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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127941
OBSERVED TRIALS
AIIAINATC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
OBSERVED TRIALS SERJESI28TH EL
TRIAL DE ESPANA
Round 5: Reed Valley
(Far left) Reigning National champ Geoff
Aaron made it three wins in a row with his
victory in California's rocks, increasing
the likelihood of his winning a fifthstraight title.
(Left) Finland's Tommi Ahvala played to
an appreciative crowd both days in
California. In two days, he dabbed just
once. He cleaned everything to win EI
Trial de Espana.
By Mark Kariya
AGUANGA, CA, APR. 18-19
our-time and defending National
Trials Champion Geoff Aaron won
his third consecutive event in the
1998 AMA/NATC National Observed
Trials Series on his Palamine Motorsports/Hooters/Cosmopolitan Motors
Beta. However, the following day's 28th
El Trial de Espana (which has no !>earing on the National series) - and the
entire weekend, some would argue belonged entirely to '92 World Champion Tommi Ahvala of Finland on his Gas
Gas.
Though Southern California is a
familiar stop for those on the National
circuit, this marked the first time for
such an e~ent in Reed Valley, outside of
Aguanga, which is on the northern border of the Cleveland National Forest
and nearly two hours southeast of Los
Angeles. The recent El Nino storms ere-
F
ated a small lake near the pit area, and
several personal watercraft enthusiasts
enjoyed their sport while the trials set
headed for the surrounding rockstrewn, scrub brush-covered hills. Much
of the land is private and belongs to
local motocross aficionado Kelly Pitchel,
who borrowed a bike to find out firsthand what trials was all about and
ended up a trials buff as well.
NATIONAL
Saturday'S National consisted of a
12-section loop to be ridden three times.
Aaron jumped into the lead right off the
bat, cleaning half the sections and carding a 12 on his first circuit. National
number two, Raymond Peters, put himself in contention with a 14, followed by
Jess Kempkes with 16, both on Gas Gas
JTXs.
Loop two saw Aaron improve and
finish it with an eight. Peters, on the
other hand, went the other way and .col-
lected 19, one behind Canada's Ryon
Bell on his Montesa (Bell showed a onepoint improvement over his loop-one
score).
.
Kempkes rode well on the second
loop, but his day - and probably his season - took a dramatic turn for the worse
when officials hit him with a 25-point
unsportsman,like-conduct penalty.
"Section five, the first loop, I thought
I had a really good ride through this section. It had a lot of holes in it," he
explained. '1 had all these saves. I was
out of control - I'd get into a hole and
pull it off. I workelOl really hard to get
through this section with a one, and 1
ended up missing, basically, the way
everybody else went out the exit. It was
a real tight left, and then there was a
rock. If you went right just a little bit,
you'd have to go down and trick-ride.
Then I got into a couple more holes
down there.
"I pulled the front end over; then I
jumped out the exit. (The checker) gave
me a five for crossing my line, but basically I was trick-riding. I was going
backwards, and you can do that. He
gave me a five for that.
"We were going to protest it, but I
(heard that I) had won the protest
(based on) rumor from everybody else.
They fixed it before I even came in for
my first loop.
"The second loop, I rode (the section)
and he gave me a rive bec