Pat Smage will be going for an eighth national title in 2015. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHAN MOORE
The North American Trials Council met this past weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where it set the schedule for the 2015 and 2016 US National MotoTrials Series, as well as made a few structure changes to a couple of the national classes. In a effort to keep travel costs down for riders travelling to the national events, the NATC has split the Support class championships into East and West divisions, while the Pro, Expert and 125 Expert classes will contest the entire schedule. Starting in 2015, the series will be divided into the AMA/NATC Eastern National Championship Series and the AMA/NATC Western National Championship Series for the following classes:
Expert Sportsman
High School
Women Expert Sportsman
Senior Expert Sportsman (40+)
Sportsman
Women
Junior
Senior 40-49
Senior 50-59
Senior 60-69
Senior 70+
Senior Clubman (40+)
Club Women
Clubman
Twin shock
Each series will crown a separate champion in all the support classes. The Eastern and Western series will consist of up to six rounds of competition, which can be made up of one or two day competitions with each day counting as one round. Each series will have one throwaway when calculating the series overall finish positions.
These changes have been made to address the increasing cost of competing in a full national series. A competitor can now choose to compete in one series or the other or both. The competitive level should increase with riders, who because of these changes, can now compete in the series. With these changes the series hopes to see some old friends return and a new participation of riders who find the joy in competing at the highest level. The Eastern and Western National series can be used as a stepping stone for the “up and coming rider” into the National Championship Series classes of the Expert and Pro and be a verification of their accomplishments.
The AMA/NATC National Championship Series will include all of the rounds of the Eastern and Western National Championship Series and will consist of the following classes:
Pro
Expert
125 Expert
This series will also have one throwaway when calculating the series overall finish positions.
The year-end awards for the Eastern and Western Champions will be provided by the AMA at their Champions Banquet held each year.
The following are the 2015 and 2016 US MotoTrials National Schedules.
2015
April 11-12 Texas-Western
April 18-19 Arizona-Western
June 13-14 Nebraska-Eastern
June 20-21 Ohio-Eastern
August 8-9 Wyoming-Western
2016
May 21-22 Florida-Eastern
May 28-29 Tennessee-Eastern
June 18-19 Colorado-Western
June 25-26 Oregon-Western
Youth National Events
2015
Youth East July 3-4-5 Tennessee
Youth West TBA
2016
Youth East July 1-2-3 Tennessee
Youth West TBA
