So what is the Nubbie?

 
Oh god. Where should we start with this......

To recap, Our buddy Scott had a slight tip-over at about one mile-an-hour in a fairly difficult section. He stuck his hand out on the way to the ground and placed it on a rock and the left handlebar caught his thumb between rock and handlebar end and severed off the tip of his thumb. OUCH!

Now, if you don't think we got some major mileage out of his misfortune then you just don't know us very well. And, if we didn't like him we definitely wouldn't mess with him about it. And, trust us, we did mess with him about it!

So......we have decided here at ITSA Headquarters to make "The Nubbie" an annual award in honor of Scott's Nubbie thumb (or lack thereof). "The Nubbie" will be awarded based on some unforgettable event during a trials endeavor. It is not going to be necessary for the occurrence to be laden with misfortune or the loss of an appendage. It will however have to be unforgettable and worthy of mention many times over your favorite libation.

Of course Scott had already had the honor of winning the Alice Conklin Loop Riding Award for a really amazing crash on the loop on his TL125 that looked like a train wreck.

Scott, you've definitely done your part and we'd like to Thank You and also to Congratulate You on the dubious honor of being the recipient of the inaugural Nubbie! Thanks for the inspiration of the award and also Thanks for taking all our harassment over the year.

One-and-a-half Thumbs Up!

Who was next?

Say, who is that standing next to Nubbie?

Why it's Mike Radford!  AND He is holding the 2006 Nubbie award!

 I know you are all thinking ...is he awarding it to Nubbie....No! Nubbie just bestowed the honor on Rad.

 Rad is still looking a little stunned from the honor of receiving this highly coveted award, or he just might be showing the lingering dazed look brought on by the maneuver he executed to garner this award.

Let me try to give you an idea just how he has come to find himself in this distinguished position.

At the Dickson 2-day this year there was a very interesting intermediate section in the Scottish Bowl. The Scottish Bowl is named so for it's bowling ball size rocks scattered about and lining the far bank of this sink hole so deep we have not found the bottom yet. The section was structured so as to use the dirt off cambers and just have the rocks around for a slight distraction...something to worry about but not really in the way.

Well, that's not how Rad viewed it!  The section consisted of a slight hill climb up the dirt side bank was a turn around a tree leading to a slow decent down to a right hand, off-camber turn ABOVE (note here I emphasize "above") a fallen log, about a 14 inches in diameter. Turning on the hill above the log was the best line...Hockeyboy, The Guru, Cash, and the rest of the experts all agree that the Rad line was a little over the top and selected to avoid it.

Not Rad! For some reason in his eyes leaping over the log, downhill, into a pile of rolling or soon to be rolling rocks was somehow a better line than the possible one dab on the slight camber above the log. Chances are the dab would not have been necessary anyway. We are getting close now....grabbing a stout handful of throttle Rad launches his trusty TY250 up and over the log, planes it out in the air and dives into the pile of now scattering rubble! He then proceeds to sail over the bars while flying bits of plastic(formally known as fenders) fly through the air all about him. You could hear the crowd (had I forgot to mention the crowd...it's a must to have a witness to win the Nubbie...a crowd of them is much better!) gasp as the dust, parts and Rad came to rest on the turf. Fortunately  Rad was not injured except for the usual scrapes associated with this sort of situation.

Congratulations on being the 2006 Nubbie and for being a great sport about it!