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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126283
(Abo ve) Yrjo Veste rinen repeat ed as w orld trials champ. (Right! Am erican Bernie Schreiber finished seventh. Marland Whaley climbed over the rocks to finish fourth in Switzerland and wind up tied for 10th in the world standings. Mark Eggar finished seventh in the seventh AMAINATC round to put him seventh in the standings. 18 together with a loo p trai l so rough and ro ck y t h a t more than a few competitors suffered arm and leg cramps in their two -loop ride . The sections were challenging enough to ex tract more points from Marland than any other tria ls this yea r - an ' . average of a point a section. Sections 1 through 9 were set in a small rock rimmed canyon , and became progressiv ely more dificult. Marland was clean through 9, but took a three on section 10 - the bog section - set at a small reservoir . Marland was lu cky - he had th e first starting number and got there before the bog got deeper and deeper and impassable. Martin Belair virt ua lly carried his b ike through t he mud by the handlebars for a three . This effort left him exhausted and thwarted his performance for the remainder of the day. Several chose not to ri d e the section on their first loop , and nearly all avoided it on their second loop. On Montana's Vince Sandm eyer attempted the section on both loops. Sections 11 through 16 were set on the sandstone hogback over-looking the Beu lah Valley and the Great Plains. The sections varied from rocky hill climbs, to a -muddy pond , and to portions of the rocky trail. Only the Championship class rode sections 16 through 20 . Sections 17 through 20 were set in a narrow canyon and proved to be challenging. Sections 17 and 20 were " clea ned" only three times and secti on 19 only once, that by Don Swee t. Section 17, a rock face with a d ifficult approach . requi red " ca tch ers" to prevent the bike from fa lling back upon the riders who fai led. Sectio ns 18 and 19 contained massive wa ter worn boulders which formed step s and hol es, and section 20 . essentially a " one liner ," required the rider to go over two two -foot high angular rock steps from a tight 90 0 turn . • Results CHAMPIONSHIP CLASS: 1. Marland Whaley. 41 (Han). 2. Cun Comer , Jr.• 45 (Kaw). 3. Don Sweet. 45.4 IMan l. 4. Lane Leevitt. 492 (Bull. 5. Jadt Stit es 51.1 IBuli. 6. Greg Ruoff. 53IManl. 7. Mark Eggar. 57 (Honl. B. Martin Belair. 62.4 (Monl. 9. Rick Land. 66.8 (Monl. 10. Bob Hopkins. 68.9 !Yarnl. 11. Jail Fish, 70 IMonl. 12. Keith Adams, 74.1 IBuli. 13. Jerry Young, 7510ss1. 14. Rich Hilbun, 78.1 IBuli . 15. Vince Sandmeyer. 82.8 (Bull. 16. Eddie Kessler. 83.7 (Kaw). 17. Wayne Galvin. 88 (Monl . 18. Dave Boston, 88.4 IBuli . 19. Rob Anderson, 88.4 IMon). 20. Paul Webster. 97.7 (Monl. SENIOR CLASS: 1. Curtis Comer. 80 IMonl. 2. Bob Mickel. 90 IBuli . 3. Chester Hudspeth, 94 (Kawl. SUPPORT CLASS: 1. Tom Bachelor . 58 IBull. 2. Greg Krist. 69 !Yaml. 3. Steve Smith . 71 !Yam). 4. David Tubbs . 64 IBuli. 5. Dave Russell, 87 IMan ). 6. Eugene Sarver. 87 !Yam}. AMAINATC OVERALL STANDING THROUGH ROUND rt: 1. Marland Whaley, 75 pt. (Honl. 2. Lane Leavitt. 51 IBuli. 3. Don Sweet, 50 (Manl. 4. Mike GriffIttS. 42 (Manl . 5. Bernie Schreiber. 40 (Bull. 6. Kurt Comer . Jr .• 27 (Kawl. 7. Mark Eggar. 25IHonl. 8. Tom McKinney. 20.5 (Manl. 9. JaIl Fish, 19 (Monl. 10. Bill Burgener. 17.6 (Bull . World Championship Trials Series· Final Round Vesterinen repeats as champ; Whaley & Schreiber score By Da ve W ilcock lBERGEREGG . SWI TZERLAND. SE PT . 25 Ice cool Yrjo Vesterinen is world tria ls champion again . With six . th place on the muddy slopes of the lbergeregg Pass in the Swiss Alps, th e quiet Finn ea sed home to his second , and Bultaco's th ird s~ccessi ve world title . And com p leting a switc h in the bala nce of po wer fr om Brita in to t he No rdic co u nt ries. blonde Swede Ulf Ka rlsso n - who had blown his title hopes a week ea rlier in Czechoslova kia . won this final round of t he cha m p io nship by a whisker . to clinch runner -up spot for the cro wn . America 's two co nt end e rs. Ma rl a nd Whal ev and Bern ie Schreiber. ne it he r of who~ ha d co nteste d the full series. sig ned off on a resp ectab le note , with Wha lev. the H o nd a -backed Californian finishing fourth in Switzerland to sha re tenth spot in th e title st akes. and Schreiber taking seven th in bot h th e eve nt and th e rit le. Schreiber. t he 18 · yea r·old from La'Crescenra . California . wh o had shoc ked th e world when he made his debu t in Belgiu m . and after a seco nd place in W est Ge r ma ny was up to fo u rth in th e ra nkings. was ha ppy wit h his o wn perform an ce . • Bu t after th e tri al. he spe lt it o ut clea rly; " If I d on 't ge t a works co ntra ct for next yea r. the n I'll qu it. Aft er tak ing seventh in m y fir st season in t he wo rld series. , th in k I've earned 'so me su ppo rt . " Bu lraco ha ve paid m y expenses and travelling . bu t to get through th e last few rou nds , I've had to ge t a bank loa n of 500 do llars. a nd now it 's all gone. '" j ust ca n't afford th at kind o f ou tla y. so if ther e's no works co nt rac t next year . I th ink I'l l be going back to sch oo l. " Whalev , a lso a litt le unsettl ed a fte r recurring probl em s with the Bo b Nickelson Ho nd a . co nfessed: " I've had offers fro m O ssa and Montesa in th e States. I'll be decid ing m y future in the next weeks . For the British sta rs Martin La m pkin a nd Ma lco lm R a rhme ll, bo th of whom had faint hopes for the title before the final round . there was no t hi ng b ut deep disappointment. Karlsson bea t Montesa te am -m ate Ra rhrnell by 1.2 marks - representing a 12-minute ti me pe nalty for the Br itish cha m pion - a fte r both had tie,d on o bserva tion with 82 m arks lost. T hose precious minutes cos t Rarhm ell dearly. He had led the wo rld fo r seven m onths. o n ly to fini sh a lon ely th ird a t th e fin al turn . one poim behind Karlsson . .... The pill that Lampkin had to J swallow was m ore bitt er still. Lyin g second before th e Swiss round , ten points behind Vesterin cn but four 'a hea d of Ra rhmell , th e 1975 worl d cha m p slippe d to fourth . :J, Vestc rine n , as sobe r and un emot iona l as eve r. co nfessed : " I feel so sorry for Mart in and Malcolm . It is never easy to lose. bu t it must be harder fo r th em because th e title has been so close. " BUI it was n' t a ll despair fo r the British . Ro b Shepherd and the twOy('ar-uld Ma rk III lon g-stroke H onda now a real power in wo rld ra nk ings . overha u k-d French cha m pio n C harles Cou rard at the final hurd le to tak e fif t h plan' . If on ly Hon d a had had the cash and confidence to send him to the US and Cana dian ro unds of the title! Shepherd in fact had been bes t on observa tio n - his 8 1 m arks lost was one better th a n Karlsson . but th Yorksh ire p ig fa rmer was po le-a xed br a 25 -min ute ti me pe nalt y. whil e the Swed e was o ne of a sm a ll handful of riders wh o esca pe d th e ti me pen al ty. Originally sc he d u led for five laps of a n exha usti ng 18 !-2 -rnile co u rse throu gh wooded alpin e va lleys. the. tri a l was cut to fou r laps wh en th e FIM Ju ry chop pe d a lap to give the 5 hours . p lus one hour tim e sc hed u le a chance . e But m idw a y th rough th e seco nd la p . with every rid er fight ing a losing ba ttl e agair-st tim e a nd lo w clo ud descend ing on th e ea rly sec tio ns. some 5.000 feet up . co m mon se nse prevailed and the eve nt was cu t to t hree laps. Wh il.. Ra t hm ell , and to a lesse r