

Issue #6 : April 2018
Email feedback, articles and ideas to neottnews@fastmail.com
Nov 2017 (Shack) : Dec 2017 (Kight) : Jan 2018 (McCabe, Cramsey) : Feb 2018 (Duesterhaus) : Mar 2018 - (Phillips)
Kevin Kight is the April trials master.
I purchased my first trials bike at age 28, a 1974 Yamaha TY-250. I rode my first trials at Bixby, OK at a NEOTT event. I thought I was ready and pretty good...found out real quick that I wasn't.
After that I went home and practiced for about three months. I tried a second competition and entered as a novice class rider. I practiced for hours every day trying to get better. I remember watching Mike McCabe and Kirk Mayfield ride and I wanted to be that good.
It me took about four years of practicing and riding competitions to make the master class. I had a lot of success in the mid 80's and early 90's. I won three Senior National Titles 1985 (SR-35), 1989 (SR-40) and 1991 (SR-40). I can credit most of my success to the support I had from NEOTT, practicing with Mike McCabe, Butch Cribbett, Greg Ruoff and endless hours of practice. Without that I don't think I would have done very well.
There for a time I was riding an event almost every weekend. At the time there were four clubs between Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas and Texas ... Fun Times!
Due to a neck injury, surgery and old age I can't ride very well any more, but I have a lot of friends, so many good memories and stories to tell.
Last Event - The Dam Gate Trial @ Grand Lake
The air was crisp, the sky was gray and the rocks were prime for traction during the Annual Dam Gate Trial March 18th in Disney Oklahoma. 17 riders from 4 different states linked up with NASA satellites to calculate the triple digit scores for the unique event. In a sport where the low score usually wins, the idea was reversed. Riders attempted to gobble up as many points as possible traversing a series of “numbered gate” sections. Trials Master Todd Duesterhaus and Co-Trials Master Penni Taylor carefully laid out 8 challenging but cleanable sections. The threat of rain had all of the riders focused on the business at hand.
Kansas rider Jason Rexraot, aboard the Vertigo, was the top rider with 455 points. Rexroat was 8 points ahead of Arkansas rider Gary Vernon. Rexroat etched his name on the coveted Gate Trial Traveling Trophy. Although there is only one award given to the top rider, Todd D. was the top intermediate rider with 412 points, Justin Davis was the top Senior Am rider, also with 412 points. Drake Tribblehorn was the lone Amateur rider tallying 284 points. Marion Cassidy was the top Novice with 312 points.
The event was capped
off with a post ride pizza party organized by NEOTT President Kevin Kight. Barbara Kight delivered the food to the hungry
riders.
1 Jason Rexroat Exp 455
2 Gary Vernon Exp 447
3 Jason Shackelford Exp 442
4 Chris Shellenberger Exp 437
5 Todd Duesterhaus Int 412
6 Justin Davis Sra 412
7 Rick Rexroat Sra 392
8 Eldon Malone Int 385
9 Todd Phillips Int 383
10 Matt Hildebrand Int 378
11 Kevin Kight Sra 376
12 Danny Patron Int 365
13 David Pettigrew Sra 335
14 Marion Cassidy Nov 312
15 Bill Kleeman Nov 292
16 Drake Tribblehorn Ama 284
17 Penny Taylor Nov 264
Pizza Masters: Kevin and Barbara Kight
All the scores and year-to-date standings are on the web here.


















Nationals! NATC Trials
The Nationals are coming The Nationals are coming and several NEOTT members will be competing in one or both of these events. You can track the results on the MotoTrials.com web page.
- Rounds #1 and #2, hosted by NMTA, on April 21 and 22 in Roswell, NM - event website is here
- Rounds #3 and #4, hosted by RMTA, on April 28 and 29 in Texas Creek, CO - event website is here
As a warning, we'll likely see some over analysis of the results in the May issue of NeottNews :-)
** Remember rounds 7 & 8 will be at Keenan's near Uniontown, AR on June 16 & 17. The crew is having work days every Saturday through June 9th starting at 10 am. See the Winters Trials Central USA Facebook page for details.
Trip Report - Cramsey heads East
In summary:
- Weekend #1: 2-day event riding with STRA in Blairsville, GA
- Weekend #2: 2-day event riding with FTA in Ocala, FL
- Weekend #3: 1-day gate trial riding with CVOTC in Lawrenceville, VA
- Weekend #4: 2-days of riding at Trials Training Center and 2-days at Trials Training Days
Florida: I had a few free days before the event so first visited the Don "Big Daddy" Garlits Drag Racing Museum which was very cool. Then headed South a little bit and went to Croom Motorcycle Area which is in a 2600 acre riding area in a Florida State Forest. It is a great place for camping and riding. Terrain wise it is very sandy and very similar to App Bay. The biggest surprise was the number of Canadians there - they were training \ testing for a GNCC event and the Alligator Enduro the next two weekends. So 3-days of play riding at Croom got me nice and tired going back to Ocala, FL and HardRockMx riding area for the trials event (a few years ago the NATC had a National there). The property is an old limestone quarry. Florida is the USA #1 flattest state in the union so if you want a hill climb you have to dig a hole in the quarry like they do in Douglass, KS (btw, Kansas is only the #7 flattest state. NeottNews is educational too!). There were around 45 riders at this event and we rode eight mostly long and tough sections and just to make sure we got enough riding in the FTA runs FOUR loops with a 4 1/2 hour time limit. It was a tough event and I wasn't quite ready for all the steep slippery ups with little to no run at them.
Interesting to note that the FTA riding season is from October through April - after April it is too sweltering hot to ride and a lot of the club regulars are snow birds and head back North. It was 70 degrees when I left Florida pretty tired and with sore knees from all the squatting trying to get up all those steep hills and headed to Virginia.
Looking for a bike? Of course you are - here are some quick links for trials bikes on Craigslist in these nearby cities:
Coming Up in the May 2018 Issue:
- Mike McCabe tells us about his first SSDT experience
- Shake down and break down of the April Event at Gruber
- Rider Profile - Eldon Malone
- Inside scoop from the loop at the NM and CO Nationals
- If anyone wants to write up a short story or a tall tale send it to neottnews@fastmail.com and we'll get it added.