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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/125857
Super-hush Honda protos debut at Rawhide Trial MOORPARK AMA NATIONAL By Lane Campbell ELS INORE, CA L. , AP R IL 21 It's n o t easy being an American Trials Association No vice. Sunday , 14 riders faced a ride-off for the top spots after the end of regular PE NZOIL SWEE! co mpetition. Bob Zoelln er, Dennis Gilm an , and J oe Ige co m pleted all th ree loop s w ith a o ne point total for a th ree -way t ic a t first. Bob Web b, Brad Strandlund, and J ohn Collins were in ano the r three-way t ie at two po ints and th e re st o f th e group had t hree points w ith o n ly th e number of "cleans" t o rank the m. T he th ree ride-off sectio ns included Am at eur/Expert Trap On e and two ' m ore has tily cons tructed tr ap s, b oth o f Amate ur/E xpe r t cali be r. To br eak th e ties, the riders would face t h ree loops o f t he three sec tions. Ige, Vince Vawter, an d Steve Si nclair se t the ea rly pace with ones in the first trap, but by the en d of th e first round lge had "fived" once, Sin clair had fived twice, and the whol e thi n g was up fo r grabs. Bob Zoellne r, though he lo st tw o , fi ves, p u t togethe r the m o st consisten t ride to ta ke first Novice. Bo b Webb got tw o cle ans and broke his second -divisio n tie to settle in at fou rth, an d V in ce Vawter easily broke his tie to take ei ghth. Paul Williams , tho ugh he was ridi ng for eleventh, turned in the most brilliant pe rformance of the ride-off. He cleane d Amate ur/Expert O ne three times runn in g, a n d drew a standi ng ova tio n fro m the ga llery . Moral : an y one of th e fo ur teen Novi ces co uld ha ve won it. They are all th at close in ability. What they need is more challengi ng sec t io ns a nd a chance to grow f urt he r in ability. T hat t hey will soo n h ave, as th e y are rap id ly accu m ula ting transfer poin t s t o go Amate ur. Exp er ts d idn't have it eas y, ei the r . Ex p ert Trap Two was a monster, with a tigh t tu m leadi ng in t o a fo ur -foot roc k wall, th en hard left over a j u m bled heap Lo f bou lders. Ge tting pas t t he ro ck wa ll an d m ak ing th e t u m required o ne well-place d pr o d. After th at, it was a matter of keep in g th e front end ligh t , careful ly ch o os ing wh ich three rocks to skip th e fron t wheef o n, and end u ring th e poundin g o f the rear wh eel on th e ro cks. A "one " was the best t h is sectio n wo uld yie ld, with Bernie Sc h re iber an d Mark Eggar ap pearing to ha ve the be st attack during th e first lo op. Bernie Schreiber tackles the na sties in Section Two. He rode away fr om the rest the Experts. o f S urprise of the m ee t was the appearance of Ho nda 250cc fo u r-stro ke p ro t o t y pes in the ha nd s o f Experts Bo b Nickelsen and George S mith III. The factory is being very close-mouthed about these m achin es, b ut they ap peared extreme ly we ll-detailed for p re-p roducti o n prototypes. The engine is a two-valve Single with qui te nar row cases, an d the whole bike was clai me d to weigh 206 pounds with a hal f-full tank. Both S mi th an d Nich else n lo o ked ver y smoo th on th e new H ondas, rid ing the m to fourth and fi fth E xper t , respec tively. A mate u r puffer Debbie Evans mad e a m a xim u m effort to clean th e hillclimb Sec t ion 17. It 's about I SO fee t , and the Amate ur/Expe r t riders m ust ap proach the st eep part in a t igh t clim bing ess cur ve. Deb m ad e i t to the nasty part on ly to ha ve the eng ine' ru n out o f poop. She m an aged a q uick d o wnsh if t as t he bik e bogged t o a n ear -st an d still , kep t it running, and powered up t he rest of th e clim b , giving a shri ll war-wh oo p as she cleared t he last ga te. A lo vely effort to watch, eve n thoug h she finishe d o ut of atrop hy. Section c hecki ng was excelle nt, both in qua ntity an d q uali ty. Trials tootsies ge t pre ttier all th e ti me . _ Tony DiStefano rod e a CZ to th e Open class win at the Moor park/ Baymare A MA National. Tony asks for Pennzoi l 2-Stro ke Mot orcy cle Oil. owed ad fiMik e Runyard follMike's Ton y across th e factory prepared nish for second. Suzuk i gets championship caliber engine p rotec tion from Pennzoil 2-Strok e Motorcycle Oil. Steve Stackable picked up the t hir d-place points in t he Open class on a Maico. Like Ton y and Mike, Steve asks for Pennzoi l too . Take a tip from t hese win ners, when what y ou ri de is w orth caring for, Pennzoil is worth asking f or. / (Provisional results on R esults pages.} Production-like detailing and sm ooth runn ing characterized the competitive 'new Honda 250. Factory is rathe r hush about these machines at present. PENNZOIL COMPANY 9