I think Gary Havelock is still riding for the Redcar Bears.

Who is the guy from England that was a famous down hill mountain bike racer, his dad may have been a top contender in trials in the UK and he also rode trials, very tall person?

Kevin Shwantz- world road race champ. Just rode a trial in the states a few weeks ago. Someone should be able to provide a link!......Ish, from the PST website.

Steve

Here ya go Steve: Austin Trials Results

Noticed it the other day. Se my old mate Sam McNair beat Schwantz.

Not to mention Crawford Carrick-Anderson. Awsome trials, downhill and enduro rider..... started in trials .... still doin trials

I just remembered Steve Peat!

Edited April 11, 200719 yr by Sam

Neil on wheels I thought i was the only person who'd remember JMB, Sx superstar. I tripped over him totally by accident in his familys motorcycle shop in Provance where my bike was having a new chain and sprokets fitted, loads of photos of him in the shop didnt see any trials stuff though. talked for half the morning about Sx on eurosport.

best paper boy i ever had, doug lampkin (although his dad delivered them occasionally as well)

Edited April 11, 200719 yr by totalshell

Who is the guy from England that was a famous down hill mountain bike racer, his dad may have been a top contender in trials in the UK and he also rode trials, very tall person?

Rob Warner ????

JMB is one of my favourite riders of all time, just a ridiculous talent. Lets face it trials is the best grounding for all forms of bike sport. Makes you appreciate throttle clutch and brake controll. Wish I could be more than barely competent

... WSB champion Troy Corser.

Was washing my bike one Sunday pm after doing an event and his dad strolled up (turned out he'd been visiting our neighbours!) with a tinny in his hand and spent an hour jawing about mostly trials, and a little WSB goss as well. Lovely guy. (actually it could of been anybody, but I was convinced) - btw this was in the UK, not Monte Carlo where I believe his son lives !

I met JMB at the Verdon 5 day a few years ago. He regularly rides this trial if his road race testing allows.

A rider from down under (New Zealand ) but thats close enough to call him an Aussie,who was, and probably still is a tremendous talent on a Trials bike is Stefan Merriman,

In 1993 he won the Australian Trials Championship at the tender age of 20,and in the same year the New Zealand Supercross title.

I think he then over the next few years competed in the WTC.

He then found his mark in the World Enduro series and from 2000 through to 2006 has been 4 times World Champ and coming in 2nd and 3rd in the other years.

In doing so he has collected 62 championship wins. Merriman

Thanks for all your responses. I hope they keep on rolling in. I'm still absorbing it all and am taking the time to track down more information about the riders that are making this list. I'm learning a lot and am enjoying it. Earlier today I found an interesting article written by Ricky Johnson about Jean-Michel Bayle. I found it mainly interesting because he compared JMB's riding style to another MXer who is on this list: Brian Myerscough. I suspect that Ricky did not know that both JMB and Brian Myerscough both had trials experience, but he noted that their styles were similar to each other:

"JMB on a motorcycle was one of the most impressive riders I've ever seen. I didn't think he was the most attractive and stylish rider, but his methods were very effective. The way JMB moves around on the bike reminds me of Brian Myerscough (an American rider of the 70's and 80's). Maybe it looked a little unorthodox, but if you took time to study what he did on the bike, then you will see it had a purpose."

I find it interesting to think about the specific advantages that trials gives you in other avenues of motorcycle competition. Ricky mentioned how JMB would ride the berms differently and find ways to not lose momentum. I rode a little bit of motocross and hare scrambles before I got into trials. I am utterly convinced that my experience in trials would make me better at both MX and hare scrambles if I were to ever return, and can think of quite a few areas and reasons why that would likely be so. The only problem is that I love trials way too much to give much thought to actually returning to those other avenues!

Anyway, I really enjoying going through all the responses. Thanks for posting them, and I hope more names are added.

If anyone's interesting the in the whole article Ricky wrote about JMB, the following link should take you there:

http://www.supercross.com/rjsays.php?id=23

Brian

Interesting topic Brian. I can think of a few Americans off the top of my head:

Steve Ahlers

Marland Whaley

Tray Batey (picture of him on a Beta here: http://www.schwantzschool.com/2005news/tray.html

Tray rode the national support line a year or two ago.

And no one has yet mentioned everyman's dreamgirl - the talented Debbie Evans!

Hope to be ridng with you soon,

GG Steve

I'd like to add the great David Bailey to the list. I took a MX class with his father when I was a kid and he said "if you really want to be a great rider park the MX bike for a year and try trials". David was apparently very good.

Hi Steve,

I'm looking forward to you joining us. So far, every event and nearly every practice has been in mud and/or snow. Strange weather. After the next two events, we'll have a Sunday off. You'll have to join us for some practice on our sections. And I agree with you about Debbie Evans! I bought Lane's book and one of the surprise extra benefits were the great pictures of Debbie!

And that was a great quote from Gary Bailey that Motofire posted. I suspect that Bailey is right. But I'm biased. It also makes me think that Gary Bailey might have entered a few events himself. It would be interesting to see if that's the case.

While following up on some of the leads posted here, I also found a cool picture of Jeff Ward on a trials bike when he was a kid. If anyone's interested in seeing, you can check it out (scroll down to the bottom of the article to see it) at the following site:

http://www.racerxill.com/articles/detail/1...acerhead-3.aspx

Brian