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troubl e ...incl u d ing th is o ne-dabb er
Just a s im p le serpentin e up a sa nd y hillside but everyone had trouble ... including this oneff-form lately but whom many
o ff-fo rm lat el y
wh om m any
beli eve to be the country's best trials
believe to be
coun try 's best tri als
rid er.
rider, was hanging in at fifth.
This week's round was much easier
much
than the fust round in some respects,
first
bu t was considered an excell~nt contest
but was co nsid ere d an excellent
b y most of the Masters (or Experts, if
by
th e
you're in the North). There was a time
you·re
Th ere
limit imposed in this round, most of the
Ijmit
riders in the Amateur and Expert classes
Am ateur
sp are .
finished with 45 minutes to spare.
No ne o f
None of the traps in this week's
we ek's
round were of the impossible type.
wer e o f
impossibl e
T he y wer e typ e
They were type that can be cleaned by
ca n
disciplined riders, but the traps most
b ut
o ft en
th e co n test an ts
often tapped the contestants for
b etween 1 and 3, depending upon
between I
3,
whether the rider m ade a small error in
whet h er th e
made sm all erro r
judgment or was supremely over
or
sup rem ely o ver
co n fid e n t.
confident.
T ra p
Trap One was regarded by b oth
regarded b y both
.No vice a nd E xp erts as the most difficult
th e m o st d iffi cult
Novice and Experts
but for different reasons. Th e Novices
fo r d iff er ent re asons, The Novi ces
h ad trouble getting u p ov er a large rock
roc k
had tr ouble ge t ti ng up over
th e
in the middle of the trap. The Experts
of
tr ap.
Exp erts
developed
a
line
that
virtually
d evel op ed
lin e
th at
vir t ually
elimi na ted the
eliminated th e rock as an obstacle only
an obs tacle o nly
fin d th emselves
to find themselves faced with a terribly
d iffi cu lt ex it uphill
difficult exit u p hill over slipp er y rocks
slippery ro c ks
and ro ot s, Not all the Experts were
a nd roots. No t
th e Ex p erts wer e
intimidated by Num ber One though ;
int imidat ed b y Number
though;
J ohn Wa ter s cleaned
John Waters cl ean ed it three times in a
tim es
row.
Se ction
Section 16 was another trap that
ano ther
th at
re q uire d
required great dis cipline. It was simply a
discipline.
~\!lIilM>l.r~SI~side of a hill
" ,f/,fp,e,l!jtiQ'''t.rI1 B~ ~~ sid e o f
hill
though a grove of sapplings. It wasn't
1t
very spectacular but all th e turns were
the t urns
full -lock, o ff-ca m b er
full-lock, off-camber and very soft. Each
Ea ch
time that a rider went through the
wen t
section he found that it was radically
he
tha t
different from the last time because new
di fferent
b erms a n d lin es h ad been form ed
berms and lines had b een formed in th e
the
soft surfaced turns. Most lost p oints.
Most
points.
Wh en
o ver
slight , blond
When it was over the slight, bl ond
northern
north ern rider, Lane Leavitt emerged
the winner with 20 points, over a
th e
20
dis app oin
disappoin ted Rich Bledsl o e who scored
Ri ch Bledsloe
23., Bob Nickelsen, who's been out of
23
wh o 's been o u t o f
practice
practice due to his concentration on
to
c o nc en tra tion o n
end u ros
enduros this year, cam e in third and
carne
a nd
looked as happ y as a kid who wakes up
happy
k id wh o
up
lo oked
Christmas morning and finds a new Ossa
a nd
n ew Oss a
under the tree. Following Mick Andrews
around has helped get Bob b ack on the
aro u nd
helped
back o n
line. Walters , who likes a physically
lin e. Walters,
lik es
physicall y
more demanding trials than this one,
th an
one ,
finished fourth . Kevin Walker finished
fourth.
finish ed
fifth and Steve Darrow finished sixth..
finish ed sixth
Lan e's first p lace moved h im in t o
Lane's first place moved him into
first p lace in the Sta te Championship
place
State Champ ionship
battle as well with 25 points toward
w ell
that title. In second spot is Walters, a
tit le.
me re
mere two points behind. with 23.
behind,
23 .
Bledsloe is third with 20 and Darrow
Bledsloe
a nd Da rrow
and Nickelsen are t ied for fourth with
an d Nic kelse n
tied
wit h
. 16 points.
While the State Championship was
the center of interest this week, there
were also several other contests being
co nt est s
held. In the Amateur class (which
class
corresponds to Expert in Southern
co rr espo nds to
California) Harry Lundsden (46) took
(4 6 )
fust, John Darwin took second and
first, J ohn
to ok
a nd
Leroy Earl third.
Lero y
The Novice class (which corresponds
(w h ich co rr esp o nd s
to th e
to the Amateur class in the south) was .
th e so u th)
in to tw o
acco rd in g t o
divided into two groups according to
whether the contestant was riding a
th e co n testa n t
genuine trials iron or not. They all rode
genuin e
o r n ot. Th ey
the same traps, however, and some of
of
those traps were a bit too much for
to o m uch
Novi ces, One for instance. required that
Novices.
instan ce, re.quired
the rider make it over a good-sized log
it o ver
and then immediately make a full-lock
th en irnmediat elv
full -lo ck
279 degree tum and climb a steep bank:.
turn
clim b steep bank".
27!>
Most of the Novi ces never made it over
Novices
it
the log, let alone up the b an k. To add to
th e
alo n e
bank. T o
the Novic es' problems, they had to keep
Novices'
the y
to
a very tight schedule and, there were a
and- th er e
lot of riders so there was much waiting
rid ers
th ere
wai ting
in lin e. Scores were fairly high.
line. Sc ores w ere fai rly h igh.
1n Novice A (trials bike) Steve
In
( trials
(-3 7)
too k
:\Iuscatel
took first, Larry
Muscatel
(·37)
Schmid ke (-40),
a nd J im
Schmidke (-40) , second, and Jim
Lauderman (-45), third. In Novice B
(-4 5 ),
ovice
(no n-trials bike) R on
(non-trials b ike) Ron Cosh (-59) was
Winner of the trials and leader in the state
Winn er
th e
lead er
championship race, Lane Leavitt.
ch a m p io nsh ip
Lan e
There was one water section w ith deep water and an invisible bo ttom .
bottom.
Th er e
on e w ater secti o n with d eep w at er a nd a n
