Updates

The annual meeting & banquet was held January 22, 2022. The business part of the meeting was congenial and ended early. The raffle following the banquet raised a little over $500. 72 admissions were sold.

Rule Changes

• Senior C riders will now ride 3 loops instead of 4

• Revised “hand off the handlebar” failure rule

• Revised End of year points calculation: 2 Throwaways for greater than 8 events; 1 Throwaway for 8 or less events

• Rider fund eligibility revised. NETA to match calculated rider funds.

For more information, consult the 2022 Rule Book.

Event Schedule

There will be 8 events this season. The traditional beginning of the season trials school will be held at RITC on April 24th. The first event of the season is at Meriden on May 1st. The dates and venues for the entire season are listed on the Events page.

Gary Bourque

Hall of Fame of the North American Trials Council is the highest honor of the Council.  The members are outstanding trials riders and those who have been of great service to the sport.  The motto PRAESTANTES JUDICIO ET SERVICE means outstanding trials and service.  The aim of the Hall of Fame is designed to preserve the past, honor excellence and connect generations.

At the banquet it was announced Gary Bourque has been inducted into the NATC Hall of Fame for 2022.

On Sunday, November 14th, the Springfield Motorcycle Club (SMC) is hosting a Vintage Trials Fun Ride.  Riders with modern bikes are also welcome. The event will be held at the SMC property (219 Warren Road, Brimfield, MA 01010).

NETA Sportsman level sections with “A”, “B” and “C” lines are being prepared for the event. A few sections are from the most recent SMC NETA event. Most are either new or “favorites” from years past. We plan to have 10 sections taped and gated.

This is a recreational trials ride, it is not a competition. Score cards will be available and riders are welcome to self score, but scoring keeping is optional. Finishing coins for the best scores in “A”, “B”, “C” for vintage bikes will be awarded following the ride. A rider’s best 3 of 4 loops will be scored.

The details:

• All bikes must have trials tires.
• Only vintage bike scores are tabulated.
• Signup starts at 9am (riders can start anytime after signup).
• Riders meeting at 10:00am.
• The event ends at 3pm.
• Primitive camping is available Saturday night (11/13).
• AMA membership is not required.
• Admission $20.
• Please bring a pen, this is a fun, self-scoring event.
• Call or text Bob Bertrand (413-544-5861) or David Scarbro (978-771-8672) if you have questions.
• If inclement weather forces cancellation, an email will be sent before the end of Friday, Nov 12th.

Click here to RSVP.

Here are the scoring totals for this year’s events:

• NETA Year End Standings – Re-indexed season scores with all non-qualifying riders removed. This spreadsheet shows the finishing positions for all class championships this season.
• NETA Year To Date Standings – Cumulative scores all riders that competed this season.

If you spot any mistakes please contact the webmaster.

Mike Bryant has obtained a new batch of NETA t-shirts in new colors and an updated design. The shirts are $15 and will be available to purchase at the RITC event on September 26th.

Hello NETA Members and Family,

We finally have a season underway and smiles were everywhere you looked at the great SMC kickoff event for the 2021 Season.

I am also happy to say that we can now add Oct 24th in Meriden Ct, to now get our season total up to 6 events for 2021.

I thought it would be best to mention clearly that it is our intention to count season points as usual, and work credits will be required as usual for a rider’s season points to be counted.

No doubt this is a much shorter season then those of the recent past, but it is indeed what we have to work with until the time comes over the winter for a return to our formal rule and schedule meetings as done in our pre-pandemic past.

Looking at the math 6 events should now be enough, so hopefully everyone will forgive the “late-addition” to our schedule gracefully, and with the understanding that 5 events would have been almost too prohibitive to allow a work credit for many riders.

As for the “throw away’s”. I think it best to stick with the rulebook as much as possible so one throw away would be in order for a season of 10 events or less.  The reason I say “as much as possible” in regards to this is that we are already expecting a bit of flexibilty in adding an event date this late in the season, and I am pretty sure we can all agree that we have all had to work around some very difficult and unusual circumstances these past 16 months or so to get this far here again.

I for one am very confident that our NETA family will continue to recover enthusiatically with a lot of fun set to happen for 2021 !

Safe travels always, and looking forward to seeing everyone in New York this upcoming weekend,

Stuart Preston – NETA Pesident

The NETA T-Shirts have sold out. We hope to order a second batch, but will not until we have a volunteer to handle the sales. Mike Roccanti is moving to Colorado. Contact David Scarbro (webmaster@newenglandtrials.com) if you’re interested in volunteering.

Stu Preston
President
New England Trials Association
72 Mountain Road
South Berwick, ME 03908

Dear Stu,

Thanks for your query regarding the anticipated course of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic as you deliberate a return to NETA activities.

As you and the membership are aware, this global viral pandemic is unprecedented. To date, the virus has infected 112 million people worldwide and has claimed 2.5 million lives. Here in the United States, over 500,000 lives have been lost.

Unfortunately, there has been considerable misinformation and general misunderstanding of the facts about COVID which could frustrate decisions such as yours. Having devoted my professional time in recent months to the fight against COVID, I wish to reinforce the absolute fact that this is a highly contagions and deadly virus.

We have three things that help us avoid transmitting, becoming ill and dying from the virus. They include social distancing, proper masks and vaccinations. Any social activity that doesn’t include these elements will contribute to ongoing illness and death.

Your concern regarding when a safe return to NETA events might be expected is to be applauded. You make no assumptions and that is the only safe and responsible approach to take. There are any number of observations and opinions both for and against resuming events. As NETA President, you are undoubtedly hearing many of them.

We will invite risk by gathering for large scale social and leisure events too soon. It would be wise to wait until a majority of the population is immunized. At our projected rate of vaccine production and administration, barring any setbacks, we anticipate having enough vaccine out to reach heard immunity by mid summer ’21.

Hence, I suggest that you might look at the first week of July as a possibility for safely resuming an event schedule.

Stay safe,

Dr. Hub Brennan
NETA# 33
AMA Board of Directors, Medical Commission and Trials Commission Member
AMA Safe to Race Taskforce contributing author
FIM Medical Commission Member and Chief Medical Officer

Because of the pandemic, all 2020 memberships will carry over to this year. If your last renewal was in 2019, you’ll need to renew for 2021. New members will need to join NETA. The 2021 Membership Application can be used for either task.

Hello to all of our NETA friends and families,

 It is with a heavy heart that I write this today. After many months of uncertainty, the NETA season for 2020 will have to be postponed altogether. When this COVID-19 issue surfaced back in the month of March, we were all hopeful for a chance for at least a partial season to be able to take place later on in the 2020 season, but now as we enter the month of August some 6 months later, it has remained evident that there are simply too many unanswerable questions to allow us to hold any NETA sanctioned events in 2020. With so much uncertainty as to where our government regulations and limitations are currently standing, as well as where they might end up in the near future, it is simply not worth the potential risk for liability should any future cases emerge as a result of potential exposure at a NETA sanctioned event. To be sure, any future litigations that could emerge would be directed at the NETA Board, and this is a risk that I do not want to see us take. 

With the recent announcement of the NATC to cancel the Nationals we are also making the same choice, and with our fingers crossed for better circumstances to prevail for 2021. Until that time, local groups who wish to hold any “unofficial” or “fun” events will have to get us through, and hopefully, a few such gatherings will occur responsibly during the remainder of 2020. 

With hopes for a brighter outlook for future,

Stuart Preston  –  NETA President

Hello all NETA Members and Family,

With all the goings-on surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, it is time for an update in regards to how it is affecting our proposed NETA schedule for the 2020 season.

Sadly the various limitations that have been set in place in response to the spread of the virus have clearly prevented us from implementing the schedule as written thus far. Even worse there have been extensions to many of these on a state to state basis, and at this point, the state of Rhode Island has banned the gathering of any large groups of people until the end of the summer at least, and Connecticut still has similar limitations at this time, as well as Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, and Maine.

To be clear, we are NOT intending to cancel the entire season and will be looking ahead to the time when 100 or more people will be allowed to gather in one location before reinstating the schedule as currently written. There will be every effort made to provide at least a 30-day notice to all involved when the time comes for the next event to be held. 

Some of the Trialsmasters have been discussing alternate dates for the events that have been canceled with the following proposals thus far :

Meriden Oct 4th 

Springfield Nov 8th

At this time it would not seem feasible to try to gather “Season Points” for any championships for the 2020 season, as the total number of events held in the shortened season would not likely allow for everyone to earn their work credits with only enough time a few events being left after the limitations on groups of people over 100 have been removed. This leaves us with the option of having whatever events we can squeeze in on a week to week basis, and at least we can start to get our NETA Family back together again after such a long and unfortunate delay.

It should be mentioned that the NETA Board has every intention of issuing some credits for those who have already sent in their memberships for 2020, and my instincts are leaning towards a 50% reduction in season membership fees for anyone who signs up for the 2020 season. So those who have already sent in your fee’s at full price could expect a 50% credit towards your 2021 membership, and those who sign up between now and the end of the 2020 season will be charged only half the usual cost of membership. Another option here would be to waive all membership fees for the 2020 season and roll any existing memberships forward from 2020 to 2021. As of now, the board is tied on the vote for this aspect of the membership fees, and we still have many other hurdles to cross until we can determine just how much of our event schedule can be utilized/ rescheduled.  We will reconvene on this in the near future and report back again on this and any other updates at the same time.

I’m sure there are many other questions yet to be answered as time goes by, but this is where we find ourselves for now, and we must all do our best to stay safe, strong, and positive until better days prevail. Although these times have brought on many unprecedented difficulties, I am very confident that the strong bond of the NETA Family will shine through when the time has finally arrived for our events schedule to resume!

As always, anyone with any questions or concerns is always welcome to reach out to me directly, and I will always be ready to do my best to help in any way possible.

Best Regards to All, for Better Days Ahead,

Stuart Preston – NETA President 

207-337-1274 anytime