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I admit, I was not there this year, and if you read carefully, my comments were about our experience in past years not this year. Does that mean I shouldn’t make a post in response to another person that felt the comp was not well ran and that the judging wasn’t fair?
Some people felt this way and said so, but I was expressing that I was sad to see things had not changed and shared with those that felt it was not fair that in the past Jeremy had felt the same way, and had decided to not do it this year because of the cost involved, he thought things should be done better. This was his choice, not mine, his money not mine, but no I wouldn’t want to spend my money to go watch trials there either, I would rather go to Colorado, California, BC., Michigan, or to one of the newer places to watch trials.
And Sam Perkins you are right about one thing, that was the best comp back in that area that Jeremy has ever done, but you are not aware of everything that went on there. Still it was very good comp and one that I am sure Jeremy would do again if he has the dates free. It was a well ran event and I think Jeremy would have gone back to it again but he had a scheduling conflict. I am sorry my statement actually applies to the Motorama and Snowshoe events. Just to make it clear, to you Sam, I was wrong to paint such a broad picture and I am sorry that my comments were taken to reflect on your event.
Getting back to this event, I think the people that have posted were being honest about their feelings and from the recent phone calls I have gotten; more people have had these same complaints.
Maybe all these people are wrong, and maybe Jeremy was wrong too! The truth is if they are wrong and most people thought it had fair judging and that it was a well ran comp, people will not be fooled by what I said or these people said.
If, on the other hand there are problems, they need to be dealt with, and it appears to me that the amount of riders that think something is wrong is getting bigger not smaller. How many times can people have to keep jumping in and trying at the last minute to make these comps work? It isn't fair to anyone.
The chance to improve these two NATS events is there, you know what some riders are saying and some of the riders are pro riders, you can either fix the problem or it will get worse.
Mean while there are many other very good events and they will get more and more backing from riders and in the long run sponsors; this is the way it works.
I am not sure why some of you feel it is wrong to express our feelings in a fair way, I didn't do any name calling or even place blame on any one person, I kept the comments general, but specific enough that people that have been to this event in the last few years will know what I am talking about. A better ran event with fair and equal judging is needed! If you have rules, the event should use them, either that or everyone should know up front that the rules will be used some of the time but not all of the time. In some sports that is considered unfair.
And if you don't think Jeremy and these other people have an honest reason to complain about things being unfair and poorly ran that is okay too!
The people that run these two comps have already made their attitude towards Jeremy perfectly clear, he would like to see things change, but he doubts it will and he is voting with his pocket book and letting people know why.
Too many Pro riders are afraid to come out and tell the truth about why they don't go to these comps any more, that is the easy way out, but will the real problem ever get noticed and solved if everyone does this? And, some promoters try to keep anyone from expressing their opinion, and one common threat is, if you complain about my event I wouldn’t do it any more!
I hope you do understand, I am not mad, we have just given up caring about this comp out of frustration, Jeremy really would have liked to go to this comp, but was sure it would be the same as the last few years, so he stayed home. It is my opinion and Jeremy’s too, that poorly run events with poor checking is keeping this sport from developing here in the US! If badly ran events die, is that bad for the sport? You decide.
And Buckshot, Jeremy is not a kid, but he is very busy traveling around in fact he has already gone on at least 5 trips this year and will be spending most of the next 30 days out of the US, first in Europe and then in Mexico doing trials events. I post things on this list because he has an interest in them but can’t always post them. I do this because some people have said they want to know his opinions, so it is either I post them or they don’t get posted. But I am getting tired of doing this and I don’t enjoy taking my time to do it either, if it is not helpful for the riders to have as many sides to issues as possible, you could be right, maybe it is time to stop. I don’t really care how you perceive the posts that I make for Jeremy, they are put there for those that want to know, you that don’t want to know can skip them, just like I can skip any of yours that I don’t like. But I still respect your opinion and believe you have a right to it and I can even see your point.
I have been hoping that some day this sport would be able to help kids that love doing trials make a living doing it, there are very few guys doing this currently. I train athletes in many different sports, and it is sad to see the difference in how those sports, that are far less exciting and require far less skill are light years ahead of trials in organization, and sponsorship.
Why should I care about what happens to trials, heck Jeremy already is able to make a good living doing what he loves to do, but what about the young riders, in the future many riders could be making a great living doing what they love to do, but things need to change! The young riders of the future are why events like Motorama need to change. If they don’t in the future there will be a few like Jeff and Ryan that can make 50-100,000 dollars a year riding trials and all the other pros will be lucky if they make anything, kind of like it is right now. Jeremy is making the kind of money he needs to in order to go to the well ran comps, but what about all those that can’t go to Europe or the other NATS events or the new National events that will be UCI style, shouldn’t a national event series like NATS deliver the best in comps. From my understanding many of the local events back in that area are ran better! I could be wrong about that, but that is what I have heard.
And to Sumdge, as far as Jeremy is concerned all of his problems with the organizers of these two events relate precisely to the way they organize events, and their in ability to use judges that know the rules and attempt to enforce them equally for all riders, and we are not in any way afraid to discuss this whole topic out in the open, but for the sake of certain people we don’t bring up the specific past problems, but in this case others on this thread were experiencing the same problems that we have encountered regularly in the past at this event and Snowshoe. And I expressed our agreement with them and told them how we handled it this year.
We don’t care if the promoters like us or not, we don’t like everyone and don’t expect everyone to like us either, what we do care about is equal treatment at the comps for everyone!!! Robin Coope is a great guy, but Jeremy is not one of his favorite riders, but he still treats Jeremy with respect and if Jeremy has a problem with how something is being judged Robin always listens to him or anyone else. As a result of Robins attitude, Jeremy and myself both have a ton of respect for him, because we know we aren’t his most favorite people to see and yet we know his events are well ran and fair! And his event is a great event!
The whole thing is, this should not be a matter of personality, but rather the goal should be fixing a basic reoccurring problem with the comp.
To all the riders heading over to Europe this week for the comp, Jeremy is very excited to see you guys and can hardly wait to ride with you. Good luck!
Best wishes to all and happy riding!
Sorry about the spelling errors and the poor grammar!
Jim VanSchoonhoven
Holy shit, did anyone read all that? I didn't....thats 1,620 words- more than in a whole magazine!
