atmosphere for a rider to maintain the 3 rules. That's why I've quit riding NATC nationals twice! Once in the early 80s and then this past season. I had decided to come back and ride this year with my goal being Pro national #7, which was very possible. Then next season ride the 55 year old class and try to win that age championship. The NATC disqualified me from my national attempt! BLAH, BLAH BLAH1 They refunded my entry fee but I lost about $500 dollars on my non-refundable airplane tickets to the nationals. This took all the fun out of NATC national trials for me, which broke championship riding rule number 2. Which forced me to retire from NATC trials again. I doubt if I'll ever return. Yet the NATC claims they want more riders? Yet they would not let me work for my personal goal of national #7, learn, study or score championship points. No wonder trials is a disappearing sport and the NATC is having trouble.

Trialsurfer, using Expert Sportsmen and Expert for a two year prep course for the Pros is indeed the Natc plan, how well did it work? Don't see a bunch of North Americans scoring World Championship points. We need a quicker transition for the kids "times a ticking", a confidence building element and more competition between the riders to add pressure. Something the two year NATC prep course has failed to provide. It's simply not just harder sections that make better riders, it's competition! Tighter gates, fewer kickers is a baby step start but will not make champions alone, it's the combination of better sections, competition, support and confidence. In short its the creation of a winning culture like we see in Spain, Great Britan and perhaps Japan. Now if the NATC chooses to stay the course and keep the game plan we now use, fine. Just don't expect amazing results in the near future from any American teams or individuals. The current system has been in place for a long time as has simply not produced good results. In a winning culture riders learn from other riders! When riders are segrigated they can't. Part of riding is pacing, knowing your limits and building confidence by seeing it done right. Then attempting it yourself, in a segregated culture like the NATC nationals have become, seeing and attempting it yourself is not possible. That's why we need to break down the walls of segrigation between the up and coming, the current best and keep the old pros around for as long as possible. That's done by combining the 3 classes into one.

Alan, I really don't think you can compare local events to a National Championship Pro program. Apples to oranges! At a national your attempting to train the TDN team for better success and building hopes for a future world champion. At a local trial, your just out to have fun. It's like comparing the Yankees to a little league team! Now if you want to know how well this has worked for the ATA, it's been great for over 30 years at the El Trial. We have even hosted current world champ Adam Raga at one of the events. Which he won by the way, hey, maybe we can take credit for him winning the world title? If you want to compare a National Program to a local one, the Sportsmen nationals are a great success. They just can't build a winning TDN team or raise our top Pro riding levels. That's an undisputed fact. If we want our riders to stay exactly where they are now on a world stage, doing nothing is for sure the right path to take. That's also an undisputed fact. To improve our Pros, we must change. I'm open to any honest input on these proposals. We do need to keep the thought of building a winning TDN team as the main goal in any change in the US Pro Class and how to build our young up and coming riders into better competitors.

Trialsurfer Perhaps the winning score would have been the same on the morning sections. Chances are the winner would have dropped his point or single digit points in one of the currnet Pro level sections, not the Expert ones. With the addition of the 5 potentual world round sections for the finals, the scores should tend to be much higher. Without danger or discouragement to the rest of the Pro field. Overall the event should be much harder with the finals being 3 to 5 world level sections ridden 2 to3 times.

I see your point! Not sure what a trials engine is worth but it must cost about $2500 or more. Perhaps if the loser paid for the importer's mechcanic time!

I'd like to mention also what a good job the guys " Geoff and David did in their time trials. I went back to the pits and let them know they did great . Even though they both seemd to be a little discouraged, having qualified mid-pack. Like Ringo said the event was anybodys race if they ran a clean run. Also like Ringo said that's hard to do that because you can't ride the course like a trials rider during the race. Which you can during time trials because your the only guy out there. Everyone tends to slam and bang in the motos which gives the MX guys the edge because they are used to that. Even though Geoff had a tough night, David was really steady! He finished 4th in his heat race. Only two transfer out of the 12. Then in the last chance consolation race he finished 2nd out of 10 but only the winner got to transfer to the main. David was so close both motos but sadly he got no cigar!

Ringo, there is nothing more sobering than seeing first hand how fast and good the best are! I could tell a few stories myself! On the other hand nothing inspires you more to either train and get in shape which is really good for you or simply give up and go to pot which is not in your best interest. Go for it next year! Beave

Now trialsurfer, to answer your basic question, will the top pros be happy riding a few Expert Sportsmen sections and Expert sections? The answer is NO, because it puts them in reach of the up and coming riders sooner and the old Pros like Ray Peters. It makes it much harder for them! Which we want, the best Pros need to pay attention for longer peiords of time to get tougher in their heads to compete overseas. After all, top level trials is really 95% mental toughness. What they will have to do is concentrate hard on the easier sections and not be lazy or make simple mistakes. Then put ground on the rest of the pack on the 1/3 of the sections that are now at the current US Pro level. Otherwise they will be in danger of not transfering to the finals! In the finals, that's where the stops can be pulled out on the sections. Simply because we do not have to worry about the rest of the field being discouraged by the World level sections the best 5 will have to face, remember the rest of the pact becomes spectators. Which is good because they can always learn watching! The final benifit for a combined Pro class is when an up and coming rider scores better in a section than say Geoff or another top Pro would. That could be on one of the easier sections! What that does is build confidence in that youngsters that allows him to believe that someday he can put it all together and beat Geoff or the other top contenders. Without that confidence building element in play, we tend to have the same faces on top, trial after trial, year after year. The only way to build confidence in the youngsters is to allow them to beat the best in a section or two, then three or four, then in a whole trial. Now that's how you build future Champions! Hope this answers the question why we need to combine all the classes and easier and harder sections, with a World Class final?

I didn't know we could go in and watch the time trials or else I would have come sooner to Vegas. Plus it didn't cost a dime! I didn't get to see Ringo ride but I heard that the Friday event was a hoot to watch. Next year I may just come early! As for Geoff, he had a disappointing race! He seemed to not be able to concentrate. In the time trial he missed his line in the rocks which cost him a lot of time. I believe his time was off about 4 seconds from the fastest rider and that's a lot if you multiply 4 seconds over ten laps. In his first heat race Geoff crashed off the start line into Knight "the overall winner" knocking both of them out of contention. Geoff or Knight never really recovered after their first corner crash. In Geoff's next race he got a bad start again then started to move up a little. Then for some reason he lost his front end in a place where nobody else had any trouble, crashed then stalled his engine which he could not restart. Which caused him to DNF, which ended his night. I'm sure Geoff will want to forget this Endurocross forever. What I noticed was threefold, first the trials guys and off-road riders got bad starts! The MX boys shined there and always got the hole-shot and the early lead. This meant that the off-roaders and trials guys had to play catch-up all the time. Next I noticed that the the off-road guys didn't mind banging bars a little and the MX guys didn't mind banging bars a lot, in fact they thrived on it. While the trials guys always backed off when they were crouded in a section or corner. So they always lost ground when the racing got tough! The other big problem for the trials guys was bike set-up! They just don't ride this type of bike all the time. Which the off-road guys and MX guys do! Our guys ran stock bikes while the other racers had tricked out bikes that they use and tune all the time. Overall though it's a great foremat, one that allows us to see top riders perform we would never get an oppertunity to watch. Instead of being out in the woods we can sit and watch them ride with a cold beer in our hand from a comfortable seat. Another interesting situation was all the differnt off road groups cheering on their champions. This made for exciting racing and a diverse fan base for each rider. The stands were also filled with a lot of familes and everyone was very friendly all around where we sat. Not like a Supercross race where the crouds can get rowdy and drunk but simply just great people.

If anyone thinks that cheating would be a problem! Consider that we have not heard of a single story out of Europe of a rider cheating in their 125cc class. Why would we think we would have a bigger problem of cheating in the USA? A simple solution to solve any disputes would be this. Any rider wishing to protest another rider can for a $300 protest bond. The disputed bike would be taken after the weekends events to one of the importers for a tear down with the press, riders and anyone else interested present. By the way, this makes for a fantastic press story and would be worth the effort just to make the papers more intersting. When it was settled that the bike was legal or illegal $150 dollars would go to the importers mechanic for his effort and gaskets. then the remainder of the cash would go to the winner of the dispute. Hey, they could tear down my bike after any event, I would love the $150 for extra gas money. Of course if the bike was illegal, the rider would be disqualified for the weekend losing the championship points for those weekends rounds. They could of course come back the next events! This is a clean and simple win/win approach to any protests for a 125cc class dispute, for either a national or world round.

Trialsurfer, I like your question and comments. To answer you! In the quest to bring up US riding levels, some easier sections are VERY important in a Pro national along with harder ones than we have now. We simply must do both! Why? Because some riders do the hard stuff well but they can't keep their focus on the easier sections and drop stupid points. "I'm sure all of us relate to this problem?" All riders need to learn to do both, ride harder and easier sections at the same time, then if they mess up there needs to be a pack riders ready to pick them off. This forces them to stay sharp! That's why we combine Sportsmen Expert, Expert and Pro together into one big class. It creates more riders in the mix, brings back great riders like Ray Peters into the Pros, who is still very dangerous on the easier sections. Then also brings in future champions like Smage faster and also makes him a danger to the top guys, keeping them more on their toes. It puts fear into our best riders forcing them to improve, they know if they screw up they might fail to transfer into the finals, where things get really tougher than current NATC pro class sections. So, you see, the easier sections are just as important as harder ones to improve our riding levels. We shall in the future include, some easier,some the same difficulty and some harder sections than we have now. A much wider spectum of sections is needed. Plus have a much larger and dynamic field of riders than now, putting more pressure on the best few riders. Everybody is forced to improve or simply they have the option of moving down to sportsmen! The proposals I brought to the AMA / NATC, gave us the foremat for a bigger better field of riders, plus a sound progression that builds confidence for our best youngsters to move up much faster through the Pro ranks. Plus keep the top US riders much more on their toes forcing them to raise the bar to stay ahead. Now if the NATC refuses to adopt a better program simply because they don't like the source. That simply shows a lack of respect to the American national riders and the AMA as a whole. I could care less, about what the NATC thinks of me. I'm simply a long time trainer and coach who has had some success at trials. That experence allows me to see the roadblocks to the top of the world podium in our current national program that some can't ! What I do care about is putting US riders back on the World Podium! Maybe results can become more important than anything else? Then maybe the NATC will made the needed changes?

Way to go Ringo, for stepping up and taking a shot at making the Eunduo-cross night program main events. I've got to congratulate him for aiming high and going for it in Vegas. There are two roads a rider can take, the first is the build slowly road. Ride with the local guys and work your way up and maybe someday shoot for glory. OR jump in with both feet and sink or swim with the BIG DOGS and Johnny did the big jump. Way to go Ringo, that took courage. Why I like the second path of jumping in with the Big Dogs is you can compare your lap time or score with the best. It gives you an oppertunity to reveal what you need work on and maybe, just maybe you will. Then next time you can close that gap between you and the best until you can honestly decide to give it up or come back and keep trying. I like to think it is better to have tried and failed and felt the sting of losing, than to have never have tried at all. Way to go Ringo, see you out there next year. The Beave

Viva Las Vegas! Elvis was even staying at our Hotel, he looked great for a guy over 60! Lafferty and Cheves also used trials tires but only Geoff and Cheves used them on both ends! Perhaps the Trials tire was a mistake on the front for Geoff, he appeared to have a front end wash twice, which cost him dearly. The first he and Knight took each other out in the first moto start, then in the Semi Geoff washed the front end, stalled the motor and DNF'ed the race. Geoff was attempting a combination of MX turns and Trials technique on the straits while David Chaves used trials techniques everywhere and did much better on the trials tires on both ends than Geoff did. David had a much better night than Geoff, moving from nearly last off the start twice up to 4th in the Semi and then up to 2nd in the last chance consolation race. Sadly a rider had to win that race to transfer to the main.

That style of bike would be just the ticket! In the finals only one 4-Stroke made it in however and it was not compeditive! All the other 4 stroke bikes fell by the wayside in the preliminary races. Are the 2-Strokes better?

Brian that's a top drawer idea ! I couldn't agree with you more. I believe the trials world needs to go one step farther and make a rule that trials bikes must have a minimum tank size of one gallon and a real useable seat. That way trials bikes could be used again for trail bikes and sold to the general motorcycle population again. I also believe that Geoff would win the Endurocross going away on a trials bike.

So are we, We leave Friday morning and we are driving, we arrive Friday about 2pm! Look us up on Friday. Now my pick for the winning of the Enduro cross would be Geoff Aaron if they allowed him to ride the trials bike. We can't have that however, it would start a run on trials bikes for other types of riding. Which would increase production, lower prices of trials bikes, make the sport bigger and generally upset this obscure sport.

City Trials, I tend to think that the winner of the 125cc National Championship would be Andrew Oldar! Unless of course Smage or some other ringer stepped back into the game.