MID AMERICA TRIALS TEAM The next Moto-Trial event will be April 17th in Trenton, MO. Start time is 11 A.M. For directions, check the web. Medical Tent: Unfortunately we have had some health situations with some of our family (club) members. Good news is LaDonna Morgan is out of the hospital and recovering from surgery. She was in good spirits when I talked to her. The other bit of news is Cheryl Carpenter suffered a heart attack this past Sat morning. A blood clot was found in her heart and removed. She is still in the hospital for test and observation. APRIL 3rd Carpenter Trial If you were looking for a trials to whip you back in to shape (spectators and riders), this was it! The Carpenter crew laid out 10 sections with 3 loops. Excelsior Springs is known for its hills and the property the trials is set on follows suit. There were sections of logs, hillsides, creeks, and rocks. There were some really cool splatters too! The loop is a short loop so spectators can make all the sections as long as they don't mind walking the hills. The crazy part about this event was that it was dry this year (it usually rains the night before). The April showers held off till late sun night so the sections were awesome! The Masters even had to ride "The Rock" this year. Now "The Rock" is a huge grippy rock embedded on the top of this steep hill off the road coming in. There is some undercut on the approach of the rock and also a spot on the rock that if hit, throws the bike up in the air. It's a spectator favorite, and for the riders, it's a confidence builder or breaker. This year, it was a builder for the 6 Masters. None more than Scott Carpenter. He somehow flew under the radar and whipped everybody. The weird part is this was Scott's first event back from "Tennis Elbow" surgery. (I still don't see why he needed the surgery. Scott doesn't even play tennis!) He rode so good that 2nd place was more than double his score. To the Experts - Ben did it again! He made that long trek down and came away with another victory over the ageless wonder Dale Malasek. Intermediates - Now I know Ben made a long trip, but the travel award goes to Ken Brown. Ken was supposed to be gone already (Military duty), but there was a hold up on Ken's departure so he decided to fly back for the trials (and spend time with the family). His trip was well worth the schooling Lane Gray put on him. Actually Lane just nipped Ken by 3 pts for the win. The Amateurs had 3 guys going for the gold with Steve Smith coming out on top over Jon Broughton and Bob Sanderson. Novice had Jared Broughton being the lone survivor and the winner of the prestigious MATT medal. Thanks for all who came out and rode. It was a test, but still a lot of fun! |