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Wisconsin Observed Trials Association Championship Series
Rounds 8-9: D
ickeyville/Platteville T
rials
b
a:
Smages Maintain
WOTA Dominat ion
e
B y C RAI G G ERNHAR OT
DICK EYVILLE /P LA lTEVILlE . WI. AU G. 16-17
With five riders in contenti on for th e Wiscons in
Observ ed T r ia ls Asso ciation Cha m pionship
points. th e series ' outcom e is still up in the air.
Round s eight an d nine m o v ed t o th e so uth west ern part of t he sta te. and th e weekend
didn't do anything to c ha nge th e po ints situa -
tio n. No one rider can cl aim the titl e ju st yet.
Day o ne in D ick ey v ill e didn ' t r eall y ge t
sta rte d un til th e th ird loop . wh en 13 -year- old
Pa trick S mage sta rte d to a pply pr es s ure o n his
older br ot her Phi lli p , wh o fo r the first two loops
seeme d to ha ve th e eve nt under c ontro l and
had th e lead by 10 dabs . Wit h three sec tions
left on th e last loo p. the Moo se Rac ing Equipm ent/R ya n You ng Products -sponsored Phillip .
on his 2003 Sh erc o 2.9. ran low on ga s. had a
co uple of three- dab sections. and watch ed his
br other bring off a m ind -bogg ling three-point
loop - incl ud ing a clean on a ma ssiv e. stee p.
loo se. rocky . 50 -foo t dow nhill section tha t had
Patri ck ac t u a ll y c heeri ng him se lf o n a fte r
zigzagging down th is heart -sto pping sec t ion .
T h e spe c ta to rs wh o wer e watc h in g t h e
ac ti on sta rte d cheeri ng Patrick on, bu t Phillip
wa sn 't quite read y to let his litt le bro the r bea t
him just yet . A t th e end, Phillip edged his littl e
bro th er by the sli m mest of margins - 32 dabs
to Phillip's 30 . Patrick finished the event with
19 cleaned sections to Phill ip 's 14. edging his
bro the r in that c atego ry . Phillip and Patri ck ' s
fathe r, N oel Sm age , finished th ird w ith 48
dabs an d six cleaned sections . Noel h as no
inten tion of j ust rolling over for his kids and
giving eith er one of his sons th e ti tle.
In the Expert class at Dick ey vill e on Saturday. Club 95{Torq ue Center /R oc k River Pow e rs por ts -s po nso red Jeff Kn a ac k h e l d off
ano ther Sm age, David . by a single dab . David
k ept the pressure on Knaa ck all day . Kna ack
fini shed the three loops with 44 dabs and four
cle ans t o D a vid ' s 4 5 and fi v e cl ean ed sec t
tio ns. J im U1 em us ro unde d out the t op three
w ith 6 1 dabs and three cl eans .
Th e Int er m ediate wi nner on Sat urda y was
Iow a' s Rick Condron , wh o held off the largest
cl ass o f the day with only nine dab s and 24
cl ean ed sections . He just sta rte d rid in g trial s
th is yea r, an d hi s BM X ex pe rie nce ha s him
n ow lea rn ing h op t u rns. He h a sn ' t lo st an
eve nt since he sta rted rid in g tr ia ls.
" l' m goi ng to m o ve up to th e harder sec tio ns n ext ev en t - I ca n 't w ait to try th em ,"
Condron clai me d . "Trials is suc h a great spo rt ,
and the te rrai n is so fun t o ri de, it' s h ard to
be lieve so few c om pete in this spo rt ."
In t he Novice class. Bill's Cy cle Ran c h
o wne r Bill Smage bu ilt a m or e powerful bike
than th e Honda T rail 70 he built and DNFed
on for the Wh itewater event. Rid ing a modified
Honda TL 125 with all controls m ounted on the
left . B ill fini shed wi th 46 dabs and a wh opping
10 cleans. Bill builds and rides all his cust om -
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co U SA- sp on so red Patrick Smage to earn his
f i rs t C h a m p i o n sh i p -cl a s s w in o r fo r N o e l
Smage to j ump on to p of th e podium . as he
had done both days at Wa uzeka trials tw o
mon th s earl ier .
Pla ttev ille c h am p io ns hi p section s mirror
those fou nd at the Expert level o f a NATC
National : hu ge climbs , huge boulders. Noel
c rashed hard in one of th ese freaky -hard sec tions and bashed hi s k ne e on a rock , and he
was clearly in pain. Th is affected the rest o f
his day. as he los t to Patri ck . thoug h not by
much . Patrick himself h ad a sect ion on whi ch
he just c ouldn 't scor e anything but fives. Noel
wa s t h ree dabs behind with 49 . m ean in g
Pa t r ic k h a d n o ro om fo r e r ro r d own t he
stretc h.
In the Ex p ert class. Mon tesa -mounted tri als pilot Ul t em us earned hi s first victory in a
q uite a wh ile. The Expert lin e at Platt eville was
brutal. an d Ult em u s and his Mon tesa ate it up :
35 dabs ! En ou gh said . Knaa ck was ove rheard
sayi ng tha t sec tio n five wa s a p addli ng sec ti on; well , m ay be for Jo hn ny or Larr y or Jeff,
bu t not for J im . Kna ack fi nis he d seco nd. and
said that he wante d to tha nk "all th e beaut iful
p eop le."
Dickeyville/P latteville Trials
Dickeyville/ Platteville. Wisconsin
Di ckeyville/Platteville Trials: Bill
Smage negotiates a small waterfall on one
of h is custom-modified bikes at ro und
eight of the WOTA Championship Series
in Dickeyville, Wisconsin .
Res ults: A ugust 16-17, 2003