Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

~ w Z W .J U > U By Ron Schneiders Photos by Ron and Ellen Schneider! ESCAPE COUNTRY, CAL., Dec. 12, 1971 - Every once in a while a sport finds it necessary to remove from its stuffed calendar of serious competition one Sunday during which it can do some essen tial business and have some fun. The essential business of a sport, of course, is it's own growth, both internaJ and external. In the world of Trials in Southern California the day of EI Trial De Espana is Sunday Set Aside. The name EI Trial de Espana, literally "the Trial of Spain," is an interesting one because it can be taken a number of ways. First there is the ostensible main purpose of the trials, that of sending the two best riders to Spain to compete in the Spanish round of the World Championship. This is a particularly fine and fitting award for the top .trialists because it is magnificent enough to b< worth very serious sustained effort (which is all that's necessary for the eventual production of champions), and yet it is not of such a nature (convertible to cash that is) that it will do violence to that essential and very valuable aspect of trialing which is its sportsman·like character. To Spain this year will go the San Diego Gobbler, Rich Bledsloe and Ossa's whiz kid, Mark Eggar, both indisputably the best in Southern California trials tnis year. Looked at 'another way, El Trial de Espana is so called because it is sponsored in large part by Spain. The chief promoter and organizer of the event is an English translation of a Spanish sportsman, Fred Belair, the American correspondent for Motocyclismo, the Cycle World of Spain. The Spanish factories, Montesa, Bultaco and Ossa not only donate most of the trophies for the even t but also make available the biggest drawing card for non-trials riders, the motorcycle which is raffled off at the conclusion of the event. This year Spanish sponsorship was even more direct and personal. Senor Ignacio Bulto, patron of probably the last true aristocratic family in the world, and indden tally the head of the Bultaco motorcycle works, paid a surprise visit to the trials this year. Senor Bulto offered his own prize to the winner of today's trials: a per!onal expense"paid invitation to his family's trials in Spain. This is an affair of honor in Spain to which an invitation holds the same value as a ringside seat at a British coronation, or a fIrSt table place at the wedding breakfast of Princess Grace. Fine wines, food and sport in a tradition snuffed by too many wars. Having taken care of the business of internal growth by ensuring a spot in world competition for its best riders, the sport on this Sunday turned its efforts toward external growth by encouraging the non-trialing population to try the sport. A class for non-trials riders on non-trials machines was held and suitable traps were set to give the visitors a real taste of trials without getting them killed. That its purpose was achieved is unquestionable: One saw the damnest collection of machines and riders messing about on off-camber turns and over logs that can be imagined. One rider who appeared on a desert-rigged Ossa commen ted "Hey! this is really fund. It sure beats chasing jackrabbits." He had been persuaded to come by an article in the paper and had never seen a trials before. WniJe many of the true novices had a ball and more than got their money's worth in enjoyment, they didn't have much of a chance at the trophies. The winner of the novice class had a score of three which meant that he failed to clean only three traps in the two rounds (at worst). The second (or possibly the third) place winner was riding a Sherpa T in violation of the rules, bu t he solemnly assured the course marshal that it was his first trials and he had just this week bought the bike. He failed to clean only four traps at worst. If he's a true novice, Mick Andrews better watch out in about six months! E'(en Crafty AI Fox, who was ricling trials in England when an off-road motorcycle in this country was a stripped Indian Papoose, showed up on an AJS motocross machine with a sprocket about the size of a manhole cover. AI had to content himself with fourth place in the novice class. And Bill Babroff, the owner of two or three honest-to-gosh trials bikes, also decided to compete as a Novice on an AJS and was unable to finish in the top bunch at all. The novice class is getting quite competitive these days. No sport grows without publicity and to ensure that the trials received adequate press coverage, there was a special class for the Press consisting of eigh t traps to be ridden twice each. Undisputed master of the Press Corps is Tony Murphy of Motorcycle Sport Quarterly. Section 8 was a 20e-yard run of some of the deepest, slipperist, blackest, watery mud to be found this side of a Mississippi swamp. A sharp left entrance prohibited any sort of run at it, and a sharp righ t exit over slippery rocks necessitated fine control at the end. By the end of the day, when Tony

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