Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

Barry Higgins was going great on Peel Hill, later hit a cow and bailed off a roadbank. exceeding the speed limits in town and villages, passing traffic on both sides, cornering too fast and going too wide on the comers even taking to the sidewalk . We have had many complaints from the public and the police. If your riders continue to act in this manner, we shall stop the trial." The lecture was indeed timely, there had been a great deal of risky riding going on, but the lesson had been learned the hard way before Mr. Basnett presented his statement. Several had been involved in close calls if not actual contact with four-wheel traffic, and the day two pace was considerably more controlled. Day two saw a complete ,tu rnab o u t for the leading Vase Team . The G .D .R. (German Democratic Republic - East Germany) team hopes for the Vase win fell with Ewald Schneidewind near a section called Ballagawne. The team had led the Vase standings at the end of "Crazy Monday", but hit the skids and went all the way to eleventh when Schneidewind retired with broken ribs and toe. Poland's chances went down th e tubes next. Zdzislaw Mielczarski, riding on the Trophy Team (Poland did not enter a Vase Team), picked up a flat tire on the 'secODd day and was too far behind schedule to take time to repair it. Instead, he continued riding even after the tire came completely off the rim , taking 1030 points on the course before he found time to change it at Rusher Abbey. The 1030 point score lowered Poland from second to nin th place in the team standings. Carl Cranke, U.S. Trophy rider, crashed on day two, breaking his nose and receiving facial lacerations and a mild concussion, Fearing more damage the American team doctor Richard Meyers tried to convince Carl to go in to the hospital for a checkup several times throughout the week. " What if they find something wrong?" Carl countered, "You probably WOD't be able to ride," Meyers admi tted. "Well," Carl shrugged and turned away, followed by the unspoken rubuttal, "In that case, I'm not going in.'· 10 It was three days before Cranke could see and ride to the best of his ability, but he continued, losing only 60 course marks ' on the rainy and difficult third day and earning his Gold Medal at the week's end, The Canadian Vase Team faced the beginning of the end on day two when T. Dierstein retired and Larry Gillespie broke his swingarm in the special test. Gillespie fabricated a splint out of tire irons and actually finished day two and started the third day before finally being forced out. The other two Canadian Vase Teamsters, C. Levesque and William Taylor also retired on the third day. England lost a Vase man on day two when EJ. Price injured a knee on the Slabs near Dalby and retired. The Italian Vase Team had a close call when Pietro Gagni left his time card at the Dalby checkpoint, then looped around when he discovered its loss without hurting his zero score. Gagni was later sighted carrying a spare tire over his shoulder, waiting for an opportunity to change it on the course whenever a spare four minutes might show up. Day three was th e turning point in the trial for many riders. Where the first two days had run around the perimeter of the island, the third and fourth day loop ran up into the central highlands. It also rained, and crashes were the order of the day. When the riders returned from the double circuit., the strain of the 10Dg event was finally starting to show. Days one and two had been re ferred to as being boring, and one wit suggested changing the event's title to the ISDT TT due to the excessive amount of paved public roads used. Weary faces plastered with mud, tired eyes, and sore muscles were the badges of those who made it through day three. Riders who were willing to consider dropping out, did it on either th e third or fourth day, both were run on the same course in different directions. "I'll see the end of this S.O.B .," was all American Rod Bush had to say at the end of day three. You could tell he meant it. The absolute refusal to quit, even when pushed beyond exhaustion, was an attribute common to Rod and the other Gold Medal winners. The Swedish Trophy Team, running in second place on day two, fell to sixth in the standings when Bengt Eno retired on the demanding third day. ID contrast, when the going got rough, other top riders got even better. .-The Italian Trophy Team took over sec ond place ' following Sweden's fall, and the Czechs moved up from eigh th into third. Holland and Poland held firmly to fourth and fifth, respectively. The U.s. Trophy Team settled in tenth place for days two and three before climbing up to seventh on day four then onward to our eventual . flnish ing position of sixth on day five. Our Vase Team shot upward from tenth to fourth on the third day despite the problems of Max Markowitz and Charlie Vincen t. Max was still hurting from his car-Inflicted injury and, although it had knocked him off Gold, he still rode with determination to finish with a Bronze. Vincent was having problems with his gearbox, losing first gear on day three, and also crashed and was riding with a broken rib and bruised leg. Charlie made it into day four, losing second gear somewhere along the way, before the motor quit with suspected crank damage. By the time Vincent was forced out , however, the U.S. Team was securely in fourth place , and the loss did not cost any pl aces in the overall team standings. Czechoslovakia had a close call on the fourth day when Stanislav Zloch's Trophy Team Jawa ran out of gas on the cross coun try special test. Zloch pushed the bike through the remainder of the cross country course, then on through downtown Douglas where he finally either "found" some gas (illegal) or purchased some from a gas station (legal). It takes determination to push a 362cc Jawa for approximately one mile at the end of four days of ISDT! Days five and six pu t the remaining riders on a new course and, with the dropping from Gold to Bronze, but his effort probably kept Loco Ciento near the top of the club team standings. If results are eventually made available, they 'll be printed . Likewise, the manufacturers' teams standings do not show the placement of American teams. The U.S. Trophy Team rode through the final two days with zeros all the way. Of the six riders, only Jack Penton and Danny Young made it through the entire six days without losing a course mark. Dane Leimbach followed with _ o n ly a 50 point loss on day two, and Carl Cranke dropped only 60 on the tough third day. Their rides earned Gold Medals. Eric J e n se n , a southern California rider unaccustomed to mud riding, lost points on days three and four. The Penton te am was instructed to ride sanely on the road sections to insure a finishing position, so Eric was unable to make up time he lost in the mud and dropped to Bronze on the two tough days. Day six featured a relatively short and easy morning run followed by the road race special test through the streets of Douglas on a three mile section of the Isle of Man TT course. Waiting for the riders to make their morning ride, no one suspected that any trouble could happen on the short easy day . Then word came that U.S . V ase Team rider Kevin LaVoie, riding on Gold at the time, had hit a mail truck. Kevin came in, only seven minutes late , with a broken coccyx (tail bone) and a badly swollen left foot. Following a first aid trip where a numbing fluid was injected into Kevin's back to ease the pain, and a change of boot to shoe for the injured foot, LaVoie rode out the, remainder of the ISDT (road race special test) to finish, The occurance did not cost the team any positions in the Vase standings. Both Jack Penton and Carl Cranke put in outstanding rides in the road race special test. Jack chased and passed the Italian Gritti on the last lap, but Gritti repassed on the long straightaway leading across the finish line. Cranke held off Zdenek Cespiva for most of the big bike race, only to have his engine seize at the finish. As the British press bulletin put it, "The American gave a brilliant display when his machine suffered an engine seizure : the whole thing locked and he fought brilliantly to hold it." The Americans Dick Mann smiles, now that it's all over. He won a Bronze Medal in his first-ever 6·Days Trial. Not too shabby. improved weather conditions, provided an easier time of it. Day five saw a large - number of top riders tum in zero scores, and it almost seemed like a free va cation in can trast to the preceeding pair of days. Sporadic reports from the press cent er had at first placed America's Loco Ciento club team in eighth place on Monday, then upped them to fourth by the end of day two. The final results did not list Loco Ciento since the release only included the top two teams whose members had all scored Gold Medals. The Dick Burleson, Malcolm Smith and Ed Schmidt (Team Loco) group fared well up until day four when Schmidt fell and received a puncture wound in the left knee that required stitches. Dr. Meyers put a cast on the knee Friday nigh t so that Ed could sleep more comfortably but the last two days saw Schmidt put out a super human effort to keep going. He finished the even t, Forty U.S . riders qualified in the Two Day series to earn the opportunity to ride in the Isle of Man ISDT. Following is a list of the entire forty and all the pertinent information we could find concerning their performances. Ken Williams, Tunnel, Ga. - Ken was riding well , probably on his way to either a Silver or Bronze Medal in his first ISDT, when the ignition (COl) unit failed on his Can-Am on day four. Jerry Harris, Anniball, N.Y. - Jerry finished the six days in spite of a pair of flat tires that almost put him behind time on day three. He rode a Husky to collect a Bronze Medal . Bill Hoffman, Fort Hood, Tx. - Bill flipped his Can -Am in what Al Eames described as a "bell ringer" endo on the fourth day and went outside of his allowed hour late. Stan Rubottom, Esther, Mo. - Stan, a Husky rider, fell on the third day , tearing ligaments in his left knee. He finished the day, but could not start the fourth day. Gary Younkins, Hubbard, Oh .• Gary rode his Penton to a Gold Medal in his first International Six Days Trial. Frank, Piasecki, Jr., Toledo, Oh. . "J immy " finished the six days, riding a Husky to a Bronze Medal placing. Richard Burleson, Antioch , Tenn . • King Richard, riding a Husky, of course, rode to the best score on Team Loco Ciento , winning a Gold Medal. Jack Penton, Lorain, Oh, - Jack, a U.S . Trophy Team rider, placed as top American. He was third in his class, seven th overall, and the only American in the top twen ty best scores Gold. Rod Bush, Parkersburg, W. Va. - Rod, riding in his second ISDT, worked his 250cc Penton all the way through to take one of the eight American Golds. Eric Jensen, Los Angeles, Ca . • The U.S . Trophy Team rider overcame his problems in dealing with the mud to

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