Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128380
Rounds 5 6 4 OFF-ROAD __ efending U.S. Trials Champion Geoff Aaron squaked by Chris Florin, not once, but twice, to claim a double victory at rounds five and six of the AMAINATC Natlonal lIiaIs Series held in pictunlsque Canon City. Colorado. On Saturday, Aaron and Florin tied for the win after riding 36 sections in the rocky and mountainous terrain. Aaron was awarded the win by virtue of having more clean rides than florin. On Sunday, Aaron and Florin enppclln a hard-core game of eat and mouse, watching each other's lines and p/ayl1lI a waiting game. After r1d111l even-up for most of the event. Aaron edged Florin by a slngIe point for the win, his fifth of the serItIs In 2005. With the two wins, the l2-year-okl Gas Gas rider extended his points lead In the series championship standll1lS and now sits a full 40 points ahead of Bruce Ie Riche, 175-1 lS, with six rounds remalnIng. Florin occupies third in the standll1lS with 1)2 points. The venue for the Colorado round was a sandy, boulder-strewn area Ioeated just north of Canon City at just over 5000 feet in elevation. And while the hostil1l club, the Rocky Mountain Trials Assocladon, has had a reputation for putdng on tough events in the past, this one, with the exception of a few sections, was relat1Ye1y easy for the top riders. Aaron got off to a strong start on day one and by the end of the first lap had taken less than half the points of the nearest competitor, posting nine cleans out of 12 rides. His only blemish came on section two, which ended up stopp!l1I everyone on the opening lap. "It was Impossible,· Aaron said. "There was a bill slab that you had to jump onto and then there was a monster doubIe-step that was really awkward. Even If you slammed Into it In third ...,., there would have been a big crash. If you made It, you probably would have aone out of the marker anyway." Florin moved to within two points of Aaron after the second lap by euttlllI his flrst.1ap score In half, while Aarods score doubled. The GIS Gas-mounted Florin was dearly the of section three, which featured a nasty rock that had to be splattered to be conquered. Florin went 0-1-1 here on his three laps, while Aaron posted a one, a five and a cleM. However, sections five and siX were Florin's clowmaIL He cIIimed a toeaI of 10 points In the two sections, while Aaron only dropped a aIn&Ie dab. On the flnIIlap. FIarin ITIIIlIpd a contnw.sIaIlWO-poInt ride on the"impoSIIbIe" section number two, a section thBt no other rider hid --. the end __ to .. day. The ride put FIorln ahead of Aaron by D STOIlY AND PHoto IT lI1Pou/T1w5 CQMHllllOH NIWfMIW kina a single point, with just 10 IlICtIons to 10. ~ III10ther point for florin, taken In section ei&ht • an easy section thBt he had cleaned on the previous two laps knotIed the score, fOl"Clng the _ _ to be decided by the tie-breIIk rule. Aarods 26 cleans. compared to FIorIn's 24, P'I" him the 64th win of his career. Colorado's Keith Wineland finished the day In third, 40 points behind Aaron and AorIn, while Sherco t&1InITllItVS Cody Webb and Bruce Ie RIche rounded out the top 1M!. "I ended up Jaying back and watching eYIII')'body's lines, and that's what helped me win the trial," said Aaron, who benefited more than once from - . . another rider's mistake and then avoldlna one of his own. "It was reaJly an easier _ _ than it looked, and you couldn't make any mistakes. There was some really bill and scary stuff, but it turned out to be a pret· ty 1ow-scorl"8 event, so there was not a lot of room for error. I had a really lJOOd first lap, and that was the difference.· The sections for Sunday's event were not as big as the ones from the day before, but they were more technical, rewarding the more precise riders. After Saturday's tight event, both Aaron and Florin were keeping a close eye on the other riders' lines. Florin struggled early, taking a five on the first lap In one of the easier sections. '" was hurting yesterday, and I was surprised I rode as well as I did: florin said. "I have been fighting off a cold, and today I had to just keep pumping in the fluids to keep going. My lungs were COIIpsted, and the altitude didn't help.· Aaron returned the favor three sections later by takll1I a five when he tried to jump across a bill gap in section five and spun out, nose-dMng Into the crevlce. This section would come back to haunt Aaron as he posted a totaJ of seven points for the day here, while Florin cleaned It on all three attempts. Going Into the final lap, Aaron held a five-point advantage over Florin, with Webb another three points back, However, Florin turned up the heat, needll1l only a pair of three-polnt rides to finish the 12-sect1on course, while Aaron faced some drama after breaking his rear brake ' - ' In a crash at section SIx, when he looped out at the top of a step. After spendin& a considerable amount of dme In the pits making repairs, Aaron motocrossed the remalnder or the flJlII lap to awld late points and ITIIIlIpd to string 10 points across the lap, mosdy ones and twos. In the end. Aaron ed&ed Florin by a single point. His second lap _ one point better than florin's, which _ the difference In the COIItBst, and he WlIIked -.y with another win to his credit.