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[mich lin]

Another Smart@ss comback Alan? So here's another one back at you! YA READY?

I know you do more for the sport than I ever did, I'm not arguing that! I know you ride better than I ever did, I'm not arguing that, so there is no reason for you to have to measure up to anyone. You're already an established advanced rider but not everyone is! I'm simply providing a solid solution to the pitiful class problem caused by the NATC lack of taking care of business.

I'm giving you a solid solution Alan by your own riding standards, you have stated over and over again I have no business riding nationals because I'm an intermediate rider. So by your own smart@ss standards anyone who can't outride me has no business at the nationals. I'm simply adopting the Alan standard and agreeing with you. Why are you so HOT now that we agree? Because you're a smart@ss when a discussion dosn't go your way!

I've got in my greasy work stained hands a program from round 9 of the 1976 US championship. It has the top 100 for the US Pro class that year, topped by Marland Whaley number ONE, all the way down to number 100 which is Bill Bartley of Kansas.

Just for fun, National Number 10 is Bernie Schreiber, number 11 Martin Belair, number 16 is Curt Comer Jr, number 23 Eddie Kessler, number 24 Dale Malesek, number 27 Jerry Young, Number 28 Wiltz Wagner, number 39 Bill Bergner, number, 42 Jeff Fish, Number 45 Tom Batchler number 47 Tim Seeley, number 51 Carl Peters, number 58 Gary LaPlante, number 61 Mike McCabe, number 71 Jack Stites, number 81 Greg Lerech, number 88 Bill Mathewson

That's a peek at the top 100 ranked riders of the United States trials championship of 1975!

Hey, I would have finished 7th last year 2006 at the US championship at 55 years old, not bad hey, for a guy who couldn't win in 1975 or 76! It clearly states in the program that riders MUST be experts to compete. The top 13 going into that final round was-

1- Marland Whaley Factory Honda

2- Don Sweet Factory Yamaha

3-Lane Leavitt Factory Bultaco

4-Mark Eggar Factory Honda

5-J. Guglielmelli Factory Honda

6-B. Schreiber Factory Bultaco

7-Bob Hopkins Factory Yamaha

8-T. Cheney Importer backed Bultaco

9-Tim Carr

10-Jack Stites

11-Curt Comer

12-Gary LaPlante Factory Kawasaki

13-Steve Darrow Factory Yamaha

Why if in 1976 you clearly were required to be an Expert to ride the US championship that today we see Intermediate riders contesting the US national championship?

This whole problem has been caused by the NATC, they have allowed lower class clubmen into the nationals championship series yet they refuse to provide ANY clear qualifications or standards for the entry.

Part of the reason US riding levels have dropped so badly is because of this NATC decision to allow riders other than experts to compete. Today we have only a handful of riders with a National Pro number. In 1976 we had at least 100 experts contesting the US championship and recieving a national championship ranking! See how badly things have gone wrong?

[alan bechard]

So you going to show?

Have to test and see if I am qualified to ride to the Lane Standard.

[brian r]

Lane, do you think that anyone should be allowed to contest the Pro Class

or there should be some sort of eligibility?

[mich lin]

Brian, I believe that anyone wanting to be the best they can be should be able to contest the pro class, period! Provided they can do it safely.

It's very humbling, yet it opens your eyes to what is being done by our best and will make you a better rider faster than anything else. Riding with the best forces you to accept their high standards, not some lower standard of excellence. You either sink or swim!

It also forces you to understand your limitations and punch through what you can't do, where to take a planned one, two, three or five. Here's why that's important, if you don't finish, you can't be in the results! A DNF earns NO POINTS. Also consider that a three is almost 50% lower of a score than a five, so knowing how to plan a three is actually a vital winning skill.

Seeing and riding with the very best also makes you aware what you need to work on and practice at. I believe Beta Ron made that obseervation here after riding with Wiggy and was all excited about what they had learned. You simply can't move foreward unless your being pushed by the best.

Another example, Smage moving up to Pro and finishing down the leaderboard insted of staying back and winning Expert against Peters, will improve his riding much faster than being Expert #1. Yet the ego and sponsorship is served better by staying down a notch. That's in my opinion why the current NATC program is so destructive to US riding levels, it in realaity rewards cherry picking and penalizes anyone desiring to excel which is a bad principle.

Taking it to the next level, I believe that our best Pros need to compete in the A class at the TDN and ride the US and as many other world rounds as possible. Will it be over their heads? Sure, but again nothing will improve thier riding faster than seeing the best ride, then attempting their lines for Themselves.

If you remember it was pointed out here that Cody Webb won his first national because he was riding with the Europeans not the Americans. He was riding their lines NOT the the horrible lines that the US Pro riders attempted. Look at how that tactic payed off for him with a big 20 US championship points.

The principles of raising your riding standards are not difficult to understand or put into practice. We applyed them in the 1970s to great effect and our riders ended up with amazing results in world championship competition.

Picture this! The year of 1976 which I featured above 60% of the top ten finishes that year at the US world round was USA riders! That was 6 out of the 10 best rides were from the USA, we even had two riders on the podium and none of these top ten riders were Bernie. He got better later after having the oppertunity to hang. around the Europeans, which changed his whole life. Otherwise he would have remained a back of the US pack rider.

That's why I believe we need to expand the US pro class and push that class into world competition. We must be honest however, in the 70s a rider was required to be a local expert to contest the nationals. Today we see intermediate riders at the NATC events. We must provide a standardized set of classes and standards defining what an advanced rider is, otherwise the standards of the US championship get lower and lower and lower.

Edited June 6, 2006 by Mich Lin

[onestophop]

Intermediate riders are showing up to contest the sportsman line at a National, not the Pro line. Let's face it there have been some Natl's so easy all you need to be is intermediate rider to sucessfully complete a Natl. Then the following weekend scores are in the 80's and 100's. Are you going to tell a guy because he's a 3 level rider he can't ride the National when the high score in his class is 40 or 45? If you make the lines so hard because you're trying to raise the level of riding you'll get less sportsman turnout and without the Sportsman rider there isn't much of a National. Remember most Club level riders ride for fun not because they are striving to be Raga. Maybe there should be a Sportsman National and a Pro National so the pie isn't being split 17 different ways. Way to go works riders, hogging up all the pie!!

Terry

[mich lin]

Terry, you have missed the point!

Any proposal I've presented to the NATC or here has no effect on the sportsmen nationals. It only deals with the top men and women riders in the USA.

The only proposal I've made effecting sportsmen riders is the overhaul of the youth nationals by reducing the number of classes. We could still retain the age winners with a best performance concept like they use at the Scottish Six Days.

So your point is mute, I promised the NATC chairman and I promise you that my US national overhaul ONLY provides a path for better performance for our top riders. The sportsmen nationals would remain exactly the same as they are now.

[onestophop]

You know what I guess I have missed the point then!

Terry

[mich lin]

Terry, can you expand on that thought, I don't get your point.