Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Snell-approved & LESS THAN $100* The Esprit helmet meets the Snell standard of Quality-the toughest helmet standard in existence. Yet it retails at most dealerships for less than any other Snell-certified helmet on the market. A very smart buy, especially when you consider these features: • TOUGH CONSTRUCTION. The Esprit helmet i. made of hal"ld-Wninated fiberg lass, like mos t of the ex· pensive brands. • CONVENIENCE. The sh ield I. recessed and reatures positive ratchet pos it ion ing . • COMFORT. The luxurious interior is lined with nylon and crowned with sat in. DYNAMIC DESIGN. The Esprit helme t axnes In your cIlo ioe of black w ith gold graphics. peart maroon with gold graph ics . or . i1"", w ith black graph ics . • • SIX-MONTH all Esprit duct,. the helmetWARRANlY. byU kesi.-month i1ml ted I. """""'Cl a pr0- warranty against defects in materials or workmanship. Think about it. You can spend more than twi ce as much on a similar helmet that may have a few fancy features. Or you can spend half as much on a helmet that can't pass the rigid Snell standards. But let' s face it: A helmet's basic purpose is to offer some protec tion for your head. So use your '-d. Buy EspriL fSPRlr Ask tor It at your local dealershiP. Of wri te for a free brochure to Espr it. Dept . CN . P.O. Box 11591. Portland . OR97211. •Actual prices vary. 0psn-I1lCfI models with D.O. T.apptTNal also Bvailable. 20 Beta rider Scott' Head won the f irst two National Observed Tria ls rounds in Texas and Oklahoma , Steve McNeal (Fanticl almost won in Texas but ended up f inishing second. four po ints beh ind Head . AHA National Observed Trials Series: Rounds 1-2 Dead ele~ns np in the Mid~est By Kit Palmer MUNESTE R, T X. AND TU LSA, OK , APR, 13-14 Factory Beta rider and defending National Champion, Scott H ead, started the '1985 Na tion al trials season on a win n in g note by cap turing victories in the openin g and secon d rounds of th e series. Ro u n d the Iirst , si!1ce th e co urse was drying _ ' o ut ) th e pomt sp read betw een th e two one was held I:> miles north of riders remai ned the sa me , but in secMunester Texas on Saturday tions 10-15, H ead lost four points. .h 'd .' ' w hil e McN eal lo st o ne, m aking WIt roun two In T u lsa, OklaMcNeal th e leader by th ree with four h oma , on Sunday. H ea d d ropped 3 1 points over the wet and rocky co u rse Sa turday , beating Fantic rider Steve McNea l by fo u r af ter a close d uel, while Curt Comer (Beta) finis hed thi rd overa ll with a a score o f 37. Just over 100 rider s sig ne d u p o n Sa tur day to cha llenge th e two 10mile loop, 18-sect ion co urs e held p ri rnaril v over rock v terrain. A few hours beCore th e sta rt D th e trial s, thoug h, C ra in dr en ched th e co urse making so me sect io ns very tough beca use o f mudhol es that form ed. T he first section o f the day didn't giv e any of th e rider s problem s both Head and McN ea l cleared it, but a section la ter, H ead carde d a five, giving McN ea l the adva ntage. H ow ever, from th at point to the en d o f th e [irst loop, H ead sett led do wn a nd clea ned 10 sections , da bbed once in three, and twoed three m or e. At th e en d of th e lo op, H ead lo st 14 points. whi le McNeal dropped 15. Nine sections into the seco nd loop wa,s.cp .nsL d.era bly ~~ ~ Le~ !I!a.ll . __ ____ _ _ . __ . . (}\: h i~h _ sections rem a in in g , T he n McN eal started ma king mis ta kes, losing fo ur to H ead 's zero. On th e fi nal section , McN eal took a five, whi le H ead's three gave h im the win , .Comer Iin ish ed third with 37 ahead o f Dave Pyle (40), J erry Carren s (47) and J ack Stites (48), " T he co urse was real tough ," sa id H ead. "T he sma ll monsoon we had jus t before th e sta rt mad e things difIicul t. 1 was su rpr ised a t th e en d o f th e tria ls th at 1 had won, because 1 really didn 't feel a ll th at great. 1 didn 't reall y h ave it until th e seco nd loop ." After the event, all the riders irn medi at el y loaded up and headed out on th e ro ad C a Iive-hour dr ive to or T u lsa , Oklahoma. wh ere th ey would spe nd th e ni ght and rid e ro u nd two on Sunda y, T he sa me ra in storm th at a ttacked Texas th e da y before a lso unl oad ed pl enty of wat er o n th e Oklahoma co urse making things a bit slippery, but not a s bad a's in T exas. Rider ~tT'): wa s up s l i~h! ly_~ .t!t~ .T !!lsa o! tr ia ls; riders were to co m pe te o n a tigh ter , th ree-m ile two-loop course. Since th e section s were closer together. th ere were p roblem s with long lines. Th is tim e H ead spent the wh ol e day in close tabs with Stites, both riders losing 68 po ints aft er th e "two loops. H ead wa s declared the winner, because h e had two more cleans than Stites, 18- 16, " I felt a little bit better tod a y," sai d H ead , " bu t 1 was makin g a lot of stu p id mi stak es, so 1 wa s su rprised 1 was even tied Cor th e lead. " J ust before th e 18th sectio n in th e first loop, 1 th rew m y cha in and it got wed ged in betw een the cases . It cost me about 20 m inutes. It will tak e me a littl e while to get my rhythm going, if th e event were h eld in th e middle of th e seaso n, m y score would've been a bo u t 15 p oints bett er. " Win ni ng th e first two Nationals reall y g ives m y co n fide nce a boost, but McN eal is going to be to ugh. The n ext few tr ia ls will be in h is home territory a nd he is goi ng to do real well , but 1 thi nk 1 ca n win th e cham pi ons hi p, " "The first ro und was dreadful C or me," sai d Stites. " I was makin g silly m istak es a ll da y lon g . Wh ere I'm from (Flo rida) th ere a re no rock s to pract ice o n a nd th e bikes aren ' t as cr itical to p repare. 1 didn 't feel a ll that grea t a nd m y bike wasn 't set quite as good as it co u ld' ve been. " O n Sunday, 1 C much bett er , elt but 1didn 't think 1was doing as good as 1 co u ld . 1 was still making rni stakes. a n d fo r th e way 1 rode, 1didn 't expec t to be tied for th e lead. 1 wa s pl eased nonetheless." McN eal fin ish ed day two in third with 85 p oints, followed by Curt Comer (91 ), J erry Carrens (93/ 13 cleans ), Don Sweet (93/ 11 cleans ). David Pyle (97) a n d Kip Webb ( 104). Results • SA TURDA Y: 1. Scan Head (311: 2. Steve M cN e al (351: 3 . Curt Comer (371: 4 . Da ve Pyle (401; 5. Jerry Carrens (471; 6. Jack Stites (48); 7 . Kip Webb (5 1); 6 . Don Sweet (5 5); 9 . M ike West (631; 10. Rya n Yo u n g (66). SUND A Y: 1. Scan Head (66 /1 6 clea ns ]; 2. Jack St ite s (66 /16 cleans); 3 . Steve M cNea ' (8 5); 5. Cu rt Comer (91) ; 5. Jerry Carr en. (93 / 13); 6 . Don Sweet (9 3 / 1 1); 7 . David Pyle 197); 8. Kip W ebb (1 04); 9 . . Dave Rohrschneider (1061; 10 . Ryan Young ( 10 7 1

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