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AMAIN ATC Observed Trials
Championship Series - Final
round
Cota cats take
1-2 at Donner
By Keela Wicker
NORDEN. CA. SEPT. 5
The famed Donner Ski Ranch was the site of
the final round of the AMA/NATC National
Championship Trials Series for 1979. While
the trial was rather anti-climactic because the
Number One plate had been de·
termined at the Arizona round,
it is a tribute to the riders that
the competition for the remaining ranking was so fierce.
(Above) Marland Whaley. title clinched. still rode brilliantly at Donner.
(Below) Jack Stites took second place.
14
Trialsmaster, Bruce Monighan provided a good variety of sections which
made for a fine day of riding. As Tom
Cullen said, "There are only two
people who can provide water sections
for a trial, God and Norm Sayler."
Norm, who owns the Ski Ranch,
opened a reservoir gate which sent
water rushing through several of the
sections_
The high elevation of the trial site
made for a cool day of riding as the
first rider departed at 8:50 a.m. The
loop was ridden twice with 20 sections
for the Championship class, and 15
sections for the Sportsman and Senior
classes.
One of the most crowd-pleasing sections was number four. Located in a
wet creek bed with a large step midway through, the section took its toll of
five mark losses from many riders,
including Whaley, on the first
attempt.
It was the step that' caused most of
the problems, but Dave "Crash"
Cooper added to his legend hy not
only failing the section, but also going
back and malting two more attempts
to negotiate the rock step before
accepting failure.
The challenge of many of the
sections led riders who had fived early
in, to pick up their feet and attempt to
"clean" the remaining portion purely
for their own satisfaction.
Section 17, for the Championship
class only, demanded both riding sItiIl
and bike control. A huge rock slab
climb with a left turn at the top
leading to a large rock step, then a
right turn to descent another steep
slab to the exit. Several lines were
available. Whaley was the first rider to
clean the section, while Jack Stites
followed his lead. Newcomer Scott
Head bashed into a large rock and
holed his case but managed to
complete the day.
At the end of the first loop, Whaley
was ahead in the Championship class
with 28 marks lost, Stites in second
with 50 lind Marv Heath was in third
with 52 marks.
Wiltz Wagner held a three-mark
lead over Jack Batchelor, Sr. in the
Senior class and Dave Pyle was the
leader in the Sportsman class.
. The ~ond loop proved to be quite
mterestmg as over half of the Cham·
pionship class riders lost more marks
than they had on the first loop while
the Sportsman and Senior riders
improved their scores.
Dave Burke earned a listing in the
records book on this loop by posting
the only clean of the day on section 10
and the first recorded clean in the last
two years.
The most difficult section was
number 20 which also posted only one
clean ride. Whaley was the man, but
there were several excellent attempts
and near misses by other riders. Young
and upcoming Scott Head, in spite of
choosing a difficult line, had a very
good ride.
At the end of the day, Marland
Whaley had claimed his sixth National
win this year and regained the United
States title that he had lost to Bernie
Schreiber last year.
Jack Stites was second overall and
Marv Heath, absent from most of this
year:s Nationals, was in third place.
DaYld Burke, who had claimed his
ftrst-ever National win two days earlier
in Oregon was fourth.
Senior class winner was Wiltz
Wagner who took top honors as he had
done for most of the series. Gil Smith
was second.
Th~ fiercest competition of the day
was m the Sportsman class which
ended with only a four mark difference in the fmt four places. Rick
Bieniak, fourth at the end of the first
loop, really turned it on for the second
go· round and jumped into the overall
win with 85 marks, Tom Foy with 86
was second followed by Dave Pyle with
87 and Pete Rudhick with 88.
That wraps it up for the 1979
Nationals. It was personal triumph
for Marland Whaley who overcame
the frustrations of a disappointing
1978 season, and proved decisively
that he had lost none of his flair and
sItill.
The outlook for the 1980 series is
very exciting with many new, young
and strong riders who helped to make
this year so memorable with many
remarkable accomplishments.
Now everyone has scattered for
home, back to riding local events, but
the memories and personal victories
will be recounted many times. Along
with, "If I ~d only" and 'lust wait till
a
next year ...
And that is what trials is all about! •
Results
s_
NATIONAL: 1. Marl8nd ~ (46.2): 2. Jack
16Bl; 3. ~ . - (861: 4. o.vid Burtce CB7l; 5. Scott
Heed 1911: 8. Denni. Seiler 19.151; 7. Morgen
~ 1941; 8.ll