Tom Penton blasu out of the sh ad owy woods on the class-wi n ning 175. Unse tl Billy, Uhl with the reluctan.t Hercules.
Overall winner Carl Cranke relaxes with his lad y.
Is this what they mean by a " grace pe riod?"
Olympia Two Daydusty Disaster
By Theresa Hannon
OL YMPIA, WASH., MAY I!H 6
Washington held their first official
Two-Day Trial in the Qualifying
series. It started at St raddle1ine
Cycle Par k and continued through
the surroun ding forest. What
man y tho ught could have been a
nea r perfect ru n ended with some
problem s - the majo r one being
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th e co u rse was poorly marked and t he
a rr o ws th at were used we re very hard to
see.
Carl Cran ke (Pe n) to o k h is first win
in this year's series, seem ed to enjoy t he
ridi ng area and co m me nted, " It's a good
trial and it's the nicest trail riding we've
had. The arrows we ren't any good, but
it sure was a lo t o f fun ." Ca rl, who
m ad e every check with lo t s of time to
spare, took the overall with a good lea d.
There were 162 entries for a total of
210 m iles of course to be ridden in the
two days. Sa tu rday morning t he riders
began to leave the impound at 8 a.m ,
under sunny skies. Here is where some
of the problems started as the two clubs
(Bell's Angels ~I/C and Sea Fai r City
M/C) had set up the course in hopes of
rain. The roads proved to be very dusty
bringing the visability way down.
Whe n the riders began to co me into
the first pit area fo r gas most of them
got a big surprise - no pit crews! What
had happened was not only was the
co urse poorly marked, the rou te to the
pit area was eve n wo rse. People an d vans
were everywhere in the forest with no
o ne really kn o wi n g which wa y to go.
Fina lly when so me of t he pit crews
began to find their wa y it p ut the riders
an d vans o n the sa me dus ty ro ad with
everyo ne going as fast as th e y could go
in a bo u t three feet o f visa b ili ty. When
the p it people pulle d in to t he pi t area
they were to ld they co ul d not p it o ut o f
their vans, but had to unload a nd mo ve
righ t away - w hic h n ormall y wo uld
have been a lrig h t if the riders weren't
waiting to be pi tted. All th is led to
m uch heated argument a nd lots of hard
feeli ngs.
After abou t 14 0 m iles (there was a '
total of about I iO the first day) th ey
came to the first special test. It
co ns isted of abou t two and one-half
m iles of nat out dirt road. One side it
was a twisty up hill and the other side
was down hill. The more power the
machine had the better the score. Many
riders felt it was strictly a power test.
The last 18 miles of the day was
where lots of riders lost their golds and
many top riders came in on their grace
pe rio d . The section was not only ro ugh,
but the time was tight. The second
special test was then ridden at the
finish, through a small grass track and
on the park's m o t ocro ss course. The
rider then entered the impound where
m o re than a few were having words with
so me of the officials. Two of th em were
Billy Uh l who had so me problems in t he
sp eci al test and Lars Larso n who got
lo st nea r the finish .
At t he sta rt o f t he second day it was
Mike Hannon ( Bul) wh o had the lead
an d it loo ked lik e it wo ul d be a battle
betwee n Han no n and Cranke with only
fo ur seconds between the m . They both
had a good 30 second lead on the rest of ,
the rid ers.
T he re were I 12 starte rs on Sun day
m ornin g an d of the few riders unable to
st art th eir bike - Billy Uh l was one o f
"them , He used all his start ti me an d had
to lose 60 p o in ts. Billy lat e r said, "Oh,
we ll it -was my own fault. I di dn 't know
the b ike and I tickled it. When it
wo uldn't start I did it some m or e an d
then I loaded it up. It really blew it for
m e, because there was no way I could
catch Tom (Penton)."
Befo re the last rider ha d le ft .Mike
Hannon was pushing his bike back into
the impound a rea. "One of the main
bear in gs on the crank had the cage let
go - it took me out." Han no n wh o is
the points leader in the 250 clas s was
counting on a win,
I
Tragedy struck in the early part of I
the second day. Larry Felix of Portland.
Oregon apparently thought he had lost
his way , turned arou nd and was
tra vel in g backwards o n the course at a
high rate of speed. He collided with
Indiana rider Dave Ashley and took a
blow between th e eyes th at proved
fatal. Ashley was hos pi ta lized wi th a
broken thum b a n d wrist, b ut was later
release d. Kevin Lavoie an d Ben Bower
st opped and aided th e injured rid ers
un til help ar rived. T hey we re bo th lat e
to th e next check, but o f course we re
no t pe n alized and finished the eve nt on
a lat er minute .
The co u rse , for the mos t part, was
th e same o n Su n day as it was on the
first da y. The first special test Sunday
was thrown ou t as mo st o f t he cr ew had
go ne to aid the inju red riders. The
second test was the sa me as Sa tu rday
only it was ru n bac kw ar ds . The fin ish
wa s a little differe nt t han usu al. The
rid er ca me into the last check where
they tested thei r lights a nd checked fo r
all the legal markings - then the rider
wen t in to a wor k area an d had 15
m inutes to work o n their bike befo re
th e last special test. They then rod e the
test and ski p ped having to impound this was do n e in case of rain.
The classes
Even tho ugh there had been eight
starters in t he 10 0cc class m ost had '
dropped o ut, so the 10 0cc and 12 5cc
classes we re combined. First p lace wen t
to Phil Smith (Hus) and second to Rick
Munyon (Hon) .
In t he l i S class it was Tom Pen t on
who n o t only wo n his class, bu t took a
second overall. To m was o ne of the few
ride rs tha t didn't have p roblems with
th e a rrows.
Local ride r Dan Brown (Bul) too k the
win in the 250 class . Ca rl Cran ke to o k
the 350 class wi n as well as the ove ra ll.
In th e Op en class Kevin Lavoi e (Pen)
was th e win ner with Ben Bo wer (Bul)
t akin g second.
Dic k Mann 's lu ck d id not change fo r
this event. He hit a no the r bike tha t h ad
gone down in th e blindi ng dust. He
m ade it to th e finish, bu t was u nable to
start Sunday m o rning. He was very so re
with p o ssibl e broke n rib s.
O f the o rigi na l 16 2 en t ries 90
finished with 50 gold, i silver and 33
b ronze m ed als be ing given.
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