mich lin

Well said Dabster! Now lets see who has the best career? Will it be Wigg on the 125cc bike or Smage who is on the full size bike already mixing it up with Webb and Aaron? How about Webb? Any bets?

Yes, it has been said here that the sections Bernie, Marland and Curt rode at nationals and world championship were as easy as club sections today! I won't name names but they know who they are! That's part of the reason I rode Intermediate class on my 77 Bultaco recently, to show that I could win on it today agaisnt modern bikes and riders. Imagine how much harder the sections Bernie, Marland and Curt rode on that bike in 1977, when they were young, in shape and training everyday!

Thanks Moto, I've been saying that same thing for YEARS! Get our guys into the A class at the TDN and the world championship. Then learn by watching the world's best. Guess that proves the point once and for all!

Still not clear on the yellow card issue! Did she miss a split? Then given more points because she yelled at her minder? So your saying she may have been 4th in the US Pro class both days if not for the gate and yelling incident. Hey, anybody would be mad at missing a gate! Imagine if you were a professional and made such a novice mistake, how mad you would be at your minder and yourself? I'd be fuming, wouldn't you?

Spinner, what do you mean? 4th and 5th, not so bad!

Alan, Debbie has not been able to ride for over a year! She rode the Sept 2004 TDN hurt and in a lot of pain. Now she's all tuned up but needs time to heal. No she will not be able to ride then! She dosn't want to come because she couldn't stand being on foot all week. Considering her condition, we may pass for this years youth nationals! As for imput, hey people comment on football and baseball games without having been there all the time. Why is trials any differnt, I've been to a bunch of World Championship trials since 1998. Seen the Yanks ride and have been comparing them for a long time. I'm simply pleased that you guys have finally had a chance to do it. It's kind of sobering isn't it? I'm optimisitc however, I was around when we took on the world in the 70's. I saw how we worked our way up and beat them at their own game back then. So it's easy for me to believe we could do it again if we put our minds to it. Seeing Curt and Debbie go so well against todays riders, also gives me confidence that US riders of the 70s were really good! My view is let's get it together and go after the rest of the world again.

Thanks also must go to the Trials Central staff! You guys made sitting at home or on the job, not so tough. Some of us poor slobs had to work! You guys rock and made the weekend a lot easier for those of us unable to attend. Say, how about posting some pictures of the fireworks superstores for all your readers. A trip to Dukes of Hazzard land is not complete without a visit to one of these fine establishments.

Compare the scores! The US Expert class was soundly beaten by the 125cc world championship riders. I knew it was going to be interesting having our Experts ride against the 125cc World riders and the US Pro class riding against Laia Sanz. It was the first time we could really compare head to head where our US riders stand against the rest of the world. Now we know we have some solid work to do! Where we need to make changes and its the proper time to do it.

Compare the scores! Women's world champion Laia Sanz had a big impact on the US pro class. Her scores would have given her solid finishes in the US Pro class against America's best male riders. Her great results against America's best underscores the need for a complete overhaul of the US women's championship. Unless US lady trials riders are allowed to move up the men's ranks at the NATC championship and still retain the US ladies title. We will never see another American Women's world champion. It should be obvious that any lady rider wanting to be world trials champion needs to ride at a US pro class level. Not even the US expert class comes even close to her level.

Considering the world and US championship sections that Bernie, Marland and Curt Comer rode back in the 70's were no harder than intermediate sections today, as some have claimed. It's amazing that Curt beat everyone at the US Sportsmen nationals. Either he has improved a bunch since then, or perhaps Bernie, Marland and Curt were not such bad riders after all back in the 70s?

Now that our American fans have had a chance to see just how well the Europeans go on the 125cc machines. Maybe now there will be a renewed debate on the importance of keeping our kids on 125's and the need for a 125cc national title. That is if we ever hope to have an impact on the World Championship again.

I agree with the Dabster, maybe now the Yanks will realize the importance of the 125cc world title and keeping US youngsters on 125cc machines.

Good looking group! You can tell a class organization when one of the team wears a Bultaco shirt.

Glad to see that there is some love left here in this hard, tough, dangerous world! Some of us poor folks do have to work, ya know! I'm also nursing Debbie, she just had her neck fused by one of the top doctors around. He has footballers playing with the titanium rebuild she just had installed in her neck. Hey, she's got more exotic metal in her now than Dougie's 4t. We hope after the rebuild has had time to heal, she has one more women's world championship and TDN left in her. We are 3 weeks into her several month recovery. Wish we were there!

Oversubscription of events is bad policy by the organizer! An entry limit is always in order like we see at the Scottish Six Days Trial. If they allowed anybody to ride the Scottish, they would have over 1000 entries and the event couldn't handle the numbers. Likewise at local trials, entries must be restriced if lines at sections and overcrouding becomes a problem. It's simply common sense!

Gone local on us? Happened to me also!

That was an FIM invention, it was their last attempt to get North American Trials off the ground before giving up on the sport in the USA and Canada. It had been hoped that our countries would be the engine of future growth for trials, it wasn't. Now they are looking to China and Asia! We have been given up on!

Steve, we couldn't add Canadian rounds to the series! FMN conflicts, you guys would be welcome however to come and ride the Western USA Championship. Chances are with the expense and time involved with doing the NATC series, the West Coast Championship might be more important than the AMA/NATC series someday. Few can afford the NATC series! Back in 1980, Montesa, Fantic and myself organized an offical AMA sanctioned 125cc/250cc national trials championship series. It used the foremat you suggested Alan, I simply picked key events like fun in the sun and made them championship rounds. The foremat worked great! The trials were being organized anyway. Making them national championship rounds simply added more riders from around the country to these already great events. Why the series stopped was simple! My son came along and I didn't have time for trials. I had to figure out a way to provide for my family.

Good advice copemech! Otherwise you won't have to worry about Daisey Duke.

Whenever a championship is involved you have more riders. Of course it would be best to have it NATC approved like the youth nationals.

Don't worry about the poison plants, they only effect Nothern Europeans!

That sounds like a good idea!

Now that's what I'm talking about. Southern Kulture, Yee Haa! Pass the grits, please. Meet ya at the Waffle House.

You Europeans will also enjoy the skeeders while your in Kimbal, there are also some other interesting creatures that live there as well. Hope you enjoy insects?

Hey, nothing like a little rebel culture to git you Red Coats awake! My favorite fireworks is the "barely legal", check it out, impress your friends. If your interested in taking a machine gun back to the UK or Canada with you, Kimbal is the place to buy it! I'd suggest a nice MP-5 or an AK-47, either peice will git er done. Ask for Bubba!