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; • • ~ t Whaley on the rocks. Eggartops two-day trials By Cecile Reischman GREENHORN MTN. , CA.]UNE 18·19 Clear warm weather and eager riders set the stage for the Second Annual Greenhorn Two Day Observed Trials. Approxi- 38 mately 70 riders entered the contest which consisted of two 20 mile loops Saturday and two seven mile loops Sunday. Mark Eggar and Marland Whaley were both in attendance and put on an excellent show as they cleared 19 sections each. Eggar , however , took home the annual TwoDay trophy while Whaley was playing' "catch up" after scoring two fives early into loop one. Greg Hersch collected the third-place trophy . In the amateur class, a lot of talent and control took Mike Bernbaum to the top, scoring 53 points with Todd Spear second at 67 points. Section one was tough for many amateurs and experts. A three and a half foot log high-centered quite a few riders and if that didn't point them the loose branches and timber in the rest of the section did. Another big log along ~ith sharp turns caused many a problem including Whaley picking up five points in section two of loop one. Section four was also 'a tough one as Whaley .was down five more on the slick rocks. Man's carelessness provided the , debris for section five as riders went into fire country. The. fingers of fire burned a lot of tricky grooves in to the assortment of logs and trees. Talent was nec~ry on section seven as the plonkers went through a creek, marshy grass, and over wet rocks and logs. This section's toughness was evident as Mark Eggar fived it on both loops. The amateurs took this one as a giant learning experience. From ' there on out. Whaley and Eggar both cleaned the last four sections. Eggar lead by the end of the first day with a score of 15 points and Whaley in second scoring 18 points. Day two was a lot muddier but riders enjoyed it . Section one was muddy but got worse as the day went on. The knee-deep mud got the best of many riders but was proclaimed to be one of the most fun sections of the trials. Sections three and four were another creek ride and a double shot. The water was a breeze but the steep mountain climb making its way through rocks and trees seemed tough. Both Whaley and Eggar dabbed once but other experts weren't so lucky. Number five looked like a motocross drop-off with a berm building at the bottom. Section six was a strict rock climb. . Turning was the bil{ test in section eight. There tight esses and weaving between rocks. trees , and stumps which gave riders a little more trouble than they bargained for. Whaley collected two on one the first time ' around but cleaned it on loop two . Other class winners were : David Moon (Novice A) who came out with a score of 18. cleaning loop two of the first day. Rick Bieniak was second with 22 points, edging out D . M. Stone who scored 24 points. David Rofsky took the Novice B class with Gary Conrad second and Gene Farrell third . Joyce Norton took the Women's trophy while .Gilbert Smith won the Senior class . • Results in Results Section. 18 month layoff doesn't stop Dinner at . MontereyST By Burt Din ne r MONTEREY , CA ,JUNE 18 Being away from racing for a year and a half didn't stop expert Chris Dinner (Yam ) from earning a victory in the 500 class. Running second for six laps , Dinner put a move on' Frank Nye (Yam) to take the lead and held on for the remaining four la ps to take the win . Jim Rader (Yam) made it three in a row in the 125 Novice class beating out ' Rod Cahoon (Yam) stayed uprigh t and won the 360 event. Matt Crowley (Bul ) won th e 500 Junior event and with it increased his lead for the year's high po int championship. The 250 Experts put on their normal exciting show and at the checkered flag it was Harold Kunsman (Oss) , followed by Geoff Lowe (C· A) and Keith Day (Kaw). After having mechanical trouble in his heat , Chuck Fischer (Yam) cured his ills and came back in the main event of the 200 Novice class . Juniors David Rosa (Yam) and Kevin Hugill (Kaw) had a tire-to-tire, battle with Rosa 'fin ally winning the 125 event. • Results in Results Section. Fugate aces amateur class at Ridge Runners MX By Gerry Reagan WATSONVILLE, CA ,JUNE 19 Local rider Steve Fugate guided the Open Amateur class around .the Ridge Runners' twisty Watsonville race track as he moved to the front and ran away in both - motos on his high-flyin' Suzuki. The rest of the pack stretched out behind as Fugate negotiated the tricky course which included a new, offcamber drop -off where the ra cers braked down to first gear to maneuver trials-like through the short but challenging section . . Both motos of the 250 Amateur event were big crowd pleasers with Mark Smith (~uz) and Gary Krikorian (Suz) fig~ting anxipusly for the lead in The 125 Experts start their first moto at Watsonville. the,first go 'ro u nd . Krikorian took the lead on lap one only to lose it when he crashed negotiating a turn . He was up again quickly, fighting to catch Smith, who had inherited the lead and Ru ss Carl (C -A) who was running in second. Krikorian moved fast. taking over a position a lap and carrying Ton y ' Sh ipman (Hus) in his wake. Krikorian and Shipman moved to c ha lle n ge Sm ith on the sixt h lap with both of t hem slip pi ng by in a tight c om er. Sm ith was not about to be relegated to thi rd , however , a nd go t by Sh ipma n in short order. Ca rl and Sm ith swapped second place for a co u ple of laps a nd Krikorian sta rted to pu ll away. With the one la p flag flying , Smith took over second place for good and was about to pass Kr ikorian as t he chec kered fell in fro nt of bot h riders in a supe r·close h ard -foug ht finis h. In the seco nd mot o Krik orian and Smith both go t poor sta rt s but Sm ith opened up quickly and moved to th e lead by the th ird la p . Kr ikorian moved to cha llenge by th e en d of the rac e but it was Ru ss Carl comin g on strong on th e last lap to take seco nd and almost ca tch Smith as th ey crossed t he fin ish line. W ith both the Carlsbad GP and Plymouth running on th e sam.. day, the 275, racers' who sh owed up at Watsonville proved to be an excellent turnout and the racing in many of th e classes proved to be some of the mo st . excit ing nip -and -tuck battling th e track has ever seen. , In the 125 Expert cla ss Jeff Watts (Hus} picked off Steve Lew is (SUI) on she second la p to take the lead in moto one. Lewis, who is from Mason , Ohio. had come West to try h is luck on th e California tracks and put in a very good ride for the fifth pla ce win ni ngs in th is class . , Watts led until lap four when Bob Giffert (Suz) slid by coming ou t of th e back section. Giffert 's lead was short lived though as he sp un ou t on turn one, allowing the waiting Watts to get back into the lead. Giffert was up quickly and moved back to second a cou ple of laps later. moving to within two seconds of Watts at the finish line. Watts was involved in a pile-up at the first tum of the second moto and had to drop out of the race as Dan Geery (. am), who had finished eighth Y in moto one. moved to take over the lead from Beto Rossi (Hon). Bob Giffert was off to a poor start , down around eighth position , but moved steadily up t hroughout the moro. As Geery began his last l~p, confident that he had the race won , Giffert slipped smoothly up behind and almost stole the lead on the last lap . Gerry was able to defend his lead but the two second place fin ishes were enough to give Giffert the overall win . The novice riders put on a good sh ow with Roger Belgard (Hus) dominating both motos of the Open class. Belga rd easily outran all 30 rid ers in his class . winning the second moto b y close to 30 seconds. T he second moto of the 125 Novice II event saw the leaders dropping like flies in th e closi ng laps. Mark Webb (H o n) took t he ea rl y lead and stretch ed it out to e normous proportions only lO be sid eline d on the second-to -last lap with a seized engine. Ron G riffin ( Yam) who moved into second when Webb dropped ou t was j ust beginning to feel tha t two second pl ace finishes woul d look rea l nice in t h e ove rall resu lts when h e also developed trouble a nd droppe d out on th e last lap . J im Cressa (Za p wha tever that is) took the led from W eb b and m a naged to hang on unt il the end withou t encounteri ng a ny ba d luc k. His fou rth and first pl ace fin ish es were eno ug h to give him th e overall . Ano the r rider to encou nte r bad luck was Bob Br itton (S UI) wh o p lac ed second in the first moro of th e 250 Novice II group. Ph il Ward ( Yam) ran off with bot h motos a nd Britton was d o in g very well at holding down second place in the second moto when , on the last jump of the last lap , his concentration left for just an inst ant and he found himself chewing on a piece of th e straightaway . Bob was abl e to rega in his composure, however , and brought his bike down th e hill for a fourth place, second moto finish . The second and fourth were good enough for a third overall, but that second place trophy would have been just a lit tle bit bigger. • Results in Results Section. Two for Estes at S~R series wrap-up By To m Ande rso n BRENTWOOD, CA . JUNE,lO Byron Estes rode the Open Novice class for the first time on a TTSOO Yamaha , taking second behind Merle McCoy in the first m oto, McCoy, the winner in this class for the last two weeks , also won the Trophy Dash. In the second moto , McCoy was leading and trying to hold off Estes . O n the last lap. Estes got a good drive off of a turn and won the second moto and the overall. Estes a lso managed a first in the 100 Novice class with ease. Mike Brown put it all together and won the 125 Novice class. on h is smokin' Kawasaki . John Looney (Yam), the local lad from Byron. won both motes of the Mini Novice class, Division I I.