On The Pegs July 2019 - Volume 4 - Issue 7 | Page 47

On The Pegs
Pat Smage (FactoryONE/Sherco) took
just two points in two days of competi-
tion and 68 section rides on his way to
a sweep of rounds three and four of x
the AMA/NATC US National MotoTrials
Series in Gilbert, Minnesota.
In all, Smage cleaned all eight rides in
Saturday afternoon’s Shootout session
and the entire Trial on Sunday. It was his
second clean Trial of the season, having
already cleaned round two in Nebraska.
“Today was less stressful than last week-
end for me,” said Smage. “I think it was
just a mental thing that I didn’t want to
go through that again because it wasn’t
as enjoyable as it could have been. So, it
really didn’t catch up with me until pret-
ty much after section ten on the third
loop. I had thoughts of having a clean
trial after the first loop, but I was at least
putting it out of my mind enough to not
over-stress on it and just kind of rode it
section by section.”
Smage got off to a good start on
Saturday, taking only two points on the
first two laps. FactoryONE/Scorpa’s Karl
Davis Jr. came next with 17, followed by
Vertigo USA’s David Avendano and Gas-
Gas North America’s Daniel Blanc-Gon-
net, each with 18. FactoryONE/Sherco’s
Josh Roper was fifth with 20.
At 5:30, the Shootout kicked off, and
the first section was the most intimidat-
ing of the day, with a massive rock wall
proceeded by a difficult run up.
Davis fived both of his attempts, fail-
ing to get up the wall. FactoryONE/
Vol. 4 Issue 7 - July 2019
47
Sherco’s Sammy Fastle and Roper also
went 5-5. Avendano was the first to
clean it and followed up with a one on
his second attempt.
Alex Niederer was next best with a
1-1, that is until Smage also cleaned
both rides. Beta USA’s Andy Niederer
got through with a pair of threes. Mean-
while, FactoryONE/Scorpa’s Alex Myers
and Blanc-Gonnet went 5-1.
“The shootout sections definitely
looked difficult,” said Smage. “The first
one was pretty scary even for me. The
middle ledge there was really big with-
out much of a run. Looking at it, I almost
didn’t expect anybody to make it. The
run we had was just so short, but David
found a rock behind that that you could
start on and get another foot of run,
and that really made a huge difference.”
At the end of the shootout, Smage
had cleaned all four sections to win the
event with a total of two points.
Davis added 11 in the Shootout and
finished second overall with 28. Avenda-
no was third for the day with 29. Blanc-
Gonnet was fourth with 30, while Roper
rounded out the top five with 41.
On Sunday, Smage started reeling off
cleans and never stopped, posting his
second clean day of the season to take
the win.
Blanc-Gonnet came out on top of a
close battle with Davis and Alex Nieder-
er to finish second.
“There was one launch on section ten
that was pretty intimidating, so I knew