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.OBSERVED TRIALS.. Kinna, Sweden
13th Ann.ual Trial.des tiati9"s· .
(Laft) Jordl Tarres led the
Spaniards to their seventh
consecutive Trial des
NatIons victory. TlIIT8s had
mechanical dltllcultles on
the start and only caught
up to hla countrymen on
the third section.
(Above) The U.S. team of
Ray Petera, Lonny
Hallatad, Jess Kempkes
and Geoff Aaron placed
third In the B group, the
first time an American had
climbed an F1M trials
podium In 12 yaara.
By Martin Belair
Photos by Todd Moore
I<1NNA, SWEDEN, SEPT 1.
ith the 13th annual Trial des
Nations not surprisingly dominated by the unbeatable Spanish
team - the seventh such victory for
Spain - the real surprises were reserved .
for the B group.
.
The first surprise was that two teams
had petitioned to drop down from
group A, Germany and-l3elgium, and as
one would expect, they finished at .the
top of group B, taking first and second
place, respectively. Germany was the
clear winner in the "amateur" division,
with its excellent score of 53, as nearest
challenger Belgium could only muster
an 83 for its second-place finish..
The second surprise was the U.S.
Trial des Nations team. Not since Bernie
Schreiber won the 1984 German round
of the World Trials Championship and
stood upon the podium for the last time
in his illustrious career has an American
trials rider climbed onto a podium in an
FIM championship trials event. Led by
two-time National Champion Geoff
Aaron, the U.s. team put an end to the
12-year dry spell with its so.lid thirdplace finish in the B class.
And while many were certain-Iy
impressed with the performance turned
in by the American team, the Spaniards
proved once again that they are truly in
a class of their own. They simply dominated the world for the seventh consecutive year. Led by seven-time World
Champion Jordi Tarres and newly
crowned World Champ Marc Colomer,
along with Amos Bilbao and Marcel Justribo, the Spaniards did what they do so
well: win. With the Japanese team a noshow and the British team missing its
ace, Doug Lampkin (due to a broken
hand), the Spaniards had a relatively
easy time of it.
The Kinna MotorKlub laid out the
almost five-mile loop .with 18 sections in
and around the picturesque town of
Kinna, 25 miles east of Gothenburg. An
estimated crowd of 10,000 spectators
descended on the tiny town to watch the
world's best go at it.
Section one was a relatively easy offcamber hillclimb which most top teams
cleaned. Sections two through five were
classic creek sections that required little
W
10
or no hopping but the slippery boulders
demanded good reflexes and a soft
hand on the throttle. Six through 17
were more modem-style hazards, with
vertical rock faces and muddy, rootinfested climbs that required just the
right clutch work to get the drive out of
the hole. The last section, 18, was a stadium-style section built with huge slabs
of granite erected in the town square for
easy spectator access, righ t next to the
huge beer tent built just for the trial.
Sections for the A class ranged from
easy to impossible. Organizers had laid
out sections one through seven to be ridable and section eight to be nearly
impossible, which it was. Only nine riders got through, eight of them with
three-point scores. The. only rider who
truly conquered the section was Finn
Tommi Ahvala, who pulled off an
amazing one-point ride.
Sections 12 and 13 proved to be so
difficult with their giant, moss-covered
rock slabs that virtually all the riders even the mighty Spanish - took voluntary fives and had their cards punched
without even putting a wheel in. This
forced organizers to change things for
the second lap by routing the A riders
through the B line for these two sections, drawing cleans from nearly everyone. AI though the section difficulty for
the B riders was almost perfect, most felt
Brief·lv. • •
...
Nebraskan Jes. Kenipkes missed· the team
'fli9rt alit of JF·K when he.mjstake;nly Qot off the
plane in Detroit instead· of Ney; York. He arrived·
in Swegen· nearly 40 hours later, jet-I,,:gged and
looking grim'. He spent the· ne;