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W@[fl]D@[jf]~ litJfJ&JO @}(ii[fJ fJD&JfS5@[Jf]0 @WCiJDmH Geoff Aaron was the top American, as was expected. The Americans lost the Group B win on the last section, I.osing eight points as a team and finishing rIVe points behind the Nordic bunch. sage between two trees. Japan's Tomoyuki Ogawa broke the section tape as he was hopping before the rock and fived it. The Brits only. got a single point in the section, while the Spaniards ended up with three. There were no further problems among the front-running teams until section 10, where the Japanese and Spanish teams each were penalized two points, while the Brits only lost one. Section 16 helped the Spanish cause, as the team made it through with no mistakes, while the British and Japanese teams each were penalized a point. The final sections were indoorstyle, appropriately enough placed inside the town's sports arena. The first indoor section featured three series of large logs, with the last series of logs being the highest, and descending created a lot of problems - but not for the top three teams. With half the competition gone, the British led by three points, followed by the Spanish team with five, ahead of the Japanese with nine. On the second loop, Takanisa Fujinami and company cleaned 16 sections, making up for their firstloop faux pas. The only two sections where the Japanese team was penalized were section four (two points) and section seven (one point). However, because of their earlier mis· takes, they had to hope for the Brits and Spaniards to mess up quite a bit, and it wasn't to be. Even though the Brits yielded five points in section 16, they kept the lead by one point on the two-time and defending Trial des Nationschampion Spanish team. There was quite a bit of controversy conceming the possible one-point penalty not marked on Sam Connor's card in section sure he seen all section, 10. The Spanish team was had been penalized, having of the Brits go through the but the rules state that the rider's card supercedes the observer's card or the results page posted at the end of the section for the spectators. Albert Cabestany, Adam Raga, Marc Freixa and David Cobos - the Spanish team - decided to sit out the podium ceremony in protest, which incensed many a spectator and journalist. SPANISH LADIES PICK UP WHERE THEIR MEN LEFT DFF One rider made all the difference to the Spanish team, and her name is Laia Sanzo The top rider in the Women's portion of the competition, held a day before the men's event, she cleaned both 12-section loops - which shouldn't have been so much of a surprise, considering she !tad been riding at quite a high level in the European, Spanish and even Italian Trials Championships. However, though her performance was exceptional, she decided to ride ahead of everyone, including her teammates, as she finished at least 30 minutes ahead of them. This decision may have hurt her team, as they could not see how she got through certain sections and were forced to go it alone. Sanz clinched her third consecutive World Championship the day before this event, so what did she have to prove by going it alone instead of doing her best to assist her two teammates, Dolores Sanchez and Merce Ribera? However, even if it wasn't so ethical, her behavior didn't end up costing her team the win, as they won by four over the defending champ Norwegian team when all was said and done. The United States team was anchored by U.S. Champion Laura Bussing, Kerrie Brokaw and Nicole Bradford - the last of whom was new to trials. but fInished the ISDE last year. They finished a quite honorable seventh overall, just behind Canada, and just in front of the highly disorganized Japanese team, which couldn't seem to get out of each other's way. TN! ties N8tIs8S " - tis F......ra, Porbrpl Reselts: SeplHIber 28, 211I2 Wi'll'! O/A: 1. Sp.in (Ribera. Sanchez. S.nl) 19; 2. Norw.y (Dyrkom, Fl., Meyer) 23; 3. Germany (Brown, Iris Kramer, Ute Kramer) 29: 4. Greet BriUlin (Conway. Fox, Smart) 37; 5. France (Bertnmd, Guillaud, Stege) 39; 6. C.ned. (Christy Willi.m5. Kel'l)' Willi.m5) 52: 7. Unit<>d Steles (Bradford. Broke.,. Bussing) 80; 8. J.pen (Ban, K.kihere, Tone) 129; 9. Portug.1 (Coste, SlIv•• Simoes) 160. GROUP B The U.S. team was the third to start the Group B competition, as the Canadians went first. Soon after the start, the two North American teams joined together and went into the sections as they mixed up the running order. "American Geoff Aaron, in his lIth Trial des Nations, was the most consistent of the bunch, including Canadian Ryon Bell, who was happy GROUP A: L Great Briteln (Colley, Connor. Jarvis, Lampkin) 8; 2. Spain (Cabestany. Cobos, Freixe, Raga) 9; 3. J8pan (Fujinami, Kuroyama, Ogawa, Tanaka) 12; 4. Italy (Basis, Lenzi, Orizla. Re Delle Gandine) 58; 5. France (Bethune, Camozzi, C8mozzi, Eyries) 60; 6. Czech Republic (Ba18s, K8dlec. Kroustek. Svoboda) 113; 7. Germany (Lettenbichler. Schumacher, Stranghoner. Wassermann) 173; 8. Sweden (Arthursson, Borjesson, Jonas Riedel, Stefan Riedel) 200; 9. Belgium (Colson, Dermine. Mathy. Vandekasteele) GROCJP B: 1. NorwllY (Fremsted. Larsen, Nilsen. Svendsen) 34; 2. United Stetes (Aaron, Aeon. Fox. Johnson) 39; 3. Ireland (Andrew, Burton, Crawford, Perry) 4 t; 4. Austrelia (Campbell. Price, Rees. Zarczynski) 50; 5. Netherlands (Hellmans. Steppers, vein den Broek. yen der Stuis) 54; 6. Switzerland (Guenin. Guillaume, Monnin. Seuret) 40; 7. Andorra (Albas. Cliblines, Cristine. Mom) 76; 8. Canada (Bell. Brllun, Duggan, Szoke) 98; 9. New Zealand (Baker, Clarke. March) 167; 10. Colombia (Atehortua, Nino, Ochol:l, Palaez) 174; 11. Portugal (GoIlIrcia, MlIia, Ribeiro. Santos) 175; 12. Luxembourg (Baetz. Daleiden, Mousty) 204: 13. Latvia (Agerskis. Grinfelds, Kibers, Klebahs) 229; 14. Venezuele (Perez, Hernando Rivas. Jose-Ignacio Rives. 202. Rodriguez) 361. TrUll des NlItions PKOS de Femira, Portllgal Results: September 29, 2002 to find some sections similar to the Scottish Six Days. After some hesitation in section four, and a spectacular fall by Aaron in section seven - where his engine died before the jump on the final rock, which caused both bike and rider to hit the stone - the group proceeded quite well, and at the end of the first loop, the Americans sat tied with the Norwegians atop the leaderboard, each with 16 points. Australia and Ireland each boasted scores of 18, while Andorra sat fourth with 36. In the second loop, section four was again a prime difference-maker. The Americans scored a total of eight faults in the section, while the Nordic team got nine, moving the Americans ahead by one. At section seven, the Americans moved ahead by two, which is a lead they held until the last section· although they didn't know it, as they were quite a ways ahead of the Norwegians on-course. It all went wrong in section 18, though, as the Americans were docked eight points in the one portion. Norway came through and ended up beating the Yanks by five. eN BRIEFLY ••• After three straight years of hosting a World Trlals round, Pasos de Ferreira, Portugal. was ready to host the biggest Trial of any year - the Trial des Nations. For the first time, there were three competitions held on consecutive days, starting on Friday with the Women's World Cup, which was supposed to be held a week earlier in France, but the flooding in the area postponed it. Saturday featured the Ladies' Trial des Nations, and Sunday the men's event. The pits were placed around an arena in order to provide more space. Inside the building were the featured indoor sections, which were easily viewable. The arena also hosted the opening ceremonies on Friday. where each team was paraded around the arena floor to the sound of its national anthem. Most of the sections were on a hill three kilometers from the starting area, the first group (sections one through eight) of which was in a place called -trialdromo' - a hillside with many rounded rocks. After that were five sections in a quarry, and the others were at the top of the hill in the woods. Buses were available to transport competitors, but there were probably fewer than were needed. 'Finland was absent from the Trial des Nations this year. Tommi Ahvala is now widely consid- ered American. while Joachin Hindren found a job training the Norwegian team. which topped the Group B podium. Marc Freixa is rumored to be switching brands next year. but to which brand is not known. Friday's running of the rescheduled Women's World Cup was won by Spaniard Laia Sanzo Iris Kramer and Clair Bertrand rounded out the podium among the 28 starters. Members of the 2002 U.S, Trial des Nations Team (right) dedicated their performance to longtime TdN Team Captain Gary .Jackson, who is battling cancer. "We would have loved to have won it for Gary, but I'm sure that he's proud of our results, consider· ing the youth of our team. Gary has been a key member of our team since 1995. It was just not the same without him. We all pray for his recovery and his retum to the team," said team manager Martin Belair. cue' • n _ _:IS • OCTOBER 16, 2002 35