Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

r; AMAIN ATC National Observed Trials Championship Series: Rounds oneI two • ~ III E o Comer arrives in N orCal, Skreen tops-in silver screenland 00 0') ....... By Len Weed Photos by Debbie Evans Leavitt O ROVILLE, CA, MAY 24 The old folk song goes: "She'll be comin' round the mountain, when she comes. " Curt Comer, slower than a speeding locomotive, scaled another kind of mountain - his first National win . The victory marked the return of the Try als S hop esponsored. Montesa-moun ted rider to the American championshi p (A bove) Brad Skreen. via a second In NorCaland a win in SoCal, took the po ints lead. (Below) After a year's absence, Mark Eggar came back. 22 The weather helped play havoc with the organizer's (the Pacific Internarion- al Trials Society) time estimates. Rain , hail, snow and sunshine. The trial ha d it all . The site, about 40 miles east of Oroville, was located on private p roperty. The loop, one of the more scenic in recent years , took the rid ers up and down heavily forested hills while presenting virtually every conceivable form of log confrontation imaginable in the sections. The rai n also helped make the stream sections more interesting - or just plain deeper - as the day progressed, One stream section had rocks so slippe ry th at ma ny riders were get ting side ways just walking through. More th an one secti on attempt went the insta nt ba ptism route total immersion . 1980 b rough t significant changes to the series structure. The best-five-ofnine-round format, used since the North American Trials Council launched the series in 1974 , was dropped in favor of best-four-of-six. Here the major consideration was re duction of travel because of the gas crunch. Two trials for one weekend were scheduled for each of the three national regions. The controversial local rider rule was dropped . Advocates of this move have long felt that the rule restricted participation since each rider was required to sit out the round closest to home. Here again, the gasoline situation was the prime lever for dropping the ru le, thus making it easier for a competitor to get in at least four rounds. Two new support classes joined the Sportsman and Senior (35 or older) this year. The newcomer are High Schoo l (16 or younger) and Supe r Senior (45 or older). As in the past, a few of the most challenging cham pion ship sections are deleted from the sup port ridersloop. Two fam ilia r faces ha ve returned to full -time action. Do n Sweet, eight time New Engl and tria ls champion , cam e west to take an eighth. And former Honda teamster Mark Eggar, third in the nation in 1975 , returned to the national scene after a two-year absence. trail. Curt, ranked thi rd in the nation in 1978 , missed the National series last year, spending six. m onths riding in England. The benefits of the heavy competition schedule overseas were immediately reflected upon his return to the states last fall. Then at year's end , at the EI Trial de Espana, he underscored world cha mpion Bernie Schreiber in the afternoon exhibition secti ons. Ea rlier this yea r it looked like a wide open series beca use Marland W haley, winner of four of the last five nati onal titles, and Bernie Sch reiber , 1979 world champion , both a nnounced pla ns to base in Britain for the year. Comer figu red as one of several co-favorites. _or perhaps the favori te to clai m the vacated crown. But, just like the "best laid plans of mice and men ," som ething happened. Schreiber remains overseas, bu t now bases in Bologna , Italy, where the weather and terrain are mo re similar to his SoCal haunts. Meanwhile, Whaley decided to pass on the remainder of th e world series to return home to tackle a pro motocross career. He requested and rece ived a release from the British ACU , clearing th e way to reactivat e his AMA eligibility. However, Marland's motocross program, supported by Husqvarna , which include wins in the Pro class at Carlsbad. did limit his time for trials train ing . Ironically, Marland's new adventures in th e go -fast lane didn't prepare him to get around the trials loop qui ckly enough. Time devoted to section inspection. however , rather than trail speed, was the problem . Whaley timed out , exceeding his on e-hour grace period by two minutes. Had he finished, his score wouldn't have been eno ugh to top Comer a nyway. Curt won by a 16.4 margin over Brad Skreen of Oregon . The Oregon rider , 25 , was right at home on the wet forest terrain. T ime was a major factor for every rid er. Virtually everyone exceeded the five hours allowed to complete three l O-mile circuits . Six riders in addition to Whaley were d isqualified on time . " ... ".- • • • • .. 04 • • • • • •• . . u.. ,. • _ .. "' _ _ ", _ . ", _ • • ._ r

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