Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Mllnue1 Soler took the Auatrllln win by two points over Uif K8r1lOn. World Cham~n8 Observed Trials SerIes: RoaN 7 Soler • scores,n Austria, Schreiber sixth By Mike Rapley SCHUBERTRING, AUSTRIA. MAY $1 The World Championship Title battle was blown open at the Austrian round when Spanish Champion Manuel Soler won 22 the seventh event of the 12-round series, and title leader Eddy Lejeune failed to score for the first time. The blowout by Lejeune, who at one time in the series had a massive 14 point lead, was so completely uncharacteristic, it made the fans wonder whether he is such a cert for the crown. His appalling lapse. which could eventually cost him the World Championship, gave current champion Ulf Karlson and French star Gilles Burgat the chance to close the gap. The current standings are Lejeune 60 points, Burgat 56 and Karlson 52. which makes the U.S. round in New York one of the most crucial events of the year. In finishing second in Austria. Karlson inched back into contention after many thought his early season perfoTtOances had left him without a chance of retaining his crown. Yrjo Vesterinen finished third, his joint best ride of the series. but he is still out of the possible winning chances. Schreiber continued to find the foTtO which.,made him the champ in 1979, and his sixth place gave him a further six points to consolidate his seventh place in the table. But the talk of the trials was Lejeune, He completed the first nine mile. 15 section lap for 21 marks 1_ not bad but not as good as tbe lap best of 15 by Toni Gorgot. The Belgian Honda rider was in with a good chance of points, but then put in a second lap score of almost double his fint total, and that ruined his chances. His third lap was better, back to his ftnt tour total, but by tben the damage had been done, and his score left him in a disastrous 16th place. Consistency is the key word to championship points, and those wily veterans, Karlson and Vesterinen, both of whom have scored in every round to date, fmished even with the decision going to Karlson with two cleans more than Vesterinen. First in France and second in Italy, Gilles Burgat took fifth and with Lejeune's demise from the points, got to within four of the Belgian, and with five rounds still to come, the World Champion is still anything but decided. As a trial, the Austrian rou'nd was the easiest So far this year, and nerves played a vital part in the opening action. Gorgot and Hattori cleaned the stream hazard, suitable for a British club trial. with ease, but Martin Lampkin, Malcolm Rathmell, and Lejeune all fived where Soler and Burgat had joined t~e early cleans in front of the Austrian TV cameras recording the action. Easy though the sections were. the in between going was anything but that, with a $000 feet climb up a wooded and root infested mountainside playing havoc with the riders. Even such "forcers" as Lampkin found it tough going, and some of the lesser lights failed to make it and retired from the trial. Altitude played a great part in machine perfoTtOance, and for several days before tbe trial, riders had been tuning their bikes to get the best from them at altitude_ All credit then to Montesa who had the foresight to recognize the problem, and factory engineer Oriol Guixha arrived at the trial with modified cylinder heads for the factory 349s which cured all the problems. It paid off for Montesa riders finished first. second. eighth and tenth. before packaging their machines for the flight to the next round in New York State. • Results ,. MlInuei Soler ISpotn - Monl 40; 2. UK KMtoon I S _ . Monl42 (30 d_aJ; 3. Yrjo V_inen IFinIond - Bull 42 128 deana); 4. Jaime Subir. ISpoin - Font 47; 5. Gillea IlurQII 1 _ - SWM} 52; 6. IIemie Sclv_ IUSA - Itol 55 128 deanal; 7. Toni Gar""t ISpoin . 0lIl 55 128 _ I ; 6. MolcoIm _ Illritoin . Manl 60; 9. Chriation Deonovo;o"ahi~ Poin! S1ondingo; ,. Lejeune 1601; 2. IIwgot 1561; 3. Kartoon 1521; 4. Soler 1441; 5. Gargot \43); 6. Veatorinen 140}; 7. Sclvoiber 1351; 8. Rothmolll28}; 9. CoutMd 1241; , ;.laml'kin 1241. Morgen KlIVlInllUgh URd coneIstency to win lit l.8ndIsburg• AWIA/NATC NaflolNl' CINunpIoashlp Observed Trials Series: Rounds2~3 Kavanaugh clicks at Landisburg National By Jane Dietz Photo by Dave Dietz LANDISUBURG, PA, JUNE 20 The second round of the AMA/ NATC National Championship Observed Trials Series moved 200 miles south of the opening round at Watkins Glen. The site of this ational was the same area used in the 1979 National and Morgan Kavanaugh, riding a Bultaco, used consistent riding to collect a decisive victory over Montesa's Curt Comer. the winner of round one. The event was organized by the South Penn Enduro Riders. Mike Womer, the clerk of course, used a seven mile, 15 section loop to test the skills of riders from all over the U.S. All classes rode three times with a five hour time limit and an hour grace period. Most riders finished in the penalty time due mostly to the difficult mountainside terrain. Heavy rains Friday night and Saturday made the event a stamina sapper. Sections three, five, nine. and thirteen were Championship only. All were basically large rock sections, except nine. which was a long hillclimb. Section five was the infamous "Grand Illusion." In two years of National trials only one rider was able to clean this section. Don Sweet did tbe seemingly impossible deed -- once - and was awarded the Grand Illusion Rock Award Sunday night at tbe awards banque,t. The first rider. Ron Scheller, was off at 10:01 A.M. with Bob Hopkins leaving last at 11 ;50. Rain began about halfway making the already wet sections all the more treacherous. Most eastern trialsmen commented how much they liked the weather and hoped the rain would continue. because this was their type of riding. After the first loop. Comer led with five points lost. Kavanaugh and Keith Adams followed with eight and 11. respectively. However, Comer ran into some misfortune. On loop two. an insect became lodged in Comer's eye and he spent some time in the pit area trying to remove it. By the time Cotner could continue he had lost much valuable time. As Comer tried desperately to make up time. Kavanaugh rode his same calculated way and finished his last loop with 12 points lost, compared to Comer's 28.8. The final score sheet showed Morgan Kavanaugh winning with $1 points and Comer second with 44.8. Wayne Galvin (47.6). Keith Adams (48.8) and Don Sweet (48.8) rounded out the top five National class finishers. All finished in the top five in New York. with the exception of the sneaker clad Adams, who switched from Ossa to SWM between events. Jonathon Hoffnagle continued his winning ways. by riding his Montesa to another Sportsman first. This is his second win in as many weeks. Thanks are in order to all the AMA District 6 members who helped organize. score and check and to the Carpenters of Kennedy's Valley Campground whose land was used for most of the event. • Results NATIONAL:'. Margon ~.nough lBuIl3'; 2. Curt Co.". IMon) 44.8; 3. WtI'(fte Gilvin IBull47.6; 4. Koil'" Moms 10lIl411.8; 5. Don S _ IMonl4ll.8. SPORTSMAN: ,. Jonothon HotInogle IMon) 31; 2. Chris Arnold (0lIl 35; 3. Joll F.loy IMonl 41 ; 4. Gory n"" IBull43.6; 5. Dovld Reed 10saI51. HIGH SCHOOL: ,. Michool Reed IMonl 39; 2_ Mike Weat IFon) 68; 3. Vonce W.lk. IMonl 74; 4. Mike Passino IMan174; 5. Ron Commo. Jr. IFonl78. SR; ,. carl Pet... IBull 442; 2. Dot. M . _ IBuIl 50; 3. Wiltz Wagner IMonl 65.8; 4. Bob CoplOtronllBull 76; 5. Dovid Fovreau ISWMI 80.

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