Upper Midwest Trials Association » Other trials news

New Website for US Trials Clubs

Jon Nelson — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 13:56:59 +0000

MotoTrials Clubs in the US

check this out:

http://www.trialsclubs.us/

Snow Cover Map

Jon Nelson — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:19:55 +0000

This is neat…. I check this once in a while to see if there’s any bare ground nearby. A week ago Nebraska was partially snow free but looks like they’ve been “hit”.

NATC: new MotoTrial website and blog; also on Facebook and Twitter

Griff Wigley — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 04:06:00 +0000

The North American Trials Council (NATC), home of the NATC/AMA US National MotoTrial Championship Series and the US Trial des Nations Team, has a new site with a new name:

MotoTrial.us

The old domain names for the NATC and US TdN will be redirected and eventually discontinued.

Head honcho Brian Behling is now blogging and is ramping up with both NATC MotoTrials on Facebook and NATC MotoTrials on Twitter.

Full disclosure: the NATC contracted with my firm, Wigley and Associates, to help them with this.

Jim Winterer puts a UMTA wrapper on last weekend’s US Nationals at Duluth

Griff Wigley — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:57:55 +0000

Jim Winterer posted this to the UMTA discussion list yesterday. I thought he summarized the last weekend’s US Nationals at Duluth (Rounds 4, 5, 6) well so it’s now a blog post.

Mr. Bear, how’s your back today?
For those on this list who weren’t able to make the nationals in Duluth this weekend, Mr. Bear had a most amazing adventure on “elephant rock” on the second day. It was a long, long way to fall, but somehow he didn’t get more hurt than quite a few extra-large ibuprophens couldn’t cure, and he came back to finish the third national event on Sunday. Bear’s tumble was every bit as spectacular as Dougie Lampkin’s famous get-off during the ’05 world round.
Maybe we should rename “elephant rock” to “Bear’s rock,” like we have named the “my leg, it’s flopping” rock in honor of David McLuckie.
On Sunday, Ben, Brad and Bear wound up riding more or less as a group, with Bubba minding Bear and me minding Ben, and we had a major fun day. After the second loop on the third day, Brad was in a dead tie with another rider, not just for that day, but for the national title for the expert-support class. I never saw Brad ride that well; he pulled off some incredible rides for an amazing 10-point loop and won the national title with a few points to spare! Way to go Brad.
Despite riding in pain, and with a lot of heckling (including many “you idiot” and “you loser”) Bear had some great rides on what was a very challenging support line. Gordy had a great weekend, too, and had a third-place podium finish on Sunday.
Ben found his groove on Sunday and moved up on several riders who had better scores on Friday and Saturday. There was one very large rock at the top of a hill Sunday (Section 8 where Will and Willie were scoring), which was on the expert and pro line. Ben got up it on the first loop, and we learned later he was the only rider (expert or pro) who did that all day.
The Kimmicks were well-represented on the podium for the youth trials!
Dale from Gas-Gas told me at the end of the day that the three-day national at Duluth was one of the best national events he has ever ridden, and Dale has ridden plenty. That is a major compliment. So congrats to Steve and Diane and Sara and all those who put in so much time and effort to make it happen. My brother Mark got a special award for all the time and effort he put into helping with the sections, and on top of that he and Laurie checked sections all three days.
Lots of UMTA members were up there helping or riding. All in all it was a pretty amazing weekend. The Aerostich company in Duluth celebrated its 25th anniversary with a rally that was held right at Spirit Mountain, so there was this very interesting mix of road riders and trials riders. There were hundreds of road riders at the rally (not sure exactly how many, but maybe 1,000 over the weekend), and many were camped up on the top of the ski hill. Some of them pitched tents like six inches from the loop trail. I didn’t hear that anyone got run over, so that was good.
The only gripe I had was that at the end of the national awards ceremony, Bear didn’t yell out: “It was another great day for (men, women, girls and boys) in tights.”

Revised TrialsUSGP.com web site now up

Griff Wigley — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 04:43:27 +0000

TrialsUSGP.com, the web site for the 2008 Wagner Cup, is now up.

The event, also known as the United States Grand Prix (USGP), World Trials Championship, will be held on April 26-27, at the Trials Training Center (TTC) in Sequatchie, Tennessee.

See the right sidebar on the site to subscribe to the Wagner Cup blog via RSS feed or email.

Ben Winterer, 2007 National Sportsman Champion

Griff Wigley — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 12:30:00 +0000

UMTA club member Ben Winterer clinched 1st place for the 2007 season in the NATC Sportman Class yesterday in New Mexico. Click photos to enlarge. (Photo on right from album of 2007 NATC Round 7, Donner Ski Ranch, cropped from a photo taken by Vince at V-Mar Racing; used with permission.)

Ben’s two first-place and two second-place finishes during the season gave him the edge over 2nd place rival Kyle Wedgeworth in season points, 140 to 128.

He’s the 3rd member of the UMTA to claim an NATC championship. Andy Bowman and David Hofstrand both won High School titles.

Podcast – On the Pegs: Motorcycle Trials World Radio (#08, June, 2007)

Griff Wigley — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 02:43:41 +0000

Show #8 (June 2007) of the podcast, On the Pegs, Motorcycle Trials World Radio is now available. It includes:

0-3:30: Opening remarks with show host, yours truly
3:30-31:15: News with OTP managing editor Dan Brown and guest interviewer Brad Baumert
31:15-52:10: Brad’s interviews at the Tennessee Nationals with pro riders Pat Smage, Chris Florin, Cody Webb, Will Ibsen, Keith Wineland, and Diego Ordonez.
52:10-71:45: Brad’s interviews at the Ohio Nationals with pro riders Pat Smage, Chris Florin (and Chris’ minder Chad Kimbrell), Cody Webb, Bruce leRiche, and Will Ibsen
71:45-78:55: Dan’s interview with Southeast Trials Riders Association (STRA) member Glenn McNeal.
Closing comments

Podcast – On the Pegs: Motorcycle Trials World Radio (#07, May, 2007)

Griff Wigley — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 02:52:47 +0000

Show #7 (May 2007) of the podcast, On the Pegs, Motorcycle Trials World Radio is now available. It includes:

0-2:50: Opening remarks
2:50-26:30: News with OTP managing editor Dan Brown and guest interviewer Brad Baumert
26:30-76:30: Brad’s interviews at the Colorado Nationals with Adrian Lewis, Bruce LeRiche (day 1 and 2), Chris Florin (day 1 and 2), Cody Webb (day 1 and 2), Colton Haaker, Geoff Aaron, Kerry Williams, Louise Forsley (day 1 and 2), Nick Mantzoros (day 1 and 2), Pat Smage (day 1 and 2), Ron Commo, Ryan Young, Andrew Oldar, Andy Saum, Larry Lund, and the guys from MAV TV.
76:30-78:14: Closing comments

Podcast – On the Pegs: Motorcycle Trials World Radio (#06, April 2007)

Griff Wigley — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 04:06:16 +0000

Show #6 (Special Guatemala World Round Edition, April 2007) of the podcast, On the Pegs, Motorcycle Trials World Radio is now available. It includes:

0-1:30: Opening remarks with show host, yours truly
1:30-15:10: News with OTP managing editor Dan Brown
15:10-39:45: Dan’s Guatemala World Round interviews including Pat and Noel Smage, Allajandro and Diego Ordonez, Alexz Wigg, Michael Brown, Bill Matheson, Martin Lampkin, and miscellaneous spectators, observers, and scorers.
39:45-41:37: Closing comments

Podcast – On the Pegs: Motorcycle Trials World Radio (#05, April 2007)

Griff Wigley — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:41:36 +0000

Show #5 (April 2007) of the podcast, On the Pegs, Motorcycle Trials World Radio is now available. It includes:

0-2:30: Opening remarks with show host, yours truly
2:30-11:45: News with OTP managing editor Dan Brown
11:45-20:45: Dale Malasek, GasGas USA
20:45-36:00: Ryan Young, Ryan Young Products
36:00-42:00: Mike Harker, Scorpa USA
42:00-49:00: Five riders at the Trials Training Days: Tom Farr, Don Reedy, Harry Vanderlinden, Karen Garrett, and Dave Aldo
49:00-54:30: Pro rider interview: Pat Smage
54:30-59:00: Pro rider interview: Phil Smage
59:00-61:00: Closing comments with our show theme song: Music, Motorcycles and Money by Gary Dean Jennings, courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network.