Category Archives: NATC

North American Trials Council (NATC) awarded AMA’s 2017 Off-Road Organizer of the Year

NATC 2017 Off-Road Organizer of the Year
Brad Baumert, Adam Blumhorst, Jerry Young at 2017 AMA banquet; photo by Meredith Blumhorst

The TTC’s Dan Brown and Charlie Roberts received this email from their colleague Brad Baumert yesterday, informing them that the North American Trials Council (NATC) was awarded AMA’s 2017 Off-Road Organizer of the Year at the AMA banquet over the weekend. Dan and Charlie are on the NATC council with Brad.

Subject: 2017 AMA Organizer of the Year

Council Members,

Over the weekend I attended the AMA Champions Award Banquet, the 65 Trials riders and enthusiast that filled 7 tables at the banquet included 6 time National Champion Ryan Young, our 2017 Champion Pat Smage, 2017 World Trials round winner Kylee Sweeten, 2017 Expert Champion Alex Myers and many other champions from our series and Vintage trials.

I am pleased and honored to let you know that in front of the over 900 in attendance, the NATC was selected as the 2017 Off-Road Organizer of the Year. We were up against some heavy competition as the other nominees were, National Enduro Promotions Group (NEPG) and Racer Productions (GNCC).

I was totally caught off guard but had Adam Blumhorst and Jerry Young accompany me on stage to accept the award.

Everyone who takes part in the NATC has contributed to the success we have attained. The 45 years of work that some of the current council members have dedicated to this sport are responsible in great part to bringing us to this point.

I was humbled to be the one to accept the award, and would like to thank each and everyone one of you for your tireless support. The staff that has “boots on the ground” at the events, Scoring Steward-Vonda Roper, Sporting Stewards-Stan Hensley and Jim Fox, Carolyn Saum who keeps us all going in the right direction, Howard Galbreth who somehow pulls off the impossible with all our printing and communications needs and Phil Baumert with his series software and support are all invaluable. The Board of Directors who keep the “Big Picture” in sight, and all the council members, club reps, rider reps, manufacturer reps, and just plain enthusiast who keep everything fresh and interesting with ideas, suggestions and challenges, can accept ownership of this award. I wish each and every one of you could have been there to accept, it was definitely a great night for our sport!

On another note, Cody Webb won AMA Athlete of the Year, during his acceptance, he talked about the influence trials had on his success and it seemed like the whole room was looking our way….another great moment for trials.

Thanks again for everyone’s help and support in all areas.

Remember success is a journey, not a destination…..so let’s keep it up!

Again, congratulations to all!

Brad Baumert
Chief Enthusiast Officer
North American Trials Council

 

Smage & Freixa split wins again at National MotoTrials Rounds 3 & 4 at the TTC

NATC at TTC - Marc Freixa, photo by Shan Moore

Our friend Shan Moore has the story of this weekend’s AMA/NATC USA National Championship MotoTrials Series at the TTC in his Trials & Enduro News email newsletter:

Pat Smage and Marc Freixa traded wins for the second-straight weekend during rounds three and four of the 2016 SWM US National Championship MotoTrials Series held at the Trials Training Center in Sequatchie, Tennessee.

Smage (Team RYP/Zip Express/Dunlop/Maxima/Sherco) kicked off the weekend by winning a nail-biter over Freixa on Saturday. Due to the threat of rain, the organizers set the sections on the easy side in anticipation of slippery terrain and when the rains didn’t come the result was a trial that saw the top two contenders, Smage and Freixa, finish all three laps with clean scores, although, Freixa was given a five point penalty when his minder moved a rock in section 10, which is against the rules. Smage would have won the event anyway had it not been for Freixa’s penalty, since in a tie situation the win goes to the rider who finishes the event with the fastest time, and the Sherco rider finished the 12-section, three-lap course 16 minutes quicker than Freixa.

Freixa (US Montesa/Honda) was fired up and came back with a vengeance on Sunday, taking just one point on each of his first two laps, both coming on the difficult seventh section. The former number three in the world then cleaned the entire last lap, which included a perfect ride on the difficult seventh section… Freixa’s total score of two gave him the overall win for Sunday and put him in a two-way tie with Smage in the series points standings.

Story continued here. Subscribe to the free Trials & Enduro enewsletter here.

NATC at TTC - Pat Smage, photo by Shan Moore

Smage & Freixa split at National MotoTrials opener; series moves to TTC May 28-29

Pat Smage in Florida; photo by Shan Moore

Our friend Shan Moore has the story of this past weekend’s Rounds 1 & 2 of the AMA/NATC USA National Championship MotoTrials Series in Florida in his Trials & Enduro News email newsletter:

The 2016 SWM US National Championship MotoTrials Series kicked off in Ocala, Florida this weekend where eight-time and defending US Champ Pat Smage (Team RYP/Zip Express/Dunlop/Maxima/Sherco) and former number three in the world, Spaniard Marc Freixa (US Montesa), split wins over the course of the two-day event.

Freixa is a welcomed addition to the American series, and in addition to competing in the championship he is also here to help develop American talent for Honda/Montesa. The 37-year-old retired from the world championship series five years ago to work on new tires with companies like TreadHunter.com and hasn’t ridden in competition until this weekend, so he came into the Florida event as somewhat of a dark horse. However, Smage had a good idea of what Freixa was capable of.

Story continued here. Subscribe to the free Trials & Enduro enewsletter here.

Marc Freixa in Florida; photo by Shan Moore

Story continued here. Subscribe to the free Trials & Enduro enewsletter here.

The series continues with Rounds 3 & 4 next weekend (May 28-29) here at the TTC with the with the help of our Southeastern Trials Riders Association (STRA) friends.  Details in this TTC blog post.