Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

C o m p e t it io n Accessor ies Pro E xtreme T r ia ls Series Rounds 7 -S : Grand Lake Darn homa , wa s attended by a lm ost 100 riders from a ll ov er the country , U.S. Mon tesa 's Ryon Bell of Canada flew in especially for the event whi ch meant that, not cou nti ng Ahvala , four of the to p five ranked riders in North Am eri c a we re pres ent. Lo c a l m erch a nts fro m the small tow ns of Disn e y and nearby Langley welcomed the trials contestants with o pe n a rms a nd m a n y h a d placed signs o u tsi de their es tablishments encouraging the riders to trade with them. Jess Kempkes (G -G ), who h ad wra pped up the se ries title at the pre vious e ve nt in Te xas, received a siz a b le ch e c k fo r w inn ing th e ser ies c h a m p io ns h ip a lo ng wit h a p la qu e decla ring him the first U.S . Pro Tria ls Ch amp ion . J a son Carpe nt e r of "\is s ouri took the seco nd- place money , while Kansas St at e Cham p Loy Bu rnett finished th ird. By SH A N M OO RE/T RIALS C OMPETI TI O N N EW SPA PER DISNEY, OK, NOV. 4-5 wo -time Wo rld a nd '99 U.S . Tr ials Cham pion Tomm i Ah val a of Finla nd came ou t of ret irement to ride only two ev ents in 20 00 . Th e first wa s to re present his home country at the T ria l d e s Nation s in Spa in and th e other was to hel p p ro m ote the first ever Pro Tr ia ls Se rie s in the U.S . "I a m happy that there is " group of a people who ar e pu shing trials so hard in the U.S. and tryin g to make things happen," Ah va la said. "I th ink many m ore doo rs will o pen up fro m what ha s be en done here . I thin k this was a good beginning for the first year, since it was sta rted from nothing ." What Ahv al a wa s referring to wa s th e inau gu ral year of th e Competition Acce sso r ies Pr o E xt reme T ri a ls Ser ies. The fina le , held be lo w th e Grand Lake Da m near Disne y , O kla - T 24 NOVEMBER 22 , 2000' c ue I e n e vv s Fonner trials World Champio n To m m y " M a rvel ou s" Ahvala came out of retirem en t a nd won both days of the Pro Extreme Trials in Okl ahoma . DAY D NE Aft e r five days of rain , Satu rda y dawn ed cloudy with only a c ha nc e of rain , which wa s a we lcomed re lief to t h o s e wh o h ad b e en wa t ch ing the lake lev e l ris e on th e othe r s ide of th e da m . Th e s e ven s ection s set fo r the d a y ' s ev e nt c o n s isted of solid ro c k formations cut by years of ru noff from the spillway . Each rider navigated th e course three times for a final s cor e . The top p ro s made short wo rk of S atu rda y' s sections with the exce p tion of Kempk es, wh o tried a bold line in a wate rfa ll section and pa id fo r th e gamb le with a cos t ly da b . F ourth place was the best the Ga s Gasrider cou ld do s inc e Ahva la , Be ll and Ne w York 's Ra y Peters had fin ished th e co urse clea n. Jason Carpenter finished fifth with a total of six po ints , while Wiscons in's Brad Villand put his Bulta co into fifth p la c e with seven . Antici pa t ing a tie, the o rg a nize rs ha d p repa re d a ve ry challengi ng ride o ff section in close proxim ity to th e p a vilion . Th e m a n y s p e c t a to rs and t owns p e o p le q uic k ly g at hered t o wat c h th e int e rn a ti o n a lly fla vore d tie breaker between the Finn , Can a dian a n d Am e rican . Each rider would ma ke thre e attempts at the section . Be ll wa s t h e firs t to a ttem pt the s e cti on , whic h co nsi s ted o f thre e dump-tru c k -s ized b ou ld ers spaced five to e igh t feet a part. Bell scaled the firs t o bs tacle wit h ease a nd jum pe d the e ight -foot ga p to the to p of th e seco nd b oul d e r . F ro m t here h e d rop pe d into a crev ic e next to th e th ird bou lder , wh ere he balance d a nd prepared for the five-foot vertica l step he would hav e to climb with less than a foot of run . With a full burst of throttle , Be ll dumped the clutch and leaped o nto th e fa ce of the third rock. From he re the Monte s a man d ro p ped five feet to a lowe r level a nd line d up for a 10fo ot wa ll. Ma tchi n g h is m id -s e a s on form , Be ll hit the pr ecise line , c lim bin g the o bst acle with ea se . A few more flips and hops and Be ll wa s out with a clean. Ahva la was th e next customer a nd, not to be ou tdone, duplicated Bell 's fe at with sty le. Peters was the last to ride a nd too k mu c h more tim e , making certa in that ev e ry wh e e l pl a c em ent was ex act . Th e e nd result wa s a clean. On th e second a tt e m pt , Be ll a nd Ahv a la a gain pass ed t hro ug h wit h clea n ride s , while Pete rs took a qu ick dab o n a tricky jum p when he ca sed it upo n land ing. Th is re le g a te d t he Bu lta co pilot to third for the day . Bell and Ah vala b oth clea ne d again o n the ir fina l rides prompting one spectator to suggest that the winner should be the one who can eat the mo st fish at the Chamber of Com merce -s ponso red fi sh fry that e vening . Not wan tin g t he heart - b urn, th e two ride rs a gr e ed to ride th e section ba ckward unt il someone took a point. Ba ckwa rd , t he s e c tion wa s ev e n tougher, an d the o utc ome wa s determ ined q uickly wh en Bell to ok a po int o n a s e vere t raverse a c ro s s a n offca m ber roc k a nd Ahva la ne gotiated it clea nly. S atu rda y 's finis hi n g orde r wa s Ah va la , Be ll, Peters , Kempkes , Ca rpenter and Villa nd . DAY TWD Sund a y ' s e ve n t wa s se t in the loos e roc ks below a seco nd s pillway and t ightened up s lig htly to avo id any ideas the pros m ight ha ve of another clean day. One section in particular , number s ix, was quite trick y and required the

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