Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ OBSERVED TRIALS Trialdes Narions ~ ~ it) ..0 o ..... u o Eight-time British Champion Steve Saunders led his team to third overall. O bserved T rials World Champion Jordi Tarres led the Spanish team to a narro w victory at th e T rial des Natio ns in G ermany. The American team, made up of National Champion Ryan Young, Ron Commo Jr., Geoff Aaron and Raymond Peters, was 14th. Young was the top U.s. scorer. Spaniardsprevail in Germany By John Dickinson GROSSHEUBA GERM CH, ANY, SEPT. 22 h e internationa l trials seaso n wound up with th e eighth running of th e Trials des Nations in Germany, and World Champion J ordi Tarres led th e Spanish team to a on epoint victory over France. The Ameri can tea m , co nsisting o f National Champion Ryan Young, Ron Commo J r., Geoff Aar on and Raymond Peters, fin ished 14th. T he a n n ual i nter-co u n try event feat u red four- rider teams from 18 T 34 nations, with th e top three rider s' scores counting towards th e team 's total points. The team with the lowe st points was the overall winner. Set in the fore sts surrounding Grossheubach, th e cou rse consisted of 14 simi lar sections containing many rock and loose-earth climbs. Competitors lapped th e cou rse three tim es. T he level of diffi culty was consistently just a fractio n under World Championship standard, but well over National gra de. One lap was completed in dry conditions, but rai n soa ked the grou nd for the remainder of th e event. Aft er winning his third Wo r ld Championship in a ro w, Tarres was ready to lead his Spanish team into battIe against o ld rivals France a nd Italy. The French were the defendin g cham pio ns a nd had tri u mphed in the contest five times, a nd in th e seven p receding Tria l des Nati on events no ot he r co u ntry o ther th an Spai n, France and Italy had been ab le to fin ish in th e top th ree. But a truly ins pired British sq ua d, led by Steve Crawford, threatened to tak e th e Nations by storm a nd ended up finishing third overa ll , 10 points adrift th e winning Spaniards. On paper, experts felt th at the U.S. team had a fair chance at success, with Young, Aaron and Co m mo expected to be th e scor ing members. But all four Ame rica ns struggl ed with th eir unfam il iar bo rro wed bik es and a tough course th at never allowed th em to get into stri de. Commo ra n into big tro u ble early in the event whe n h is bo rrowed Beta Zero 's crank came loo se. It too k the better part of a circui t for Commo to p ush back to th e p its a nd mak e rep airs, then all he cou ld do was ride th e rem ai ni ng loops to drop 42 points on time alo ne a nd finish as th e nonscori ng member of th e U.S. tea m. As expected, it was You ng who was the to p -scorin g American , a n d he finish ed 38th o verall , a lthough he failed to clean a sing le hazard. Young's best result was a pair o f sing le-dab rid es in th e second sectio n. Aaron set orr in very promising style with a clean in sectio n two and just one dab in th e following section. He finished the opening circu it with 50 points, 12 less than Young, the dry rock steps sui ting his measured style. But a rainstorm struck aft er the opening lap and Aaron lo st hi s grip wh en the secti ons became very slippery as mud was dragged onto th e bedrock . The Brit s got straigh t through th e openi ng sectio n a nd were th en handed an edge over th e o th er teams as Spain , Ital y, France, Finland a nd host co u ntry Germany held a mini-wa r. T he teams' riders go t in volv ed in a slo w-movi ng, . psych ol og ical battle th at ultimately cost th em stac ks of ma rks on tim e. Meanwhile, the Briti sh were opera ting like a true team, contin ua lly assis ting eac h ot he r a nd urgi ng each member to ride above hi mself con sta ntly. The sq ua d cons isted of eighttim e Bri tish Cha mpio n Steve Saund ers, Montesa rider Rob Crawford and the p rivate Screenart-Beta sponsored pairing of Steve Co lley and Wayne Bra ybrook. . The openi ng la p was co m pleted in bo ne -dry conditions a nd showed the Spanish squad .of World Champion Tarres, Am os Bilbao , veteran Ga bino Ren al es a nd youngster Marc Col o me to be leading by six ma rks over Fra nce a nd Great Britain. A few eyebrows were raised by the Co ntine ntals, but they clearly expected the Brits to fall rapidly back down the order. Bu t a t the end of th e second lap, whe n th e Brits held a clear second only a handful of ma rk s d own o n the Sp aniards, it was obvio us th at a maj or upset was on the cards. T he mighty thunderstorm th at struc k just as most sq ua ds were o n th e second lap was another boost for the Brits. Not th at they rode any bett er - though the y cert ainly d idn 't get any worse - most o f th e o the r sq ua ds look ed to th e wall of water and sh rugged " No w it is better for you!" Saunders is ac tua lly a true genius o n th e slippery stuff and his ridi ng was an in spiration to th e rest of th e team. But jus t as th e bi ggest ever u pse t in the hi story of th e Trial des Nati ons a p peared to be in th e cards, th e factory Montessa o f Rob Cra wford wen t sick. It was heartbreak in g for Cra wford who, follo win g br ill iant laps wi th scores of 26 and 20, had to virtually push th e stric ken mach in e th rough th e fin ish hazards as it refused to rev or make any power a nd his las t-lap score of 42 dr opped him to fifth overall. So Fantic-rnounted Italian Diego Bosis p icked u p the best individual p erf orman ce over Fi n n T ommi Ah val a , who was rid in g the 1992 Aprilia Climber , wh ile T arres was third on hi s raspy-sounding, very special Beta Zero . In th e end, th e Spaniards hung on to tak e their second Nations victory with th e French second, just a single mark behind, and Britain . a heroic third ahead of th e Italians who cou ld just nor beli ev e ' what had happened. CN Results O/A: I. Spain (280 PIS); 2. France (281); 3. Great Britain (291); 4. Italy (294); 5. Fi nland (355); 6. Ger ma ny (389); 7. J apa n (434); 8. Holl a nd (462); 9. Sweden (504); 10. Belgium (527); I I. Czechoslovakia (527); 12. Austria (542); 13. Swi tzerland (551); 14. USA (589); 15. Norway (59 1); 16. Irelan d (611); 17. (TI E) Den mark/Soviet Union (615).

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