Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.OBSERVED TRIALS· ..AMAJNATC National T C rials hampionship series , Rounds sn: Arcadia National Forest , III By Mike Snydey Photos by John Valdez 34 WEST GREENWICH, RI, MAY 27-28 efe nding National C ha m pion Geoff Aaron sco re d his th ird ) ) Na tional wi n of the season on the first day of the Rhod e Island double- header, bu t less tha n 24 hours later, six-time National Champio n Ryan Young d id the sa me and eve ned up the score. Of the seven rou nds comp leted in the '95 series, Aaron a nd You ng have won six . Only forme r High School National Champion Jess Kemp kes has ma na ged to break the Aaron/Young stranglehold, and the title chase looks as if it will go d own to the wire . Although the sixth and seventh rounds of the series were held within a sto ne's throw from one another within . .the confines of the Arcadia National Forest, the diversified terrain be tween both day's events was so different that it p roved to be a major headache for a majority of the cha mpionship class conte nders as they struggled to find the righ t combina tion to conque r the obstacles on either d ay. An added twis t to the plo t was the seven-and-one-half hour time limit for both d ays of the trials as all the cha m pionship di vision combat ants used upwards of nearly five hou rs to just complete the firs t loop on both d ays, leaving only two-and -a-half hou rs to complete the next two loops and finish the events on time without amassi ng pen alty po ints . Need less to say, th is ca used m ore th an o ne rider to "mo tocross" th rough the later sections, mu ch to the delight of nearl y 2000 specta tors who ventu red ou t to the Palamine Prom otion s /Rhod e Isla nd Trials Clubp romoted event. Aaron got the nod after the first day of competition, as he bettered his rivals on a 18-section course w hich feat ured mud , mo ss- covered rocks, pl enty of loose rocks of both the large and small variety, and a assortment of rock slab ledges with s trea ms running throu gh the middle of a majori ty of the sections. "I was a little bit worried before the event that the ride wo uld be too trad itional," said the Connecticut native. "By this I mean it would have been more straightforward and that 's really not my style, but the club put on a very superb event wit h big rocks as well as very challenging and technical sections. You basically had to stay on your line perfect and if you didn' t you definitely paid the pena lty. The scores reflected that." Finis hing second on Saturday was the series point s lead er , Youn g, as he appeared to stru ggle to find his form aboa rd his Gas -Gas 350. The increased displacement, combined with the ultraslippery conditions, caused a fair share of da bs here and there throu gh ou t the course. Despite this, he was actually the event leader until the final lap . Rounding o u t th e top three was N ew York (Left) Ryan Young finished second on Saturday, but spanked the field on Sunday . (Above) Geoff Aaron scored his third win of the season on Saturday, but dropped to third on Sunday . native Raym ond Peters, despite receiving 3.5 time penalty points at the conclusion of the d ay' s event. One rid er w ho wouldn't be competing on d ay' two was Montesa-mounted John Clark , as the Alabaman suffered throughou t the day and tried in vain to get his form . "At the California round o f th e se ries, I fell and hurt my back ," sa id Clark. "There's a littl e black bru ise on my back so I th ink I slip ped a disc or something as I really don't know wh at it means or what's going on with it. I was in a lot of pain and could bar ely ride the last lap so I mainl y took fives just to get through to the end of th e eve nt. I'm going to check it out with my doctor to see what's going on wh en I get hom e next week. I'll probably be minding for Geoff tomorrow." Also in the "walking wounded" category would be California National win ner Kempkes, as he fell and inju red his wrist w hile practicing wit h Aaron. "Yes terday when I first go t here, I cou ldn't even grip my hand lebars," he said . "It probab ly affected my riding today 'cuz I could n' t really pull back as hard as I wanted to without it hurting like hell. Af ter a whil e, it jus t wen t numb so that meant I couldn't bang on and ride as aggressivel y as I really wanted to. I'll keep it packed with ice and see wha t happens." Day tw o p roved to be the comp lete op posi te ; as climbi ng abili ty wou ld prove to be a serious asset to a nyone who wanted to conquer it an d s tamp their mark of authority over the other contenders. The course marshalls gave the championship riders a fairly challenging, by thei r assumption, event for the first 10 sections, while the final eight we re, as one competitor pu t it so elegantly, "a little excessive." Rising to the occasion was Young, as he used his larger mach ine to his ad vantage and rocket up a large majority of the vertical ascends. "350 Gas Gas:' a nswered the Kentu cky resident when as ke d what was the secret to his success. "T od av was a d ry , big ledge horsepower tria"ls compared to yesterd ay which was slip pery a nd had li ttl e ledges as th ere wasn' t anything higher than a couple feet but tod a y, o n the o t he r h a nd , we had eve rything from tw o all the way up to 20 feet high. There was more traction and I basicall y ju st fl ew u p every thing." Second went to Belgian Olivier Clamag ir a nd , as he shoved his climbi ng prowess and narrowl y edged out th e defending champion Aaron, who seemed to struggle wit h his form on the second loop which relegated him to third , and the final berth on the victory rostru m at the end of the day. SATURDAY The first section gave the com petitors an idea of wha t they could expect for the nex t seven-and -a-half hou rs . The entrance had a sli ppery root over four feet in the ai r, which the riders would have to hop up and over, stop, and then pivot nearly 180 d egrees to their left back onto the main course. After spending a lengthy time walking the section and looking at every p0ssible line, the first of the championship contenders to take to his machine would be the reigning champion. The six-footfour-inch-tall local favorite showed his newfound confide nce and ability by gu iding through and over the obstacles . which dotted his chosen line. He took a dab at the root section, which claimed a poin t from nearly every ride r, then took two more before completing the section. Lonny Hallsted mirrored his Beta teammate's ride as he nearly matched Aaron d ab for dab and left the section with a three punched on hi s score ca rd . Gas Gas-s upported Ma tt Moore be t te red b o th of his rivals w it h a very well deserved single dab for a one. Young stunned the good-sized crowd of spectators, as well as his peers, by showing everyone jus t w hy ' be has six nu mbe r-one plates on his living room wall at home, as he cleaned the section. Fantic-mounted Raymond Peters figured

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