The crowning conclusion – The New South Tyrolean Daily Newspaper

The 2024 trial season ended this weekend with the last race in Ruffrè-Mendola. The race was organized by the Motoclub Neumarkt, with the support of the local municipal administration and Cavareno.

For the association from the lowlands, the time had finally come after almost a year of preparation. Starting with the first visits together with the local mayors and those responsible for the forestry office of the province of Trento, who gave the Neumarkt president Dietmar Eisenstecken instructions on how to mark the zones and the transfer route. The availability of some of the land used for the zones was also enormous, especially the owner of the “Maso Coflari”.

The weather was not on the organizers' side, with cold temperatures and strong winds, but this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the almost sixty drivers present and all the track staff. The race was the last of the Trial North East Trophy, with the podium places still open in some classes and an exciting competition between the participating pilots.

The fantastic route on the outskirts of the village of Ruffrè, with not particularly difficult but very technical sections, proved to be challenging for the participants.

Present at the event were the national coordinator of the trial sector, Damiano Cavaglieri, the mayor of the municipality of Ruffrè-Mendola, Donato Seppi, and the president of the FMI regional committee of Bolzano, Marco Bolzonello.

The service provided by the race management and the scoring center was also excellent; Veronika Mur from the Motoclub Trial Team Südtirol was in charge at all races.

Before the prize giving, a minute's silence was held in memory of the Italian driver Luca Salvadori, who had recently died in a race in Germany. The awards ceremony, both for the races and for the final classifications, took place under the direction of Dietmar Eisenstecken, assisted by Secretary Ciro Carratù and Vice President Claudio Roncador.

Eisenstecken particularly thanked all the zone supervisors. The generous sponsors who support the Motoclub's initiatives were also highlighted. “A really beautiful day for the sport, for the trial, which has returned to an open-air track and in natural areas.” Thanks to the local administrative authorities and the authorities of the province of Trento, to the participating pilots and to all the staff of the Motoclub Neumarkt. “A special thank you also goes to the national trial sector of Federmoto for supporting this competition,” said FMI regional president Bolzonello. The national trial coordinator Damiano Cavaglieri was also satisfied.

In Ruffrè, many local pilots were able to show off and achieve victories or podium places, especially the youngest participants. Laia and Nathan Pichler have been competing in the Minitrial C category for the entire season, with Laia winning the final race and thus securing the class victory. Peter Stuppner was at the top of the Minitrial Mono category, Luca Anastasi Vavessi won the Minitrial Entry ahead of Alex Tavana. All of these pilots are competing for the Trial Team South Tyrol (Vavessi for MC Zanini).

Luca Pozza from MC Neumarkt took a good third place in the TR5 class and thus secured the category victory. Johann Laimer and Franz Gafriller, both from TTS, narrowly missed out on a place on the podium. Erich Schweigkofler and Erich Laimer, also from TTS, had little chance against Lino Tonin (MC Schio) in the TR4 Open class. In the TR4, the South Tyrolean pilots Fabian Thaler, Benjamin Spögler and Fabio Moscon (MC Neumarkt) had difficulties in some zones and missed out on the top places in the rankings.

On the other hand, Simon Taferner put in an outstanding performance in the TR3 Open, taking third place in the daily rankings, while Simon Stuppner, Florian Aberham, Fabian Leiter, Gregor Kerschbaumer, Thomas Maurberger, Marc Laimer and Werner Burgmann were far from the podium. In the TR3 category, TTS President Richard Pichler and Giuseppe Zeni took a strong second and third place respectively.

Photo(s): © 123RF.com and/or/with © Archive Die Neue Südtiroler Tageszeitung GmbH (if no reference is made)