Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126070
By Lane Campbell NORDEN , CAL , OCT. 17 Marland Whaley (Ho n) won the NorCal ro u nd going away with a ten-poin t to tal, but New En glander Don Sweet (Mon) hung on .to a slim championship points lea d with a skin-of-the-teeth fo urth placing. It was Hondas one-two as te am mate Mark Eggar fm ished second - 16 points - w hile old So Cal rival Bernie Schreiber (Bul) trailed by t wo points at third. The NAT C O bserv ed Trials Championship re sumed a fter a lon g drought (serious pun intended) with the fourth of nine rounds, Sweet going in with a good p oints lead. The NorCal round, hosted by P.I.T.S ., was held for the first time at Donner Ski Ran ch, perched 7,000 feet up in the Sierra. The riders made three separate loops o u t and ba ck, 50 sec tio ns . each ridden once no repeats (exc ep t for 1/19/50 by the lodge . which w as changed each ti me) . Wiltz Wagn er, shakin g his head a bit. called it a "full b lown International." The way it was laid out. neither time nor impossible se ct ions were big factors . But fatigue- was. Scores were generally low on the 19·section first loop, then jumped dramatically on the longer, tougher second loop, as the high altitude began to make itsel f felt . The third loop was a ten-tr ap spectator treat in which the top pl acers sh owed they co u ld co me ba c k with a good second wind. Marl and had a one p o int fi r s t loop; dropped seven on the second loop, and only dabbed twice amo ng the spectators (even go t a kiss at Trap ' 49 and went on to clean 50) . His lead was never in jeopardy . Sweet's cre di b le th ree-poin t first loop (goo d for second at the time) went away with a 29-poin t dis aster the next time out. Eggar and Scbreiber were he ad -to -head thro ugho ut - two po ints on the sec on d lo op made the di fference. Sweet came b ack strong wi th a strong t wo point third loo p an d em erged tied on points (34 each) with Michigan 's Terry Cheney , a ti e broken in Don 's favor on number of cleans. An other ti e wen t down to cou n ting " ones " as Bill Sch aaf (Kaw) just sq ueezed Tim Carr ou t of eighth . . Traction in the 'dry sections was loos e , punctuat ed with rock s. Ro ck br eed uncontroll ably in this part of California. Ask the o u t-o f-staters abo u t the "rollers" a sec tion up ne ar the top of the mountain paved exclusive ly with ball-be aring b aseball-sized ro cks. treat was the close-in T he watercourse th at held severa l of- the spe ctator traps ; co mp lete with murk y deep poo ls and ro ck- face cli m bouts. Or the wide smooth stairstepped casca de. Most of th e sections were wide enough to offer several lines, u sing tape or natural boundaries. Very effective use of terrain . Donner Ski Ran ch o wn e( Norm Sayle r plan s to make t his a pre mi er e trial s area durin g t he ski resort slack seaso n. Alabaman Curt Comer, J r. (Kaw) made th e top ten ran ks with a six th placing while his Dad , Curt , Sr., rode Supp ort bu t DN F 'd due to altitu de /ex"-,!!!st ion . Curt 's was one of many well -prepared and w ell-ridden KT 2 50s in this normally Spanish-dominated event. The other major J ap anese brand effort w as, of co urse. the. two Honda R&D sho rt-str o ke 305s ridden b y Whaie y and Eggar. The third Honda rider. Joe Guglielmelli, was taking h is mandatory "home area" work break. as we re Lane Leavitt and Steve Darrow. whose point positions skidded a bit in their absence. Results AMA/NAT C R OU ND F OU R CHAMP IO NSHI P C LASS : 1. Marland Wh aley 10 ( H on ). 2. Mark Eggar 16 (H on). 3. Bernie Schreiber 1 8 (B ul) . 4. D on Sw eet 34-38 ct , (M o n )• .5 . Terry Chene y 34·30 cr. (Su!) . 6 . Cu rt Co m er , Jr. 4 0 (Kaw ). 7. Jac k son St i tes 42 (Y a m ). 8. B ill Sch aal 44-32 CI.·7 /1 (Kaw ) . 9 . T im Ca rr 44-32 c l.-5/1 (Man). 10 . Bob Ho pkins 4 6 (Y am ) . SUPPO RT ,C LASS : 1. B ru ce Bo lden 66 (Mon). 2 . Jack Bat ch el o r 80 (M o n ) . 3 . G ar y Masculine 91 (Bun. NATC TRIALS CHAM PIONSH IP P OINTS AFTER FO U R ROUNDS (unofficial): l. D on Sweet 43. 2 . Mark Eggar 4 0 . 3. Marland Whaley 39. 4. Lane Leavitt 34. s. Bern ie Schreiber 28. 6. Joe Guglle lmelli 19.7. Bob H o pkins 14. 8 . T im Carr 13.9. Terry C hen ey 10.7.10. Curt Comer. Jr. S. SEE YO UR LOCA L DEA LER TODA Y - THEY MA Y BE GONE TOMOR ROW! Dealers inquiries' invi ted. For mo re information wr ite : AWERleA JAWAle%' LTD. 18408 LAUREL PARIS ROAD. DRAWER 15, COMPTO N, CA. 90224 Cycle Center BAT AREA BULTACO 1:"' ;\ .( ,0 . Hoda ka * Bu ltaco * KTM 13 00 Ea st Ed inge r Ave ; Santa A na. 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