Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1960's

Top Expert tr.lls.r Kevin W.lker squeezes his lui lIlroulll llIo two lar.. rocks of soe:lion 11. Story and Photos by Guy Barton 1E1l1*t QeD" "_mond was four1ll best In cl.... proylnl you can e_ do It on • Honda as lOckies tIIo lrsp lIlrou&ll tile caclu So • ~e Scotsman' J .ck Ward was lIIe top rider of the d.y. here sllowlnl ..cellent lIultaco .bllllJ. Trap 114 - By far the roughest of the amateur sections. Here the riders were required to enter the section by crossing over a two fool deep trellCb of very 80ft mud. If you were able to make It over this barrier you rode on about ten yards then made a left turn 011 a "'limy, muddy b1l1 then dropped Into a three foot deep bole of mud, back out on level ground for another ten yards then a drop back Into a two foot bole before the exit. It was here tbat Norm Cowell madeaspectacular fligbt over the band1ebars just as he entered the section. Also woman rider Carrol Stone made one of the best passes througb the SectiOll. It was a two-dab attempt and was one of the mOllt sld1Iful rides of the day • The Expert/Masters also bad their s1lare of cI1ff1cult sections. For Instance Trap 117 was a borsesboe shaped, mud filled gully tbat bad to be entered flat out In second gear to try to Jump a three foot ledge to get uP on II1P ground and set uP for the last baIf of the SectiOll. A few riders were able to get through the first cOuPle of times but from then on It was almost suicide to try. Mostattempts ended with the riders sitl1ng In 2-1/2 feet of mud. Trap *10 bad the competitors riding down a rock filled rut then a right turn on a off-camber b1l1 then drop off Into two feet of mud and on down mud and rock-strewn gulcb. From bere the riders continued on to Trap *11 - Nearly 150 yards long, the riders first bad to ride down a rougb, bole filled b1l1 then a tigbt rigbt turn Into the· mud, between two large rocks about one foot apart and on down the gulcb for about 80 yards then out of lbe mud and uP a steep bill with a pair of tricky ledges just before the exit. Top rider of the clay was Scotland's Jack Ward. Ward, who competed In trials in Great Britain for a number of years, found the mud very mucb to biB liking. Jack dropped but 29 points to Bob Nickel. sen and John Walters with 49 marks, wbile Gary Davis followed close beb1nd with 52 points. In the expert class, Kevin Walker, riding a new Sherpa T for the first time In a trials, took first place honors with 56 points wbile Don Lawrence followed close beblnd with 60. Don earned enougb points with this ride to transfer to the Master Class. Roy Sheridan rode a Yamaha to third place and lost a mere 63 points. Roy made a beautiful attempt at trap 7. He rode the bigb wall very skillfully, but bis rear tire Just crossed the tape by a Incb or two and resulted In five marks lost rather than a clean. Among the amateurs In the ligbtweigbt class, Tom McGeacbin topPed George Karsten by 26 to 27. McGeacbin also earned the points needed to transfer to the experts. Both riders rode Bullacos. John Brewer, on a Cotton, nailed down third place with 29 marks. In the Amateur Ultra-Ligbts, Ray Jackson on a 125 Yamaha captured first place with 51 points. Norm Cowell picked himself uP from bis fligbt in trap *4 and continued on to a second place flnisb and also HIS last ride as an Amateur. Norm wU1 now be competing with the Experts on his 73cc Sachs. Dean Kllppert rode bis Hoclaka to third place, losing 57 points • Although Dave Evans did not ride this time, bis wife Edna and daugbter Debbie still took bome some gold. Edna topped all the women and Debbie took second place beblnd Greg Lersch In the kid's claBs. DANA POINT, Cal., March 2, 1969Alter today, mOllt of these compet1ni In the tr1a1s by the _ w1l1 lICl'ee tbat the dtrtiest word In the Enrllsb laDg1age Is a three letter syllable spelled M-U-D. Allbough the scbedu1ed trials was to ' be beld at Littlerock, word came tbat the _ river there was 300 yards wide and the entire camping area was under 6 feet of water. A quick decision was made to relocete the TrIals to DaDa Point. Word was sent out to all the members of the "S.C.T.A. and from there the word was passed via the grapevine. Surpr1singly, nearly 130 riders appeared ready to do battle Sunday mOl'lling. This Indtcates some of the enthusiasm !bat 15 generated at Southern California Trials Association events. The entrants were lined uP and sent off at one minute Intervals. All competitors were required to ride four laPs around the approximately three mile course. Amateurs rode sections 1 thru 6 and the ExperVMaslerS rode sections 7 thru 12. Most of the traps consisted of mud. Riders expecting a fairly easy go sucb as the last trials beld here found this definitely was not the case. Many of the amateur traps were difficult enougb to give most of the ElM's fits. Althougb most of the traps were challenging In their own special way, some et the really difficult sections were: Trap *1 - Fairly. simple looking uPbill climb, bowever a COuPle of genUe turns kept the speed down and then there was very soft and easily rutted dtrt for the last ten yards whlcb gave several of the amateurs tite. - -:SPEED ~PEED fSi?EEtJ/llErEflS The BN REED INDUCTION with porW cylinder, slotted piston and 32MM Amal con· centric carburetor, provides up to l00'ro more H.P. ACA Moto-Cross - 3/16/69 100cc Senior Class Mesa TT Scrambles - 3/16/69 100cc Expert Class lst Tom Hoyle - HODAKA 2nd Dan Etlleridge - HODAKA 3rd Jeff Creager - HODAKA 1st Wayne Hosaka - HODAKA 2nd Jim McGuire - HODAKA 3rd Chuck Byers - HODAKA For a first-hand demonstration of HODAKABILITY, visit your nearest dealer for a- FREE test rie. 01_1., _"ftI. ':0 for_ neoN"you,_rite: .-"..... :cON' : 0.00.00000 • • 000 • • • • • • ,. .' St, 0.000 •• : City ••••• "WI. ~C oO Zip . _ More Low End Torque Better Breathing No Loading Up Cooler Running Engine FOR MOST PISTON TIMED ENGINES TUIED EXHAUST _........•.•...... . ~oO' oO .. oOoO 0 . . More Horsepower S~UUL HU6$ . . . . - .. _ : Stot.... ,.....,.. 0 * * * * * * More Flexible RPM Sen4 I'MI YO'" book'.t, "The Hodallo S'ory:' rift o"'

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