PREPARATIONS for Team Australia’s 2015 FIM Trials des Nations (TdN) squad are well underway, with all members of the squad now in camp in Tarragona, Spain ahead of the September 19-20 event.
Australian Men’s team representatives Kyle Middleton and Chris Bayles have been in Europe for the past two weeks competing in Rounds 8 and 9 of the FIM World Trials Championship in Portugal and Spain.
Both will carry good form into the TdN, with Middleton taking out his third national title in the Australian Trials Championship late last month, while Bayles finished in fifth.
Fellow teammates Tim Coleman and Colin Zarczynski also returned solid results in the national championship, finishing in second and fourth respectively.
Our Women’s team will also be primed to deliver on the international stage, with Kristie McKinnon (2015 Australian Women’s Trial champion) and Kaitlyn Cummins (fourth in the Australian Women’s Trial Championship) ramping up their preparations by competing in the Spanish round of the Women’s World Trial Championship on the weekend.
The final member of the Women’s team Ina Halls joined the rest of the Australian squad yesterday for training in the lead up to the TdN competition.
Complimenting preparations for the TdN, the Australian squad has been boosted in recent weeks with a generous donation of $2682 from the Australian Trials Academy.
Australian TdN Team Manager Phil Whittle said the donation would go a long way to assisting the fortunes of our national trials teams in overseas competitions.
“We’re thrilled to have received this donation, and we thank Australian Trials Academy principles Paul Arnott and Chris Chellas for helping both our current crop of riders and the next generation of up coming riders as well,” Whittle said.
“We plan to use this donation to purchase pit equipment including a marquee, bike stands and tools that can be used not only for the 2015 team, but can also be stored in Europe and used in subsequent years by the Australian Teams.”
To keep up-to-date with all the happenings from the 2015 Trial des Nations, stay tuned to the Motorcycling Australia website.