Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• 11II ~ t 00 t'-- Ol ,..-4 en ,..-4 ...... ..... I-< 0.. < -r {: ~ c:: w "' ..... « o >- "' rn _____ 5 :I: -..,_~c.. Lane Leavitt, winner of the Murderer's Gulch round, takes a dab in one of the many stream sections. Dennis Seiler starts on the first of two ledges in the section nirie waterfall. A deep pool at the base of the ledge made it hard. . AMA/NATC National Trials Championship Round one 01 Leavitt upsets Whalf;)Y in the Gulch By Dale Brown AUBURN,CA , APR. 8 Lane Leavitt missed a section, incurring a 10point penalty, but still edged 'ou t three-time U.S. Trials champion Marland Whaley by six points in the first round of the North American Trials Council/American Mo · " torcyc Iist A ssocianon Observe d 'I h ' hi Tria S C amplOns Ip . . The first and second rounds of 10 the series were hosted by the Pacific International Trials Society, with the first round being held at Murderer's Gulch. Camp was set up next to the fast-flowing American River (a gu y named Sutter used to live upstream) and many of the sections were placed in creeks flowing into the river . Leavitt, who lost his factory ride last year when Bultaco International cut back on ' expenses, was still. Bultacomounted; this year being sponsored by Miller's Motorcycles of San Luis Obispo. Whaley was still on a Honda RTL short stroke, but it had a fresh engine after Bob Nickelsen traded a ba tch of old long-stroke motors to England's Rob Shepard - who prefe rs them - in exchange for th e newer short strokers. •Whaley is still waiting for the new larger displacement Honda '. S hreib .B . ' f h ernie c rei er, Winner 0 t e French and Spanish World rounds, dropped out halfway through the first ' loop. Bernie had hit an unseen metal pipe while practicing near his home and it tore through his leather boots . Ten stitches were required . Bernie started the trial anyway , but said that he felt he "pulled something" and couldn't use his right leg to dab . . There were 20 sections on the 12mile loop and competitors had five and a half hours plus an hour's grace t~ complete the loop twice. The sections started near camp ; with section one being a downhill , turn and climb back up th rou gh bowling-ball sized rocks. Secti on two wa s mu ch more spectacular: A climb up a rushi ng cree k fill ed with m ean , sli ppe ry boulders. Almost at the end of the section was a th ree -foot step followed . by a tum in the middle of the stream and an exit up the bank. In the first round, Whaley scored a one. while Leavitt and Schreiber both had fives. Section th ree had a steep downhill entrance. a run up the stream with one good rock step, a 180 0 turn out of the stream and a sheer bluff exit . Most of the top riders cleaned it . The loop disappeared away from camp for sections four through eight, then returned slightly upstream from section two. Nine was a deep pool leading to two six-foot waterfalls. Whaley cleaned while Leavitt dropped " one. Lane cleaned it the second time around . . Sections 10 through 15 werelaid out in the same ' creekbed and the loop wandered around a bit before coming to 20, right next to camp. After the first loop , Leavitt led Whaley 27-30 . Leavitt was consistent and Marlandwas pushing it , scoring a series of fives while trying to stay on time after being stuck behind a slower ride r. Lea vitt 's 27-point tot al d id not in clude the 10-po int penalty . fo r missing section 16. " I just went right past it on the first loop. I went by it on the second loop too. but th e chec ker

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