,
by Christopher Ostlind
RAMONA, CAL., Nov. 5, 1972
Marland Whaley put together three of
the most fantastic loops of trials riding
ever witnessed in Califonia today as he
led fellow Montesa team rider Rich
Delaney to a 1-2 sweep 'in the Master
Division of roday's San Diego Trials
Riders sponsored event.
Whaley, who is 14 years old and one
of the youngest Masters ever, comes
from Santee, California (which is home
of another motorcycle prodigy, Marty
Tripes; Jn fact the two of them go to
the same schooL) .\1arland turned in
loops scores of -6-12 points to easily
be low man as Delaney had 38 ill
another super ride.
The Expert/Master loops consisted of
ten traps and had to be negotiated three
times to complete the scoring. Some of
the traps were not too demanding 0 I
the Masters, but the otheJ;S were just
incredible. If your particular forte was
not rocks, then you were in big trouble
today as a good deal of the program had
to do with those hard, shift lever eaters.
By far the two most difficult traps on
the loops were composed of shar\),
gouging, case smashing rocks. No cleans
were registered in either of these
sections, and it was really too bad that
more spectators couldn't get out to
them to watch.
Third place Master was Mark Eggar
on an Ossa. Mark finished with 42
points to narrowly beat out Rich
Bledsoe the Bultaco rider who had 43.
An equally incredible ride was turned
in by Jim Laudeman on a Bultaco. As
he finished the day with 43 points but
the difference is that Laudeman is an
Expert not a Master. Second Expert was
Bernie Schreiber with 56 points and a
truck wi th a good set of headligh ts.
Third was Elmer Norman with a 69.
One of the nice things about the
SDTR's Or~anization of today's event
was the way they had Novice/Amateur
even t in the morning with the Experts
and Masters checking some of the
sections and giving out some hints as to
how to do it a little better next time. In
the afternoon the Expert/Masters rode
with the NOV/Am riders doing the
checking. This gave the new riders a
chance to see how the experienced
Expert/Masters handled
themselves,
their machines, and the terrain.
A Jot of complaints were turned in by
the Masters as to the efficiency and
speed of the checkers during the loop.
,",'hen you're on a time limit it's no time
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to mess around with a checker of a
section you just completed and the
. Masters and Experts appreciate the
effor! and concentration.
Rich Delaney was second.
(
Kevin Walker gets spectated.