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AMAINATC National Championship Series Rounds 7/8: Taos Ski Valley By SHAN MOORE/ TRIALS COMPETITION NEWSPAPER TAOS, NM, AUG. 25·26 RE/Gas Gas-sponsored Geoff Aaron dominated rounds seven and eight of the AMA/NATC National Trials series held at Taos Ski Valley, putting him back in the hunt for an unprecedented seventh National title with just two rounds to go. The wins made Aaron the fourth different winner in the series this year and tightened up a points race that, early on, looked like it might be a one-sided affair. Belgian Champion Freddie Crosset finished second each day and despite the fact that Aaron gained 10 championship points on him, holds the series lead, 213-194, going into the finale in Nebraska. The event, held at Taos Ski Valley, put an added strain on rider and machinery because of the power-sapping 9000-plus-foot altitude. The venue was one of the most picturesque of the series to date. Ski Valley officials allowed the trials caravan full access of the village with the pits and several sections being located in the narrow streets of the village. "I'm real happy to take a double win here in New Mexico," Aaron said. E "I was definitely psyched to be up here at Taos Ski Valley - it's a great area for a trials." U.S. Montesa's Ryon Bell traded third- and fourth-place finishes with Sherco's Raymond Peters over the weekend. In anticipation of rain showers that, this time of year, normally fall like clockwork in mid-afternoon, event organizer Brian Behling and Clerk of Course Chuck Sutton, of the New Mexico Trials Association, set 15 technical, but relatively easy, sections along a six-mile loop that ascended to over 10,400 feet before returning to the paddock area. When no rain materialized, the competitors were left competing in a war of nerves, as each rider waited for the other to make the first mistake. DAY ONE Eager to make amends for his poor performance last month in New York, Gas Gas-mounted Freddie Crosset started strongly in Saturday's event, cleaning sections one through six. Despite winning the first four rounds of the series, the Belgian has been hard pressed to repeat his domination of rounds one and two in California. Taos offered terrain very similar to his native Brussels and Crosset was looking to capitalize on this fact. Defending champ Geoff Aaron struggled early, making a few mistakes on the relatively easy "warmup" sections, while Canadian Ryon Bell was on form and kept pace with Crosset. By section seven, the event had become more challenging and Aaron's fortunes were about to reverse. "The first couple of sections were pretty easy for everybody, but I made a couple of smaJi errors," Aaron said. "I was lucky to get out of some of them with threes, but I stepped it up right when I needed to. When the sections got really tough, I actually rode better and cleaned all of those." Despite the shaky start, Aaron rode to an impressive seven-point first-lap score, positioning him firmly in command of round seven. Roundfive winner Bell sat in second place with 10 points followed by series leader Freddie Crosset with 13. One of the most difficult sections of the event was the final trap, which was set in the village, just below the main chair lift. After several ups and downs, the riders were forced over an (Leftt Freddie C.-..u minimized the potential damage to his points by finishing second to Aaron on both Up. 82 SEPTEMBER 12,2001 • cue •• n."". (Above) Six-time and Defending National Trials Champion Geoff Aaron returned to his fonn of old In New Mexico. Aaron won both days to move to within 19 points of Freddie Crossett for the championship read with two rounds remaining. eight-foot, wooden A-frame. The riders then had to splatter up a six-foot retaining wall to the exit. Aaron was one of the few to master this section, finishing the day with two cleans and a two here. Crosset had two five's and Bell had one. "Obviously the hard part was up over the A-frame and then splattering the big wall at the exit," Aaron said. "( figured, if I was going to have any chance of making that thing, ( was going to have to come off that Aframe full throttle and then really prebounce and try to spring up that wall as hard as ( could." One of the differences in Aaron's ride and some of the others' was that he used second gear for the wall because of the altitude, where most others used third. "I just spun it up as high as it would go and that's how I got over." Aaron turned up the heat on the next two laps, turning in the best two laps of the day - five and seven points - to take a 15-point win over Crosset. An obviously disappointed Bell missed second place by a single