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/127722
OBSERVED TRIALS Stadium d'Omnisport at Bercy ..T Master de Berty rial By John Dickinson PARJS, FRANCE, MAR.18 he prestigious Trial Master de Berey is the big indoor event of the year on the European tria ls .circuit, and 1995 was no exception as over 10,000 excited fan s crammed into the magnificent Stadium d'Omnisport Berey, situated on the outskirts of the French capital to watch the trick-riding stars battle it out. And the brightest and trickest star of the lot, [ordi Tarres, once again demonstrated not only magical skills, but a super-cool temperament to earn h imself the title as Trial Master, as he again just edged his new Gas Gas teammate Steve Colley in to second place following a knife-edged head-to-head final. This was an action replay of the recent Tolouse event where the Spaniard just shaded the Brit in an exciting finale. In fact, there was a real feeling of deja vu as even the setting was similar. The organizers, flushed with the success of their total landscaping of the Tolou se arena, went for exactly the same effect at Berey and the infield was semi-turfed, planted with a protrusion of trees and bushes and even a mini lake was landscaped in. Only eight riders were invited, naturally headed by top d raw Tarres. He w as backed up by Indoor Champion Marc Colomer and '92 World Champion Tommi Ahvala . Colomer is still getting used to the development of the new Cota, which looks much cleaner than last year's bike ridden by Amos Bilbao. Steve Colley and Dougie Lampkin represented Britain, while Jean Luc Nictou and Bruno Camozzi carried the French hom e crowd's hopes: Japanese ace Taku mi Narita had his first indoor ride of the year after a winter spent in Japan. Indoor trials are all about sudden death, there is no second chance. Just a singl e lap of five sections with an eightminute overall time lim it (plus an MX- I ~ a ~ sty le race), was to determine which riders would go to the four-man final. And the sections were typically French, very slow .and technical, not all speed and height as favored by the Spanish for their indoor spectaculars. To be honest, the big Berey stadium was crying out for an equally big, spectacular hazard to get the riders up off the floor and close to eye level with the fans in the stands. Riders were pai red off for the qualifying to give the impression of head-to-head com petition, though in reality, the four riders with the lowest scores would go to the main. It worked well for the crowd, though, as they got rea lly excited over the sixt h (Ab ov e) Brit Steve Colle y did all he could, bu t was forced to settle for second overall aboard his factory Gas Gas. (Left) Former World Champion Tommi Ahvala finished third aboard a tired-looking Fantic Section. (Right) Six-time World Champion Jordl Tarres nabbed his th ird win at Bercy Stad ium. (Ab ove) Defending World Cup lndoorChamplcn Marc Colomer wa s eliminated in qualifying. (Left) Japanese rider Takuml Narita was a bit rusty at Be';:;y, and failed to make the cut.