Observing

Current ACU Rules, both Stop Allowed TRS22A and No-Stop TRS22B can be found in the ACU Handbook or on the ACU website; from the ACU home page (use our Links tab) hover over Riders/members, choose ACU Handbook and go to Trials Standing Regulations (hence TSR).

Horsforth uses Stop Allowed for all its trials except the Basic Yorkshire Championship Trial and the end of May West Yorkshire Championship Trial which have to be No-Stop as dictated by the Yorkshire Centre.
OBSERVERS PLEASE NOTE – The Stop Allowed Rules are printed on the back of the Scorecard backing boards.

Fancy having a go at Observing? for a few guidelines and an extract of the Stop Allowed rules Click Here

Or for details of the flags we use for the sections click here
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A few hints and tips

STOP ALLOWED. A common misconception is that a rider can touch his toes/feet down as long as they are still on the footrest – that hasn’t been the case for a while! Gaining benefit by resting on a rock, tree, banking etc with either foot or even JUST A FOOTREST will be (at least) a 1 – see the TRS22A FOOTING rule.

Another misconception under Stop Allowed is that if a handlebar touches the ground* its a 5. That is also an old rule and is now covered by both the FOOTING and FAILURE rules. It’s a 5 if either of the rider’s hands leaves the handlebar when Stopped AND Footing (whether his bar is on the ground* or not – he could be bolt upright but stopped, foot down and picking his nose but it’s a 5). If he keeps both hands on the bars when they have touched down on the ground* technically the penalty could be just a 1 but if a bar hits level ground* the chances are at least one foot/knee/elbow will be down as well so its likely to be a minimum 2 (1 for the bar, 1 for the elbow, arse etc) and probably a 3 when bike and rider are laid on the ground* BUT it’s not a 5 if both hands are still on the bars. You would think if bike and rider are laid out flat on the ground* it would be a 5 but not necessarily under TRS22A!
(*’Ground’ isn’t always level of course, it could be stream banking or a rock and it’s for this reason that the rule is written in the way it is).

If a rider’s feet are touching the ground at the same side of or behind the bike then it’s a 5.

If the rider GAINS BENEFIT from ANY other part of bike or body (except tyres and sump guard) touching down, say if the bar, footrest or leg is resting against a tree, stream banking or tall rock, it’s a dab

The ‘Gains Benefit’ aspect is crucial – if a rider’s shoulder, elbow, foot, knee or any part of the bike (ignoring tyres and sump guard) just brushes a tree/rock/banking etc there is no penalty but if that contact is relied on to keep upright or avoid falling, whether stopped or not, then the penalty applies.

DISPLACING A FLAG. Riders and observers please note a rider can brush a flag AS LONG AS IT RETURNS TO ITS ORIGINAL POSITION. If it doesn’t the observer needs to take 2 actions:
1 – mark it as a 5, and
2 – re-instate the flag to its original position (which with our wire flags will probably mean straightening it) before the next rider goes through.
When we put the flags in they are straight so any bent ones are evidence of a 5 for someone! Have a look at the state of the flags when they go back in the bags at the end of a trial and ponder how many riders might have got away with taking a bit too much of a liberty!

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