So; for those who managed to get to Nord View over the weekend for the British round of the World Trials Championship, we’ve had the opportunity to see at first hand no-stop at the very highest level together with the observing standards that are required.
First of all my comments are relevant to only the first day, as having spent the past three consecutive weekends away from home – and with another three scheduled over the next month, it was domestically correct to spend at least one day at home, hence the reason I was only there on Saturday.
There is no beating about the bush as far as I am concerned, but from this one visit I consider that going no-stop at this level is not for me. There didn’t seem to be much atmosphere about the trial, very little cheering and shouting, no air horns or klaxons, in fact an almost uncanny silence for much of the day. The section severity has to be lessened for no-stop which takes away much of the excitement and with the riders finding an incredible number of loopholes in the section set ups, what might have been a real challenge at some locations turned out to be a bit of a damp squib.
This can only be a personal opinion of course but I still think that the best observing rules for world trials was the system whereby a stop equalled a one mark penalty whilst not allowing backwards or sideways movement.
I took the opportunity to briefly discuss this with former world champion Thierry Michaud who is now the Director of the FIM Trials Commission and a keen advocate for no-stop world-wide. He pointed out that he considers no-stop to be totally fair for all riders, whereas a point for a momentary stop could be seen to be unfair. He said that if rider A makes a determined no-stop attempt at a section and fails for a five mark penalty, and rider B sees A’s failure and decides to accept a one mark penalty for taking a stop as he lines himself up for the hazard which he then attempts successfully without further loss, then rider B has been able to take an unfair advantage over rider A.
This may well be seen to be correct, but equally the sport is not just about riding ability, it is also about mental fortitude and recognising when to accept a one mark penalty to save a five.
It reminds me of a saying I heard more than 40 years ago at a West of England national trial when a rider said to me “the best way to clean this is with a dab”. Nonsense I know, but it made sense at the time and makes sense now to those who understand our sport.
What must also be taken into consideration are observers and their decisions. I understand that it was difficult to recruit enough observers for Nord View and suggestions that the sport should have paid-for observers that attend all world rounds is a non-starter for obvious reasons. So each and every event will have different standards; indeed there were very different standards between sections at Nord View on Saturday.
I shall not embarrass or point the finger at individuals who I well know gave their valuable time at significant expense to enable the event to run, but from what I saw there were some questionable decisions made on Saturday, one of which definitely cost Jeroni Fajardo a podium place. How do I know it was a wrong decision? Because I happened to take a picture at the exact time and quite clearly the rider was not at fault.
Obviously there will be those who say that Rapley is again stirring the muck, particularly with regard to observing. I’m not and having observed at a significant number of trials myself this year, including two nationals, I know full well what a difficult job it can be.
Judging from the results and Andy’s pictures from Sunday, the conditions had deteriorated, so I can only repeat that these comments only apply to what happened on Saturday. I would have liked to attend day two, but it simply was not the thing for me to do.
There is a strong rumour that there will be another event at Nord View next year and I welcome that. John Kirwen and Graham Jarvis do an excellent job in difficult circumstances and as there aren’t many clubs or organisations clamouring to organise a world round, we need to be grateful that those who take on the job also get our support.
From what I saw it was all very well organised and my comments, adverse though they may be seen, do not refer to the event, only to the rules that are in place for a three year spell.