Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127259
~ TRIALS AMAINATC National ChampionshipObserved Trials Series: Round3 ~ Seventeen-year-old Geoff Aaro n , fro m Connecticu t, tu rned in a 145-poin t ride to put a lock on second overa ll. Aaron is a former H igh School Class Cham pion. -, Colo rado's Mark Man niko balan ced his Fant ic 307 to the overall victory at th e Globe, Arizona, National. It was his first-ever Championship win. T wo-time defen ding Na tional Champ io n Ryan Young was tied with Manniko for the lead after two loops, but during the third and fina l loop, h is Beta broke. Manniko rules By Kit P almer GLOBE, AZ, APR. 21 went y-year-o ld Mark Mann iko, from Littleton , Colo rad o, beca me the lfith di fferent rider in AMA/ NATC h isto ry to win a Na tiona l Championship Trials event, by to ppi ng the 20-rider Cham pionshi p field in the rocky terrain of Arizona. Man niko pi loted h is Bob Mille r/ AXO / KalGard -backed Fant ic 307 into the winner's circle after dropping a total of 120.5 po ints, 24.5 po ints less than his nearest competitor, Apri lia mounted Geoff Aaro n of Connec ticu t. Third overa ll went to 32-year-o ld Ca liforn ian Kip Webb who was aboa rd an Fantic, with 167.5 poin ts dropped. Roundin g ou t the top five were Apri lia rider Todd Roper (172) and Betamoun ted Ron Co mma ( 173.5). ''I' m reall y happy," said the former High School Champion Manniko. " This is my first-ever Nat ional win and it just feels grea t. I hope thi s is the start of so met hing new. I intend to keep this up and keep trying to win . T od ay wasn't an easy o ne, that's for sure, but it was fun and demandi ng ." Favor ed to win the Arizona Nati onal wa s two-t im e defendi n g Nation al Champion Ryan You ng, but mechanical probl em s' with hi s Beta during the third and fin al loop put an end to hi s day. Befor e dr opping o ut heading int o th e th ird loop, Young and Manniko were tied with 57 points. The event was ho sted by Central T 12 Arizona Tria ls, In c., and was held approx imat ely 10 mil es west of Globe, which feat ured a three-loop course with 16 ent irely rock sectio ns. A' fivehour tim e li mi t was given for the riders to complete all three loops, but the req uired pace proved to be too much for most of the riders to ma intain an d ma ny were penal ized an d a few disqualified for being late to the finish. Follo win g th e first loop, Mann iko he ld a sligh t two -po int lead over Yo ung , which ca ug h t man y spectators by surprise. Yo un g - who has 13 caree r Nat ional victories to hi s nam e and is fourth o n the all-t ime Na tio nal win list - got off to a sha key start during the first few chec ks. " T hings sta rted ha ppen ing to me right a t the sta rt of sectio n one, " said Young. " J us t before I was ready to ride, a chec ker came up to me and said, 'Yo u' re going to get a five if you don 't sta rt listen ing to the checkers: I didn 't know what he was talking abou t. T hen a lad y said that she told me to get out of the section a coup le of times whil e I was wa lking it, but I never heard anyone. So that kind of threw a curve a t m e right 0 [( th e bat. That is some thing you just don 't need to deal with before you even start the trial. " At check four, Young had so me more . probl ems with scoring discrepancies and was allowed to reride the section, - -- - - - Con tinued on page 32