• When – January 22nd, 2022
• Where – Twelve Acres Banquet Facility, 445 Douglas Pike, Smithfield, RI

Admission for the banquet is $30 and can be purchased online. Please purchase your admission by January 16th, 2022 (The staff at Twelve Acres needs know ahead of time how many are attending).

Itinerary for the day will be as follows:

• 12pm – Doors open for setting up the displays and projector
• 1pm to 5pm – Rule and Schedule Meeting
• 5pm – Dinner guests arrive
• 6pm – Dinner is served , Please submit any special dietary requirements as soon as possible please.
• 7:30pm – Awards Ceremony
• 10pm – Conclusion

To all Trial Masters and anyone wishing to submit any rule changes, please see the notes below:

• It is recommended that rule change proposals are submitted to the NETA Board by December 31st of the current year.
• Rule changes and additions to the NETA Rulebook are determined by a vote of the membership at the Annual Meeting.
• Proposals should clearly state the rule proposal and include: 1. Rule type (New rule, Modified rule or Deleted rule). 2. The Reason and benefit.

Looking Forward to a Productive Meeting and a Wonderful Celebration of Trials Camaraderie !

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022.

Stuart Preston – NETA President  

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

 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

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

It is with a sad heart that I must announce the postponement of all NETA Trials events until further notice, due to the strict limitations now imposed on the number of people allowed to gather in one location at any given time.

We will monitor this as closely as possible, and work with 30-day intervals to try to allow for events to be held as soon as the state to state limitations will allow them.

For now, we are cancelling the first event on the calendar, the RITC Trial School of April 28th. The Wrentham event on May 3rd is tentative and depends on guidance regarding COVID-19. We plan to make a decision approximately 30 days prior to May 3rd. Please check back for updates.

In the meantime, I would like to encourage everyone in our NETA family to stay calm, stay safe, and please try to be there to help any members of our local communities as needed. We are all in this together, and together we will work to help bring the situation under control as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Stuart Preston – NETA President

1-207-337-1274 anytime