IN
THE
WIND
P44
Smage Wraps Up 11th Title
P
at Smage clinched a record-
breaking 11th U.S. National
MotoTrials Championship title
at rounds seven and eight of
the AMA/NATC U.S. National
MotoTrials Series, June 22-23,
in Diamond Mill, Oregon, eclips-
ing the record of 10 titles held
by Geoff Aaron. In addition, the
FactoryONE/Sherco rider's win
on Sunday marked his 18th in a
row going back to last year, which
broke three-time champ Scott
Head's record of 17-straight wins.
Although he was pressed hard
on day one in Colorado, Smage
has dominated the series in 2019
and appears to be capable of win-
ning for several more years.
"There are definitely times
when I get a little burnt out, and
I wonder how am I going to keep
pushing, but then when the
results come it's always worth it,"
said Smage. "Right now, I can
see myself continuing for a while,
as long as I can enjoy it."
The Oregon event was a
change of pace from the rest of
the events held this year in that it
was set up in the spirit of tradi-
tional trials, with very little stop-
ping and hopping and lots of long,
technical sections. The nine-mile
loop included lots of slippery
rocky creeks and steep climbs.
In addition to his mastery of
the "big sections," Smage proved
he is equally adept at the really
technical stuff, too.
"The sections were very techni-
cal, for sure, and it was a little bit
hard to adjust to the traction at
first, just because the last couple
of events have been dry and
grippy, and I haven't had a lot of
time to ride the slick stuff pretty
much since before Minnesota,"
said Smage. "You're not just
wide open every section, hitting
everything as hard as you could.
You really had to think about all
the angles, every inch of staying
on your line, finding traction, and
hitting everything exactly how you
wanted to. If you hit it sideways or
hit it too hard, you'll end up spin-
ning and sliding out, so you really
had to be smooth and precise."
As he has done at all of the pre-
Pat Smage claimed a record
11th AMA/NATC MotoTrials
Championship in Colorado.
PHOTOS: SHAN MOORE
