Rounds three and four of the 2026 AMA NATC National MotoTrials Championship Series, presented by Trial Store USA, brought the paddock west to one of the calendar’s most distinctive venues. The San Ysidro Trials Area in San Ysidro, New Mexico, sits at roughly 5500 feet elevation, with silty dirt, grippy slickrock, sandy approaches, and tinajas carved into the stone. It rewards confidence, punishes hesitation and makes even a clean ride feel expensive.
Words & Photography by Steph Vetterly
The weekend was defined by traction, heat, altitude and pressure. Saturday was warm and exposed, with temperatures in the low 80s and little cloud cover until late in the trial. Sunday grew even hotter. The loop stretched nearly seven miles, and by the time riders had completed three laps, the toll was obvious.
On paper, the Pro class looked controlled. In reality, low scores made every mark feel magnified. TRRS’ Jorge Casales arrived in New Mexico as the rider everyone was watching, and he left having strengthened that position. But the story was not simply that he won. It was how he won: with the focus required when one careless foot, one lapse in concentration, or one rushed decision can alter a day.
Casales understood this immediately. In his view, Saturday’s sections were not difficult enough to create natural separation among the top riders, making the trial as much a psychological test as a technical one.
“One mistake, you are out,” he said after Saturday’s round three, explaining that New Mexico’s grip changed the difficulty of obstacles that might have looked intimidating. With traction that strong, big steps became more manageable, shifting the challenge toward precision.
After the opening rounds in West Virginia, where slick rocks and Eastern conditions demanded patience and control, San Ysidro offered the opposite. Riders could attack, trust the rear tire, and use the rock in ways that would not have worked on low-traction terrain. But that did not make the trial easy. It made it unforgiving in a different way.
Sondre Haga felt it keenly. The Norwegian GasGas rider, supported by Trials Superstore, stayed close all weekend, keeping pressure on Casales, but in a low-scoring event, recovering from one major mistake became nearly impossible. He called Saturday’s early sections “pretty easy,” saying the day was about getting through them cleanly before the final sections added real bite. By Sunday, he came out swinging, taking second place for the second day in a row, but again the fight came down to tiny margins.
“It was all about cleaning,” Haga said. “Even though sections 10, 11, 12 were hard, we knew that it was going to be tight on points.”
Those final sections became the heart of the Pro-class story. Across both days, sections 10 through 12 carried much of the weight, pulling points from riders who had otherwise kept their cards nearly spotless. They were bigger, more technical, and more intimidating than much of the rest of the trial, a place where a steady day could turn into a salvage mission.
Trial Store USA’s Josh Roper’s weekend centered on adaptation. Now based in Tennessee, Roper has spent recent years training in mud and Eastern conditions, but New Mexico brought him back to the terrain of his Arizona upbringing. The grippy rock came naturally after a brief adjustment, and by Saturday’s final loop, he had corrected small errors from earlier in the day. Finishing in third both days, his Beta was working well at the altitude, and his riding improved as the weekend went on.
While Casales controlled the Pro class, Trials Superstore’s Maddie Hoover did the same in Women’s Pro. New Mexico was what she expected: sand, grippy rocks, heat and a long day in the saddle. The sections demanded fundamentals over theatrics: left turn, right turn, do not give anything away. It was the kind of event where years of national-level competition mattered, not because the obstacles were outrageous, but because the pressure never let up.
Hoover’s command came from managing herself as much as the sections. She knew when to push and understood how altitude and heat could distort effort. At higher elevations, even a fit rider has to accept feeling slightly below normal. The answer was to keep drinking, keep eating, and be patient with the body. On Sunday, as the steps grew bigger, she sharpened rather than faded.
Trials Superstore teammate Kylee Sweeten’s weekend was one of quiet consistency and adjustment. Coming from Oregon, she had to settle into the trust required by New Mexico’s rock. The traction was there, but believing in it took time. By the later loops on Saturday, she felt more comfortable, especially in the sand. On Sunday, she described the challenge of low-scoring trials well: the sections were neither too easy nor too hard, but they demanded full attention every time.
For Beta USA’s Abigail Buzzelli, New Mexico was another step in her early Women’s Pro development. In only her second national on the line, she found the terrain encouraging, even if the results still showed the learning curve. Saturday brought arm-pump issues traced to a restrictive jersey cuff, but she had begun to see where confidence could change her ride. The rocks were “friendly,” the obstacles were manageable, and the real work was in the ground game between them.
The weekend also held significance beyond the championship. On Saturday night, the 2026 Trial des Nations teams were announced, linking the New Mexico paddock to the international stage. Roper, Alex Myers and Ryon Land were named to the men’s team, while Hoover, Sweeten and Buzzelli were selected for the women’s team. Kylie Glueck and Max Glueck were named to the Challenge Team, marking the first time a brother-sister duo has filled that role.
By the time the NATC series left San Ysidro, the weekend had shifted from the numbers to what those numbers demanded. New Mexico did not deliver chaos. It delivered pressure. It asked riders to trust traction, conserve energy in thin air, manage heat over a long loop, and stay mentally sharp when the scorecards left almost no room to recover.
The 2026 NATC National Trials Championship Series continues July 11-12 with rounds seven and eight at Turkey Rock Trials Area in Howard, Colorado.CN
2026 AMA NATC MotoTrials Rounds 3-4 Results
SATURDAY (Top 5)
- Jorge Casales (TRRS) 1
- Sondre Haga (GG) 12
- Josh Roper (Bet) 26
- Murphy Aaron (GG) 34
- Alexander Niederer (Bet) 45
SUNDAY (Top 5)
- Jorge Casales (TRRS) 1
- Sondre Haga (GG) 3
- Josh Roper (Bet) 18
- Murphy Aaron (GG) 22
- Alexander Niederer (Bet) 30
