serving on a Mormon mission,
which meant he was unable to
ride a motorcycle during that
period.
"I'm just coming back into
Trials," said Fastle. "I got back in
October in 2015 and I've been
practicing ever since. I'm excited
to ride the nationals this year,
and this event is a good warm
up."
Fastle dropped 48 points,
putting him three points behind
Blanc-Gonnet heading into Sun-
day's event.
Sunday's round would be split
into morning and afternoon ses-
sions. The morning session saw
the pros ride just one lap, while
all other classes rode two laps.
In the afternoon, the pros rode
four exhibition sections ridden
two times each that counted for
the final score. These sections
were situated in an area that was
accessible for spectators and
featured much tougher sections.
Putt cleaned the entire morn-
ing lap, setting himself up to
easily clinch the overall trophy
with a steady ride in the exhibi-
tion sections. Fastle was on his
game in the morning and came
in with seven points lost, one
point less that Blanc-Gonnet.
The exhibitions featured mas-
sive rock climbs and a couple
of hair-raising drops. Putt was
steady and aggressive, losing
only one point in his eight rides,
giving him a total of four points for
the weekend and the overall win.
"It's an honor to win this event
and have my name engraved
on the trophy with so many top
riders," said Putt. "The California
rocks are a little bit out of my
comfort level, but I really liked
the setup of this trial. More tech-
nical, a little bit easy, but it kept
me on my toes. This was a great
opportunity to get ready for the
nationals."
Blanc-Gonnet tightened up his
lines and managed to separate
himself from Fastle during the
exhibition, losing 11 points to
Fastle's 17 to claim the runner-up
spot.
Fastle rounded out the podi-
um, promising to be ready when
the National MotoTrial season
starts in May.
Shan Moore
Sam Fastle finished third, calling the
El Trial de Espana a good warm-up
for the upcoming National MotoTrial
Championship.
VOL. 53 ISSUE 15 APRIL 19, 2016 P33
Second-place finisher
Daniel Blanc-Gonnet
tackles one of the
massive rock climbs
during Sunday's
exhibitions.
