TRIAL DES NATIONS: France, La Bresse 23/09/01

Like the American Motocross des Nations team, the U.S. Trial des Nations squad stayed at home rather than attend the competition in Europe (in light of the September 11 terrorist attacks), leading to somewhat of a melancholy feeling at the normally up-beat trials event in western France (in the mountains near the German border). The powerhouse Japanese team was also absent, much to the disappointment of the local fans, which nonetheless turned out in large numbers, filling the little town that once hosted a World round in 1997 (tickets went for about $ 8 each). The 18 sections (with the exception of the indoor-style last one near the start) were featured about three miles from town, and all consisted of slippery rocks on typical mountainous terrain. Fortunately, there was no rain over the weekend, despite the fact that it had dropped consistently in the days preceding the competition. The 20 four-man teams were split into two groups (the elite-level Group A and the lesser-skilled Group B), and the favorites to win the premier class were the defending-champion Spanish(all of whose riders -Marc Freixa, Adam Raga, Albert Cabestany and Marc Colomer - had finished in the top seven in the World Trials final standings). To no one's surprise they took home the title again.There was nothing that the challenging British team could do, though it was definitely strong with Dougie Lampkin (World Champion), Graham Jarvis (winner of the last two World rounds), Steve Colley and Sam Connor.

In retrospect, it may have been a mistake to put Colley on his new Gasgas, of which he had just received delivery from the factory (he required almost the entire first loop to become accustomed to the bike). Spain capitalized on this fact, leading the Brits by 19 at half-competition -34-53. In third place was the home team with 87, fighting off the Italians on 107. The second loop was no surprise: Spain easily controlled the recovery attempt by its rivals and once again was best, though by a much slimmer margin (48 to 51). French - applauded by the partisan fans - retained third, while the Italians saw their bid for the podium sabotaged as much by their own case of the nerves as by the other teams' rides.
Individual scores were equally unsurprising, reflecting the results in the recently completed World Championship Series. Lampkin finished with 31 points, Jarvis with 34, Freixa with 35, Raga with 42, Colomer with 45 and Cabestany with 48 (still these scores are somewhat misleading, since a team's fourth rider often wouldn't bother to ride a section if his three cohorts cleaned it, as only a team's top three scores in each section are counted).

Briefly…
· In Group B, for teams at a lower skill level than the elite Group A countries, Germany triumphed over Belgium, Norway, and 10 other teams. The U.S. typically competes in this division (and in fact was last year's winner), but was absent due to the terrorist attacks and subsequent travel problems. For the first time, there were teams from Latvia and Venezuela.
· Finnish rider Joachim Hindren was angry and upset to discover upon arriving at the Trial des Nations that his federation had decided not to attend (Hindren learned of the decision from a minder on another team).
· French manufacturer Scorpa utilized the TdN for a surprise presentation of its prototype four-stroke trials bike, unveiling it officially to journalist on Saturday evening.

Company boss Joel Domergue explained that the move was an experiment to test what the market's reaction would be to the bike, which uses a 125cc Yamaha engine and is said to weight just 150 pounds!