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From a commercial point of view, Trials needs Toni Bou. There is a new Buzz about the place and having him at an event is more important than having anyone else (besides Raga) at the moment. Team tactics by GasGas and Toni's performance has made great theatre.We will see Toni contest the whole series I am sure. No organisation in their right minds would miss an opportunity like that surely!

Yes, they will all run in conjunction with our current trials we already have planned. Same with South Shrop as well

Just for those of you youth riders that dont look on the front page, The Midlands centre will be running a Midlands Centre Youth Championship ( all four routes) starting at Nantmawr Quarry on the 5th March. I will post some info when we get it with regs etc being available soon.

In my humble experience, there are lots of people who dont follow the big scene and Im not suprised by people asking who Tony Bou is? There are people who just dont give a damn..sad but true simply because it has no direct bearing on them at the trials they ride or the trials they organise...

Gotta be as simple as simple gets I reckon. As an idea, If you could trust everyone, you could give all the riders a thumb batch counter on a piece of string to hang round their necks inside their tops like a punch card. They ride the section, click up the score then at the end of the trial write in their scores and done. no observers needed . Would work for fun club trials I reckon. Ok you have to buy the thumbwheels but there not expensive and the rider could buy their own and use it for the year. How simple is that? If someone blatantly cheats, they get kicked out of the club or blacklisted for 6 months or something. something like this. As another idea and using the golf system, you could go round with someone as a pair, watch the other rider and click up his score and he does the same for you. That way you have independent observation. Only thing on the downside is you get an overall score for the day and not broken down into sections.! but does that matter for a fun trial?

Following on from what Bikespace has said on this, we have a lot of youth riders at our events and this helps as they have parents with them and to help the financial burden, if they observe, then their son/daughter gets a free ride. Normally if there is a burger van on site, we offer a free lunch as well. This to be honest works very well.Also, in a big event like the Novogar that Bikespace's club ran last year, all other clubs in the area joined together to help on the day and it was a big success.

All the best on your B'Day MR oracle of the trials world. Do you have all this in your memory or do you have to go searching in the archives?

Theres a lot to be said for fuel injection. Peeps seem to think its a new invention If the 4T I bought had it, I probally would still have it now.

( nice bike though Mark - top job you done on it ) Bloody ell! they must be worried to get that much talent into their team. :madsanta: Buzz must be worried that he aint up to the job!!

It was very funny, but I've done the same so cant say too much!!

Basically yes, fill out the details of the form you have to do then get in touch with the club secretary from your club, and he/she will do the stamp for you..

You need to join a club and the club secretary will put their club stamp and details in that box to authorise your application. Then you send it off to the ACU with your checque for a tenner (and photo ID if its your first time). What area are you in ? I can do the forms for you if you wish. All you need to do is pay the fiver to join the club for a year then I will do the stamp and send off your application.

Ditto, well impressed with mine .. Shame the colours dont match the 06 Sherco though

Only things I found on mine after having it a bit is don’t expect the anodising on the wheels to stay there for too long. (Hardly surprising really) and the area where the inside of your boot rubs the frame is getting tatty and I need to protect it with something which I will do before I ride it again. Otherwise, I fully agree with the above, it’s a completely different machine to ride than the last 290 I had. Big improvement I reckon. :santa1: And something else maybe worth mentioning, I have just changed from a Sherco 4T and I have been riding the 290 in a similar style and getting good results. Particularly with reference to the amount of grip Im getting. Maybe of interest?

All the best Jack. Great to see your sorted for next year thanks to your family,John Lamkin and your other sponsors. Have a good year and most of all, enjoy it. :hat:

For photo editing, get this excellent free software from google called picasa get it here http://picasa.google.com/index.html edit : System requirements Windows 2000 and XP only

Just a couple of Ross

I am fairly sure Ross was riding a 125. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Ross was riding a JST GasGas 125 and will be all year. Yeh, I watch Ross do this in practice and I just stand there with jaw on the floor They are awesome to watch arent they.

We always used to get a contribution for the 2 day school from the ACU but I don't recall having seen a cheque from them in recent years. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I would like some more info on this John if possible please? Where do I get the necessary documentation to apply for the funds to run this? Thanks

Thanks for that update John. I certainly would like to get more info on the workings of the ACU and its future with Trials so if you could point me in the right direction, would be much appreciated Marky G - sell the bike and move abroad!! you are already paying for the youth!!! LMAOSeriously, 10k is nothing to be sneezed at and is very welcome. :santawink:

And how much do you pay the organiser to put them on for you? We all do it in our own time for other peoples enjoyment and all the funds are put back into trophies etc. You dont. This isnt about Ross at all. Too late for the current youth riders. This is about 'The Future' and other youngsters coming through in years to come. But dont worry, when you need them to sort out your retirement home, I'll put a good word in for you.! Alacatraz sounds good

Ok, this is where my argument about 'vision' comes in. If you read this thread from top to bottom you will notice a serious degree of Apathy, to some sensible suggestions about making positive changes. The consensus through this post is no one wants to pay more for the affiliation (license or whatever) to the ACU, then that’s ok. So what role the ACU plays in this is an Insurance agent. (This is in simple terms of course and with all due respect to the various unpaid volunteers who help out.)But as we affiliate to the ACU, I would expect to see a detailed plan of how they are driving the sport forward. Forgive me if there is one but I don’t see it. What is their 'Vision' for the future of the sport? Not just at the top level but from the bottom up? HRC1 makes a good point, if you don’t want to pay an affiliation, then get it back through the levy system on a trial by trial basis and pay that way. and following on from that suggestion, what about if each centre applies a levy on each trial in its centre with a series of qualifying youth trials held with the winner being sponsored by the funds made available from the centre levy? Has this ever been tried before ? The parents wouldn't have far to travel to attend the qualifying rounds and following on with my comments about 'community', the success of that rider would be a combination of support from the whole centre and everyone who rode would have made a contribution. ? If you were at a world round and you just saw the same youth rider you sponsored through your riding events in your centre become world champion, dont you think that would be a bit 'special' When you see someone like Tom Minta clean a section for the first time and the beaming smile across his face of pure elation. Its just priceless! You talk about choice, then under this scheme, if you want to help the youth, ride the events! And if you don’t, then don’t ride them! And one last final point, do people not affiliate to the ACU because at