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/126078
.. =Western hotline ; _._._._._._._._._._._._._._.~._._._._._._._._._._._. _ . _ . _. _ . _ . _ . _ . _ . _. _ . _. - ยท . ~ t (Left & above) Two pix to ponder. for those who still consider trials " dull." Trial de Espana VII Bernie burns up some well-burnt traps By Lan e Ca m pbell ORANGE. CAL. . DEC. 5 In his next-to -last official ac t as defending ATA champion . Bernie Schreiber (Bul ). in another of his forceful . bravura performances , won th e seventh annual Trial de Espana. Hundreds of late-afternoon spectators were blown away by 16 th e rides of Bernie and th e other ATA Experts (plus Lane Leavitt . down from far -off Rescue . Calif.) in th e final runoff through fou r unreal Exh ibit ion sections . Bernie's last offici a l act was to turn th e perpetual cha m pio nshi p trophy over to Marland Whaley. The ATA Championship had boil ed down to a duel between t hese two riders. go ing down to the season's final points tria l. It was announced at th e awards/ drawing cer em on y th at Marland had 'taken th e SoC al championship by th e margin of a single clean! For seven years. th e SoCal-based American Trials Association has ended its season by hosting thi s ben efit tria l with the stra nge -sounding nam e . The object has traditionall y been to send ATA's top riders to an int ernational trials me et in Europ e - most ofte n th e Spanish round . hen ce th e name . This year it was decid ed to bu dget for two rid er s (Ma rland Whaley and Bernie Schreibe r . based on 1976 points) to go to th e Sco tt ish Six Da ys, To ea rn th e n eeded money. th e eigh t-clu b association puts on a fun tr ial for all cla sses of rid ers , a spec ta tor blow -out with monster Exp ert Exhibition traps. and a pri ze-loaded raffle . capped off aga in th is yea r by th e drawing for a Bultaco Sherpa T . donat ed by Bultaco Internation al. Do we d a re drag ou t th e suspens e ? The Bul went to Mrs. Kenneth Ma yberry . who d id not need to be present to claim it. (All othe r pri ze win ne rs had to be th er e). T he TLl25 . do n ated by Am eri can Honda as th e . chec kers' awa rd (a seaso na l way of saying "t ha nks " to th e folks who help mak e trials possibl e) went to Ch uck Marianni . An d th e rest of the prizes. as fa te would ha ve it. fell wit h a cert a in iro ny. Like Ken J on es win ni ng a " How to lay out a tr ials" kit from Kaw asa ki . Or th e motocross bicycle tha t wen t to Oli Thor d arsen and to AT A's a ll-ro u nd T rials Mama . Joan Whaley. In all th er e were eight sets of Renthals from Knobbv Shop. tir es fro m Plonkers Parts. 550 cha ins (hoo hah ) pil es of clo t hes from Hond a . Yamaha a nd Suzuki. gift certi ficates, ca lenda rs. a nd even a co uple su bs to CN . T he sun was long gone before it l was a ll gi ven a way . Oh yeah , th e trial. Even discounting Saddleb ack's dusty, burnt -out terrain . the eig ht clubs. eac h wor king on th eir own group of tra ps, put toge t her a good one . The Novi ce -Begginer traps m ay hav e been a lmo st too . easy Beiinner winner Bru ce Davis zero ed th e entire trial ); but wer e design ed to a tt ra ct first -time riders on non -trials bik es into t he spo rt. The Amateur traps were some th ing else - a t lea st for th e Amateurs. as th e Ex perts rode th em a lso. in a prelimina ry to th eir m ain bou t. Trap Eleven m ade for som e of th e prettiest pictures - ma ybe because it had some of th e p rettiest ch eckers. Eleven also had some of th e tri ckiest clim bing / descen ding turns on rock-step tracti on . The "kille r" was 17 - the Amateu r tie-breaker (ba ll-brea ker?) - a steep downhill. turn , th en uphill on steepl y-angled ro ck slabs. LoIS of action . lots of round eyes and bared teeth here , But th e finale was surely the Expert Exh ibiti on . as spectators lined the sheer fa ce of th e hill behind the old ITA signup area. The Experts worked th e first two sections like magic , human 'flies on motorcycles playing a' sheer bluff of decomposing gra nite like a Stradivarius. Then the sep a ra tor - th e th ird Exhibition trap , whi ch capitalized on Sa ddl eba ck's trad itionall y horrible dry-loose: traction to stop virtu all y all of SoCal's best. It was so de ceptively sim ple. turn right off th e narrow cliff-clingi ng trail. zoom up a stee p , loose slope and turn a bove th e sta ke . th en trav erse more