Mid America Trials Team

April 2006

I hope this month's newsletter finds everyone in good spirits after winter seems to have finally broken. In this issue, we'll cover the OK nationals, our upcoming event, world news, last month's trials report, and yadda, yadda, yadda, etc. So without further adieu, here we go.

With the Easter weekend fast approaching, the club decided to move our monthly event to Sunday the 23rd. It will be held at the beautiful home and landscaping of Mike and Cheryl Carpenter in Excelsior Springs, MO. Start time will be approx 11:00 AM and as always, spectators are free and appreciated. Here are directions to the site. There is limited parking at the house so people with vehicles (cars & low profile vehicles) that are unable to make it up the bumpy gravel road here are your Directions : From I-35 North, take Hwy 69 Excelsior Springs exit. Follow 69 to Excelsior Springs, stay on 69 at 69-10 split, go to Wornall rd (Big Water Tower). Turn right on Wornall, follow to Jesse James rd, turn left, go to Miller rd (Car Wash) turn right, cross RR tracks and continue on Dunbar to Linn Ave (about ¼ mile). Turn left on Linn Ave and follow rd to the end. House is the last one on the left (Carpenters Corner). Directions to Trials Area Parking: I-35 North to 69 Hwy Excelsior Springs exit. Follow to 69 - 10 split, keep right on 10 Hwy, stay on 10 into downtown. After you drop down into town, turn left at Kansas City Ave. Go to Broadway, turn right, go to Mariette St, turn left and follow road across bridge and bear to right to Red Flags. Turn left and go up bumpy gravel road to parking. If you get lost or need some better explaining, call 816-630-9982.

The first four rounds of the NATC trials championship series are now in the books. Geoff Aaron (Gas Gas) has come out of the gates fast and holds a commanding lead of 3 wins and a second. Bruce LeRiche (Sherco) has the only other win in the series and sits comfortably in second. After that, the next four riders are all within 7 championship points of each other. The next two rounds will be held at the Trials Training center in Sequatchie, TN on May 20th and 21st. These events are being held in conjunction with the world round. The support classes and ES class will ride a Scottish type event on Friday the 19th for series points. The Expert and Pro classes will ride on Saturday and Sunday. So come on down and cheer on your local riders in the Expert class (Bill Sanderson, Scott Carpenter, Marc Carpenter, and Jason Carpenter). Sure, you'll only see them for a section or two because you're waiting for the likes of Lampkin, Raga, Fujinami, etc. But it's the thought that counts. If anyone is interested, they are looking for clubs to sponsor, i.e. check a section, for the world round. There would be a section head that would receive a check for $250 a day to disperse at there discretion. For more info, please visit www.trialsusgp.com

The Oklahoma national was held on private land near the small town of Tishamingo. I can say from first hand experience, that it is a great place to ride. The landscape is just littered with big and small granite rock in just about every shape you can think of. The local club is comprised of riders from Texas and Oklahoma. If the Central Series should make a detour this year and have an event there, I would recommend the 7-hour drive from KC.

The 2006 world round is now two rounds deep with Adam Raga leading the series after a couple of second place finishes. Currently in second is Toni Bou with Takahisha Fujinami in third. The series now takes a break until the US world round in May. Early results seem to indicate a tight race in the series so stay tuned.

It was also brought to my attention that we have at least one rider interested in a twin shock class, just something to think about for upcoming events.

Just a reminder that the May two-day has been moved to the first weekend in May, I will have out a newsline between the April event and the two-day.

If you have news or notes you'd like to see printed, please send them to fiascos@(RemoveThis)sbcglobal.net *** or call (816) 806-8163. ***to contact: remove (RemoveThis) from email address***