Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

National Trials Champion Tommi Ahllala By SHAN MOORE orld Champion Tommi Ahvala of Finland became the first non-American to win the AMA/NATC U.S. National Trials Championship, when he wrapped up the title with a convincing nine straight wins. However, the National Trials Series is not the main reason that Tommi and wife Paivi have taken up residence here in the U.S. for the past two seasons. Rather, the Ahvalas spend between 45 and 50 weeks a year traveling the country doing extreme W general a bit. The second year, we tried to get more people involved in trials and more new people into the sport. We kind of skipped the schools, because we pretty much covered the trials sector last year. We tried to get new people by doing the shows. I'd say the sport is growing. Quite a few people are getting away from the mentality that it has to be a family kind of sport and we don't want any' new people. Now, people actually want to see the sport growing and we're working pretty hard. at that and everything seems to be going in the right direction. IS there a highly developed youth series there? No, actually that's been a problem. We used to have a very good youth series. We had street legal 50cc bikes and that was very important, because you could always sell the old bikes. The bikes cost $300 to $500 so the parents could afford those even if the kid didn't like it, after two or three weeks you could always sell the bike so it worked pretty good. But, we haven't had that system for the last 15 years and the sport is really going down, Q A - riding exhibitions and trials schools in an effort to promote the sport for the U.S. Gas Gas importer and in general to raise the level of competition here in the states. We talked to Tommi about the U.S. Trials scene after he won the championship in Wyoming. Congratulations on winning the champinship. Thank you very much, I am very happy about that. A . Q A You've been in the states for two years now, what are your thoughts on U.S. tri- well, the first year we did a whole bunch of schools and got to know all the clubs and generally got to know what trials is all about here in the U.S. I think we managed to raise the level of trials in FEBRUARY 1 6, 2000· nd have been Finnish champ many times. eye • e Winning a National Trials Championship wasn't the only thing on Tommi Ahvala's mind when he came to America. How does the level of the sport here compare with that in Finland and other parts of the world? A ObViOUSIY the sport is quite a bit more recognized in Finland, because we have two World Champions there, plus it is a smaller country, so if you are pretty good in a sport then you are pretty well known there. So, obviously the sport is better known there. But, I think in general, the level is about the same. There are a few top guys that can ride a little better, but in general, it's about the als? 20 You won the World Championship in 1992 same. I think in Finland more people like to compete and here it is like a hobby; one week to take the MX bikes out, the next week you take the trials bikes. That is probably the biggest difference. neVIl's because we don't have any future riders. If young people want to get involved there are no bikes for that. That is the same problem here. What do you think it is going to take to get he sport more recognition here in the U.S.? well, in a general level I think the shows we are doing are serving a good purpose and the next thing would be to try and create some kind of indoor series to make the sport more recognized, because extreme sports are pretty popular now in the states, and we fall into tliat category. I think try and get into the Extreme Games and the next step would be an indoor series and to have active clubs that would actually take the sport to people who are interested. A

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