Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bernie Schreiber tackles a section en route to taking the w in. Scott Head placed 18th in his first attempt at the Scottish. Scottish Six Day" Trial on top of his bad five earlier, and faced with a puncture repair to carry out, watched by officials who checked he did it without assistance, Eddy carried on to reach the next very easy group after a long moorland ride. Luck certainly had deserted the Belgian ace by then for his wheel nudged a marking card on a comparatively easy section and even though he remained feet up, another five was recorded against his number. On the slopes of Britain's highest mounta in, in his heart of hearts Lejeune must have known that he had blown it, for his score stood at 24 and he still had nine sections-all tough ones-to ride. He struggled up the first six in the same loose gully, and then the final three to finish the day on 38 marks lost, dozens more than necessa ry, before returning to Fort William to check in three minutes after his due arrival time, to suffer three more marks on his score. He had fi nished on 126. As Leje u ne tackled Ben Nevis, Schreiber was rid in g the o pening group at Ken tallen , and si m ply by asking every observer through the trial what Lejeune had do ne, Bern ie was able to calculate exactly where he cou ld afford to lose marks and grab the trial win. World Champion in 1979, Bernie was able and experienced enough to stand the pressure on him, and arrived at the final group, Ben Nevis with just five lost, knowing via the grapevine that he had 26 marks in hand over Lejeune who was by then bathing. T he hallmark of a potential champion comes at times of decision, and it was on Ben Nevis that Bernie made a cool, calm and calculated one. The third sub was very difficult, in fact o n ly one clean had been recorded, that by Martin Lampki n. Mos t had Iived with the occasional three, a nd one of those fives had been by Lejeune . Bern ie weighed up the situation, planning a new and rarely tried li ne which was straighter but involved two tight turns after the wo rst of the hazard. As his n umber was called, Bern ie aimed the works SWM u p the firs t two sections clean, then brill iant ly surmounted the big step, got off line immediately afterwards, only to recover superbly and exited the ends cards having tak en a single dab. Aft er that mom entou s displa y wh ich certa in ly clinche d for him th e First American victory to Schreiber By M ike Rapley FORT WILLIAM, SCOTLAND. MAY 3-8 When Ber n ie Sch reiber m oved from the Italian Ita lj et factory ride to ri de for th e rival SW M co n cern, h e vowed that he wo uld win the Worl d Trials Championship, the Scottish Six Day Trial and the American Tria ls Championhi SIp. . . The first of those desires came true last week, when the blond Californian took a scintillating victory in the Scottish by the huge margin of 18 marks. Throughout the week Schreiber was in contention, even though his closest rival Eddy Lejeune led for four days, yet atone stage it looked as though Lejeune would eventually win the trial. The Belgian Honda rider who currently leads the World Championship Trials had a 13 mark advantage on Monday night over Martin Lampkin. Then it was whittled down to eight marks on Tuesday evening by ~erni~. Wednesday night and Lejeune s advantage h,ad dropped a further t~o marks with Eddy on 51 and Bern ie on 57., Aft~r Thursday s I~ng route.round th e ptcturesque Moidart Peninsula, Bernie had edged into the top spot, a mere two marks ahead of Lejeune, the pair now well ahead of the remainder of th e entry. Friday proved to be a nail biting day for both riders when Eddy bounced back with the second best ride of the day , while Bernie had a minor disaster. very similar to Lejeune's problems on Thursda y. The score stood at Lejeune 85, Schreiber 90, wi th all th e acti on waitin g for th e cro wds o n th e fina l day. The sta rt in g order o f th e 244 co rn..titers was ro ta ted da ilv so evervon e had a fair crack a~ being ea~ly, middle order or late d unng the trial. Saturday was scheduled to be Lejeune's day _ generally a distinct disadvantage, while Schreiber at the back wou ld know in detail everything Lejeune had done. Yet as the survivors of the toughest Scottish ever set off from 7:30 on Saturday morning, over another rescheduled route, many fans thought Lejeune would have some of the advantage, for the new route was over many previously used sections from earlier in the week, and consequently wouldn 't be too slippery. However, none had taken into accurat e account the pressure Lejeune was suffering. He started in fair form, dropping seven on the opening group which used big boulders in a stream. Then at th e second group Lejeune took two dabs in th e first two sections wh ere many lesser lights were going clean, followed by a unlucky five on a tight turn. . . LeJeu~e must hav~ ~een aware that 11 wa.sn t an a~sP.lclO~S start for Schreiber was still 10 hIS hot~I, but soon even luck was to desert h im . On the famous Pipeli ne, where the huge pipes carry wa ter to the alurnin um factory in Kinlochleven, Lejeune looked set for a good ride over the loose rocks and tricky steps until just as he entered th e third sub-section, the rear tire-a super soft Michel in punctured and he had to resort to a h eav y bout o f footing to clear the section ends cards . Ratt led by th is u ne xpected setback trial, the two subs he took on th e loose rocks of sub six were a luxury he cou ld well afford. . The crowds followed the tall . blond Ca lifornian to the remaining three sections where he announced to a well known photographer that he could five each one and still win th e trial. He didn 't of course for his dab in the first was well calculated; while the following pair of threes were simply safe rides of sections Berni e would normally have tried to clean. It was a ll over but the shouting, and there was plenty of that plus some cel ebration bubbly when he returned to the West End Car Park, Fort Will iam to sign off and sample the spoils of victory. In winning the Scottish, Bern ie became th e first American to do so. he was the second winner aboard a SWM , and a member of the winning manufacturer's team-SWM -for th e second year running. Whi le the spotl ight was undoubtedly turned on Schreiber's superb winning ride, five other American riders took part in th is greatest of trials. Formerly Sch reiber's teammate, Scott Heat on Italjet had a super week in hi s first ever Scottish to finish in a magnificent 18th p lace a nd take the Ben Nevis Challenge Trophy for th e second best performance by a first time rider in the trial. Scott, who rode most of the week with yo ur reporter, told me that h reckoned it was the most tremendous week trialing he has ever experienced. " I simply love th e sections, and th scenery is marvelous, " Scott said which was in marked contrast t Bernie who no doubt was please with his win but didn't really enjoj such a hard week 's work. Scott reckoned he would be bac for evermore, and the likeable young ster had many followers during th week who were most impressed wit h is ride. Curt Comer is no stranger to Scot land having been in England durin 1980 when he spent m uch of the yea traveling around the country tacklin the traditional British trials. With such a knowledge of wha was awaiting him, it was no surpris that Curt had another good week t finish in 3 1st place and take a Specia First Class Award which goe s to a l those who finish in th e top 50 place Curt, abo ard th e Cosmopol ita Motors spo nso red 349 Montesa had (Continued to page 2

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