ITSA is hosting Rounds 1 & 2 of the 2014 National Championship Series at Trials Training Center on July 12th & 13th. We would like to take this opportunity to invite any STRA members to come join us for this event. ITSA does have a mono-shock division. For information and times visit ITSA’s website. Come on out and test your modern bikes to our old bikes. TTC also has a couple of cabins and RV sites (with hookups) still available. Call now to reserve yours for this weekend!
Alex Neiderer 5-18-2014 (Amazing photo by Michael McNair)
What a great weekend! I know a lot of you were wanting a copy of the results from the STRA Mototrials Event at the Chert Pit in Ringgold, GA. It good to see so many of you there honoring the memory of Mark Moon! Alex Niederer won both days in the Champ/Pro class. Kris Gilreath took away the win on Day 2, riding with Mark’s number on his bike.
Kris Gilreath 5-18-2014
Gary Holbert, Alex Niederer, and Tom McNeal were the overall top riders for the weekend (pictured below).
Gary Holbert, Alex Niederer, and Tom McNeal 5-18-2014
What a perfect end to a wonderful weekend. Hope everyone makes it home safely!
The season got off to a great start in Florida at Fun in the Sun, but for those of us who could not attend, the season kicked off at Frank’s place in beautiful Blairsville Georgia. It is a tradition that the Spring always includes Trackrock and I love riding there. We were blessed with some wonderful riding weather and the sections were spot on with nothing too scary but plenty of technical stuff. We rode the first day with regular split scoring but on Sunday rode peer scoring and so that was a little different but the weather turned out to be perfect and everyone was having a good old time.
The Champ class was literally a one man show with Aaron Thistle from Georgia making the difficult stuff look easy riding his Sherco. Champ regular Alan Shirley is on the DL and hopefully will be back in the saddle soon. Expert had some close competition with Tim Cash from Tennessee on his Gas Gas winning on Saturday over a close Garry Hoover in second and Eric Mattson in third. On Sunday Mike Helstrom from Georgia came out of retirement and showed he can still ride that old Montessa topping Garry in second again and Tim in third. The Advanced class saw some very low scores Saturday with Randy Sharp from Tennessee riding his Gasser to victory with one point for the day over Gary Holbert with a very close two. On Sunday things were different and Vaughn Cady from Georgia was in the top spot aboard a brand new Gasser over Sam Curlee in second and Randy in third and there were no clean loops so it must have been a lot harder.
In the Advanced Sportsman it was Frank Schoenbeck from Georgia who won Saturday riding his very cool Scorpa . On Sunday it was Dexter Darnell who got the top spot with a great ride on his Beta and it was his first time in the class. Sportsman was again the largest class of the weekend and it was Michael McNair from Tennessee who was the man both days beating Larry Smith in second both days with Griff Shirley in third on Saturday and Sam McNair on Sunday. Intermediate was also very close on the scores and on Saturday Mark Moon from Tennessee rode his Gas Gas to the top spot with Eric Eberius in second and Steve Green in third. On Sunday the scores for the top three were twenty-four, twenty-five, and twenty-six and so things were very tight in the sections. Steve Green had a great two point loop and that made the difference putting him on the top spot with Kris Gilreath in second and Mark in third. Great rides by all three! Novice was won by Dillon Darnell on Saturday over Adam Crowley in second and Matthew Carr in third. We had some great Vintage action as well with Steve Glinski, Tracy Martin and Bill Long all winning Saturday and Woods Huff and Louis Qualtieri winning Sunday. Thanks to Frank for again hosting an awesome event and also to Ashley and Dawn for running all the signup and everyone else who made the whole weekend simply wonderful. I hope we will all meet back here again next year and I will see you in the sections.
