hip in NATe final round
y Bill Moss
SlIntll's·,"l'. Little
LA IN . MICH .• NO V. 13
~ ~.Relpers
onda's Marland Whaley won the
lack River National Trials,
and In doing so, clinched the
1976 National Championship
title . The event was the last of
the nine round series a nd was
the third co nsec utive victory
taken by Whaley. Joe Guglielmelli
was a very clos e second , just two tent hs
of a point behind his Honda teammate. Mon tesa 's Don Sweet was four
po ints off th e pac e for thi rd .
Comin g in to today's tri al , Whaley
held the series lead wii h Sweet wit hin
st riking d istance . A win by Don wou ld
ha ve give n him the c h a m pio ns hi p
rega rd less of how Wha ley m igh t fin ish
be h ind him . Bu t today was not th e da y
for Swee t. A p air of fives o n the
openi ng loop eleva ted Don 's fir st half
sco re to sixteen. a nd second ro und
sco re of six b rou ght his tot al to twen tytwo .
"T he firs t loo p did me in ." Do n ad mi tred afterward .
and so it did .
W hal ey loo ked strong and smooth
all day . T he strong sounding thu mp of
his Hond a four-stroke helped add to
tha t impression. On the long hill climb
that was section twe nty-two. Marl and
appeared to be charging up it in con trast to his normally more controlled.
style. He explained that the cha rac ter istics of the Honda engine made it
necessarv for hi m to ta ke the hill in
seco nd g~ar.
Like th e other to p riders . Whaley
made the difficu lt sections appear to
be easy and th e im possible became
possible. Rou nds of eleven and five
ga ve him sixt een trail marks, but a 1. 8
.
.
It b
h t hi t
I
po m t nrne pena y ro ug
IS o ra to
17 .8. Co m menti ng on the e ve nt .
W haley sa id th ere was not hi ng rea lly
hi
II
d iffic ult a nd not m g rea y eas y. You
had to be on you r toes a ll the time.
·
Joe Gug Iie I me II'I turne d im cons istant
rides of ten and eight fo r h is second
'c ~
~
'> ~
I
,.
~!
E'
__.... . .
,
