Lane Leavitt proved to be a master of the Saddle back muck. mire and mayhem. winning his second National trial of the year.
By Lane Campbell
O RANGE. CA. APR. 15
The monsoons came to Saddleback Park and the
third round of the AMA/North American Trials
Council National Trials Championship turned
into a gooey struggle for survival - for every-
20
body except Lane Leavitt (Bul ).
Cruising around the all- butimpassable park. shouting "Hey.
us ducks love this stuffl" the former
National Champ dropped 78 points in
two loops and was seem ingl y the least
rattled by the sudden change in the
"environment." which threatened to
turn the event into a sham bles,
Many an observer compared the
situation to the ill-fated 1974 World
Championship round. When the rains
began in earnest m id way through the
tri al . some sections beca me dangerous
and had to be closed. others became
all b ut inaccessib le: . and in other
ins ta nces r id e rs were told by
bystanders that sections were closed or
that checkers had gone in early. The
scoring confusion took organizer J ea n
Fra dette some 36 hours to untangle .
Ultimately. sections five. six . seven .
nine. 10. 15. 17. 19. and 20 were
thrown out of the second loop scoring
for reasons of inaccessibility or danger.
The event began in nocentl y
enough. with 23 Champi o nship
entrants . two Seniors and three
Sportsmen (Support class). Southern
Ca liforn ia ns Marland W haley . Bern ie
Schreibe r. G r eg Lersch. De b bi e
Evans. and Mark Egga r were working
checkpoints on t his . t heir "home
-0
event. "
During the first of two 20-trap
loops . the sun popped in and out while
the soil remained damp but quite
tractive from earlier rains . T he
sections were a mixture of previous
Na tiona l/ International traps along
