"I just didn't feel my balance
was where it needed to be,"
Smage said.
Smage also had a five on
section five, which is the huge
wall the Vermont round is famous
for. "I did my best to turn it around
for lap two and I felt I was starting
to ride better despite the rain. The
slickness of section 11 caught me
off guard though and I had a 5
there along with two single dabs."
Indeed, Smage did turn it
around on lap two, dropping half
the points of Roper and taking
control of the lead.
When the final cards were
tallied, Smage took the win with
a total of 26 points, while Roper
finished second with 48. Sherco
USA's Karl Davis Jr. rounded out
the podium with 74.
Sunday brought more slick
conditions, but Smage seemed
to have found his sea legs and
was clean all the way up to
section seven of the first loop,
including a clean on the big wall
in section five.
"I just spun going up to a
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAN MOORE
VOL. 50 ISSUE 25 JUNE 25, 2013
slippery technical climb in section
seven and didn't have the drive
to make it," said Smage. "This
ended up being the toughest
section for me as I went 5-2-2
through it."
The only other rider to get
through this section all day was
Roper, who logged a three on
the first loop, followed by a pair
of fives.
The rain came back on lap two
and made a few of the sections
a little more slippery, which led
P35
Pat Smage is
poised to win his
sixth National Trials
Championship after
grabbing double
wins in Vermont.
to another five on the big wall,
in addition to a mental error on a
relatively easy section nine.
In the end, Smage had a much
easier time of it on Sunday,
taking the win by 37 points over
Roper. Third went to Sherco
USA's Logan Bolopue, who was
16 points behind Roper.
"It feels awesome to have won
the first four rounds, and to be
back in the swing of competing,"
added Smage.
Shan Moore
CHANGE OF SCENERY FOR BAGGETT
M
any people might be wondering what got into Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki's Blake Baggett at the Budds
Creek National MX, where he
finally won his first moto and
overall of the year. Maybe it's because of a change of scenery.
The Californian recently head-
ed east to train with Yoshimura
Suzuki's James Stewart at his
house in Florida.
The defending 250 National
MX champ, Baggett, has struggled all season with his healing right wrist, and even at the
races where most pundits expected he'd shine – like in the
heat and humidity of Tennessee
– he didn't (and he didn't really
blame it on the wrist, either). In
the past, he has always been at
his best when the heat was at
its worst. He definitely had the
heat and humidity on his side this
time at Budds Creek and he was
also coming off a much-needed
continued on next page
