MATT NEWSLETTER: JANUARY 2007

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope 2006 was a great year for all you all.  I know I was ready for it to end.  There is a lot to cover so let’s get started.

FIRST:  A great big thank you to Carl and Chris Hopkins for hosting the 2006 MATT Christmas Party.  It was a huge success!  Great food, great friends and terrific fellowship, plus some billiards downstairs.  The turnout was very good and everyone had a fabulous time.  Three highlights of the night were:  1) Jim Bridges’ rendition of “A Modern Man”.  If you have not heard this and you have about thirty minutes to spare, ask Jim to perform it for you.  What a riot.  2) Last years President, Ken Brown, was recognized for his service to the club with a plaque presented by President Randy Dennis. 3) The annual presentation of the “Crash of the Year Award” was presented to (drum roll please) Awesome Dawson Dennis! Anybody who breaks his record of broken bones in one year will undoubtedly take this coveted award from Dawson.  Was it six bones, maybe eight? As long as the record is not broken by a member of the Dennis family, Kari will be happy!

SECOND:  I was unable to attend the December event at Trenton, but Jason Carpenter was gracious enough to write up the event and his account of the trials is attached.  Thanks Jason!

THIRD:  The Postage Stamp Trials was a huge hit!  Great food, (see a pattern here?) great friends, great sections, great weather, great rider turnout and great spectators!  Seriously, it was a lot of fun as always.  Thanks Russ and Larry for hosting this event and for donating the proceeds to the club to support distribution of this NEWSLINE.  The only negative fact of the event was there were no novices!  Let’s see what we can do to change this-and I don’t mean for everyone to drop down to novice.  How about recruiting some new faces. 

At this point I could write about the Postage Stamp Trials, at least the part I witnessed.  But as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So instead of working up a 211,000 word essay on the event, just go to

http://www.backprint.com/view_event.asp?PID=906&EVENTID=18520.  If you don’t have internet access then you need to go see someone who does to review these awesome photos.  And yes, copies of these pics can be purchased right on this site to be mailed directly to you.  James Presnell is a very talented starving artist friend of mine who took all this photos.  James is a student of  photography and has recently started his own photography business. Call James for any of your photography needs: graduation pictures, portraits, special occasions, you name it.  Please keep him in mind.  James’ web site is http://presnellphoto.com.  If you have trouble reaching him let me know.  James has been out to the Postage Stamp Trials before and he had a great time both times.  If he gets a good response from these pics, he would be interested in shooting us again! <<end of PresnellPhoto ad campaign>>

NOTABLE QUOTABLES:   (From spectators only if you please)

“Wow, awesome, I can’t believe you guys can do that on a motorcycle.”

“That one guy (Jason Carpenter) is really good.  I didn’t see him put a foot down one time.”

“I can’t believe that old guy (Dale Malasek). Is he really over 60 yrs old.  Man, he’s in good shape, he rides

                        good too!”

“Yeah I am drawing the line at naked midriffs and big butt shots.”  Photographer James.  Editor’s note:  If

                        you didn’t get your picture posted on James’ web site…

“Did you see that guy fall in the water?” Paul Turnbull took a bath but still took the Int class to the cleaners!

That little kid is really good.” Nate Dennis won Amateur and Homer Hensley rode expert.

At the New Years Eve dinner table, Dawson Dennis prayed “For no broken bones in 2007!”

POSTAGE STAMP TRIALS RESULTS:

                                                                                                L1        L2        L3        Total

Amateur                       1) Nathan Dennis                                  8          10        8          26

                                    2) Jim Modern Man Bridges                 14        12        7          33

                                    3) Harley Griffeon                                 12        17        8          37

                                    4) Kirby Woolston                               13        18        9          40

                                    5) Bob Sanderson                                22        18        14        54

                                    6) Steve Smith                                      27        32        18        77

Intermediate     1) Paul Turnbull                                    13        11                    24

                                    2) Randy Dennis                                   15        13                    28

                                    3) Ken Brown                                      25        17                    42  8/0

                                    4) Lonnie Hensley                                 25        17                    42  7/0

                                    5) Mike Carpenter                                27        19                    46

                                    6) John Hensley                                    27        33                    60

Expert              1) Grieg Engel                                      17        12        13        42

                                    2) Dale Malasek                                   15        13        22        50

                                    3) Kelly Echterling                                23        15        22        60

                                    4) Homer Hensley                                27        33        24        84

Master             1) Jason Carpenter                               11        3          9          23

                                    2) Scott Carpenter                                ?          ?          ?          34

                                    3) Bill Sanderson                                  17        14        19        50

                                    4) Marc Carpenter                               18        16        21        55

Next event: Show up and setup at Trenton on January 21, 2007.

Tommy Ahvala is rumored to be doing a trials demo at the motorcycle show at Hale Arena January 26-28.

There has been more discussion and progress made as to leasing ground near Atchison KS, but on the Missouri side of the river.  The grounds have been ridden by several club members including Dale, Ken and Jim Bridges.  The area features a huge quarry with terrain suitable for NATC nationals and even a world event.  There has been discussion about MATT holding a national to showcase trials and our club in an effort to bring in new club members.  More to come on this topic.