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cont'd. ATA Trials: Martin Belair takes Reche, Don Sweet visits By Dick Vasquez RECHE CANYON. CAL.• l\t A R. .2 Don Sweet (Na tiona l No . Three) from New England was a surprise entry at the fifth ATA tri al of th e year and immediately became a pre-trial favorite sin ce Bernie Schrei ber . Marland Whaley, and Mike Griffitts we re competing in Spain. However, t l.e win ner was Martin Belair (Mon ) wl.o rose to the occasion with consist en tl y . fine rides all day to be at Mark h.~~., r (Ha n ) and Don Sweet (Ya m ) v, 1,, ) fin ished third. Belair was the fou rth different rider to win an AT A eve n t five have been held this ye a r. Mar tin felt section fo u r '''..1 : . l".~ most difficult but section five had to be a close second. This trap had uph ills, do wn hills, t h ree tig ht turns and an exit that required the exact c ombination o f throttle and body En glish or else it was "paddle-time " or a "Big Five " . J ac k Armstrong looked this section o ver very carefully, left for about 10 min utes. then returned and be cam e t he first Expert to clean this sec t io n with a super-fine ride. The Am ateur class was somewh at eas ier (for some) as th e scores were more reasonable. Dean Pagel (Mon ) took first by a comfo rt a ble eight p oin t margin over Rick Han sen (Bul). Reggi e Dawes. riding the Bult aco h is mother won at th e EI Trial de Espana. finished third. O.C .T.• the host clu b . em ployed the "Marvin Russell Shotgun St art " fo r t hi s trial which worked as follows: (I ) Every rider was assign ed to st art a t a specific section (2) The rider finished th e balance of loop one, rode loops two an d three in order (3) Subject rider than rode the sections that were missed in loop one. This method el iminated bottlenec ks (there were 134 riders) an d enabled all the checkers to start an d finish at the same time. I awaited the "Shotgun" sta rt at Novice ' Section One (Downhill Racer) where approxi mately 15 Novices were gat hered for the sta rt. TIle en try co ns isted of a steep 50 fo o t do wn hill wi th a run o ut fo r "emerge ncies." A few ri ders used a little to o much fro nt -brake and nipped over the hand lebars. Sherry Gregoire rode down fast , fast . fast but she wasn't showing off. she just didn't have a rear brake. Regardless, Sherry ha d a fine ride beating 70 othe r Novices to finish eigh th . The winner of the large Novi ce class was Gary Godwin (Suz ) who dropped a mere seven points followed by G. Armstrong (Bul) and Scott Parker (:\10n) who finished third. The next trials, the St. Patrick Two Bit dry, hereabouts, eh , Don? Super Bowl Qualifiers earlier start , so had only one chance to set his mark. He got up to the 452 foo t marker. \ Ves Evans was next, but his best mark was 454 feet and earned him first pla ce in the class, but not the top spot. That was reserved for Ed Shaver (T ri ). Shaver had been h aving trouble and called for a two minute mechanical hold. Since he didn 't h ave any misses (h e was allo wed two) he gave up one chance to ride in order to gain another two minutes time to work on the bike. Just before time ran out, Shaver had to switch bikes. He borrowed a 1750 Triumph from Tom La Rue , and headed for the st arting log . . Shaver roared off the log , fought for control and balance, and managed to wo rk his way over the to p of the hill for a well deserved win . • Results in Results Section. Day Tri al at Texas Canyon (near Saugus) on March 15·16, should be one of the year's best. Riders expected include Bultaco 's Lane Leavitt (U.S. Trials Champion]; Yamaha's top gun, Don Sweet (National No. Three ) from New England; Honda's Trials Team including Joe Guglielmelli (National No. Six ) from Washington; and all of the top ATA Experts which include nine of the top 20 trials riders in Ame rica. • High School MX Ascot - Every Saturday Info : 213-321 -8859 . L.A. County Riders. OCIR - Every Saturday Ope n Qua lif ica t ions. 00 ,......; Indian Dunes - Every Sat. (Except March 22) Info: 805-259 ~OOO days, 805 -942 ·2671 eves. Carlsbad - 1st & 3rd Sat. Info: 714-744-21 61. Antelope VIy. - March 22 Info: 805 -94 2-267 1 Special " Goodie" High School MX club assembly available Free. Call 213-257-1213 or 2674 678 for reservation f or your high school. = 213- SAMA:s~~v,~, 321- ~ll~ . 8850 ,~ ,' I.(: :<: u o ::; ::; ., $tJe Mo\.O Ron Powell , "THE HOOKMAN ," waiting to assist John Bjo rk man and h is Tr iumph. 18300 S. Vermont, Gardena, CA 90 247 '" Climbers battle the Horn z o III :<: u By Ann Powell « ., "' « ORANGE, CAL. , FEB . 23 In the first run of competition there were only six "overs," and these were scored bv five riders. The first bike over was a highly modified 400cc Suzuki ri dden by Wes Evans. Evans also made an o ver on the same bike when he jum ped class to the 450cc modified. The smallest bike over was a 360 mod ified Yamaha with Craig Mo ck . The only other riders to top the hill in th is run were in the Open class, Ed Sh aver, Tom La Rue and Neal Triumph mo unted, Mackel , all man aged to ma ke it over. Without a doubt, the m ost exciting moment ca me when La Rue mad e his run. His fro nt wheel cr es ted the 'Hom, bu t th e engine hung up on the lip . For the next 90 seconds, he ro ck ed the bike, sla mming it into the crest, working to plow over the ri m of the hill. At last, with the dirt flying behind, the bike eased over the top. Later in the day, from the first move up point, Neal Mackel found himself in the sa me position. The front wheel was over the top, but the bike was balanced on the engine case. But, all the pushing, the screaming and the p ower of t hat mighty Triumph just co uldn't hack it thi s time. At last the engine died and Mac fell off. He scored an amazing 503 feet on a hill that top ped out at 500 feet. Enough fo r a second place. but not an over. After the first round of competition there were only 16 bikes to qualify for the move up. The starting block was moved up to about the 230 foot mark o n the hill. The smallest bike t o qualify fo r the move u p was a m odified 25 0cc Ya maha ridden by Gary Peterson. But, Peterson had had so me tr ou ble o n one o f his ea rlier ru ns and had to scra t ch fro m com pe ti ti o n . That left Bill Estes, on a m od ifi ed 36 0 Husky and Crai g Mo ck on his 360 Yamah a as th e smallest b ikes in co m petit io n . Mock m an aged to m ake it over th e top aga in, taking first pl ace in his clas s and remaining in co m pe tition for the t op elimina tor spot. The st art ing log was moved again. This time to the 3 8 5 foot marker, j ust below the sandsto ne face. Many riders had n o t eve n gone this high fro m t he first start. Craig Ma c k was th e firs t man on the line. He carried o ne miss f rom the Roge.. &.11 I- 1: Billy Gra ham of Pacific Grov e No. 20B t o o k two thirds in the 250 Expert TT and half-mile action. Tri Sports try for TT record at 395 By Ph il Carpente r ADELANTO, CAL., MAR. 2 The T hree-Whee l cycl ists were turn ing 57 seco nd times on t he seven-eighth mile TT co urse at 395 Cycle Park. Louis Lesnikowski joined the chain link for lunch bunch when he slid off the groove and plowed into the chain link fence. This was 200 feet further south than where the 40 inch T riumph reshaped it two races ago! BSA mounted John Jarrett came within six inches of j o in ing th at elite and acrobatic group in the 500 Amateur TT although he really did do some spectacular endo stunts through the tires. Carrol Heighland, HRA Superstar in 1969 and '70 came out of ret ire m en t to show how easy it is for a champ to take a set of double trophies in 250 TT and half-mile ac ti on . Riverside Pro Bob Farmer drove his special built, fuel burning Kawasaki around the half-mile oval just two seconds short of the track record o f 28 seconds in the Open Expert half-mile main. The Sali nas Wrecking Crew brought their own 125 Novice class with Mike Neilson driving hard against Ray Lovell fo r two sec o nd place tr ophies and brother Ro n copping t hird place honors on th e smooth h alf-mil e, The Traveling Ho ts hoes from Pacific Gro ve are batt ing 100 in attenda nce records an d . takin g b rass fro m the re gulars. Suz u ki m ounted Billy Graham doub led his pleasure and h is wins fo r third in b o th TT and half-mile ac tio n . Reno 's H. L. Custer gave up his stand fo r third an d adva nced to second in 500 Novice co m petition with a flas h ing show of style an d 'horse s? • Result s in Resu lts Sec tion. supports. . . non profit M.O.R.E. Can you do any JeG?e _0" I I M.O.R.E. c&ee 'V' of California 1129 N. 11t h St. Sacrament o, CA 95826 $1 0 a yea r prevents bad laws and gets you all the state news. tllcrehou/e lale cz 250 CZ 4 00 CZ 250 CZ 400 MX MX De se rt D" , er ! Hu vq v.u na 250 C f{ HU '4 V dr ll ol 40 ~ C R \\'t l .. S 799 00 S 994 00 S 10%00 S 11% .00 S 1195 00 S 139500 hlp Any wher e Temple City KOWOJOki 53 00 N Ro sern e.rd S.II1 Gab nel . CA 9 1776 2 13 2876 16 7 "The Snake Strikes" Jones MX Products D istributors: .--_ 6J...... W T ES 20868 C urrier Rd . W alnut C A91789 1 595·01 89 714J CN L E TRA 2313 Lu delieFl. 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