Shan Moore | August 3, 2021
Spanish Trials ace Miquel Gelabert took advantage of a break in the TrialGP Series schedule to compete in rounds five and six of the U.S. National MotoTrials Championship Series held near Kingman, Arizona, July 31-August 1, where the factory GasGas rider came away with a pair of impressive wins.
Gelabert, who finished with a world ranking of eighth in 2020 and who won a round of the Spanish Championships just the week before the Arizona event, put on a spectacular display among the massive rocks and boulders of the Hualapai Mountain Park area. The factory GasGas rider remained clean all day during Saturday’s event and lost only one point on Sunday to claim the double victory.
Adding to the difficulty of the event was the fact that it was held in mountainous terrain at 6500 feet in altitude, which puts a strain on both rider and machine.
“The terrain here is super big rocks with a lot of grip, so you can climb a lot of things that you couldn’t imagine,” said Gelabert. “The sections were a little bit easy, and one point could be the difference between winning or not winning, so it was hard for me.”
FactoryONE Sherco’s Pat Smage kept the pressure on Gelabert during Saturday’s round. After taking two single dabs on the opening lap, the 11-time U.S. champ cleaned the final two laps, forcing Gelabert to stay error free, which he did.
Smage finished second overall with two marks, while TRS rider Josh Roper outdistanced the remaining Americans for third, dropping just 20 points for the day.
GasGas USA’s Daniel Blanc-Gonnet was fourth with 50 points, with FactoryONE Sherco’s Will Myers rounding out the top five with 57.
On Sunday, Gelabert took a shaky dab early but was let off the hook when Smage scored a five early on, which took the pressure off of the Spaniard. Gelabert went on to clean the remaining sections to finish the day with just one point for the win.
Meanwhile, Smage scattered three more points across the final two laps to finish the day with eight points and second overall.
“Today went very well; I dropped one mark at section 12 in the first lap, but the rest of the day was pretty good,” said Gelabert. “I still kept my feet up and cleaned both secondary laps so still ended up winning the second day.”
Roper, who has made big strides in ability, was in a class all his own in third, finishing with 24 points less than fourth-place finisher Blanc-Gonnet.
Alex Myers was fifth with 51 points.
SATURDAY
- Miquel Gelabert (GG) 0
- Pat Smage (She) 2
- Josh Roper (TRS) 20
- Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 50
- Will Myers (She) 57
- Karl Davis Jr (Ver) 59
- Alex Myers (Sco) 59
- Alex Niederer (Bet) 67
- Sam Fastle (TRS) 106
SUNDAY
- Miquel Gelabert (GG) 1
- Pat Smage (She) 8
- Josh Roper (TRS) 19
- Daniel Blanc-Gonnet (GG) 43
- Alex Myers (Sco) 51
- Will Myers (She) 55
- Karl Davis Jr (Ver) 64
- Alex Niederer (Bet) 77
- Sam Fastle (TRS) 98