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0:: W ~ ~ ~ ;::: > '" til o ... o :I: 11. David Pyle (Fan) finished third behind Head and Kip Webb. Trials National Champion Scott Head cleans one of the many rocky sections during the EI Trial De Espana . which he won. J 6th Annual El Trial De E8~aiia Another win for Head By Tim Walker BIG BEAR , CA. JULY 21 Current National Champ Scott Head added a second American Trials Association El Trial De Espana win to his already-long list of accomplishments; his first ETDE win came in 1980. Second and third place were also taken by nationallyranked riders. Kipp Webb, currentl y ranked seventh in th e 8 nation, fin ish ed 19 points behind H ead, wh ile T MI (Fantic importer)sponsored Dave P yle fin ish ed third, n in e poi nts behi nd Webb. Pyle recently moved to Ca lifo rnia from Tennessee an d is currently eigh th in th e nat ion . Head recently ret u rn ed from two World Championship rounds in Europe and h ad few co m p la in ts and lo ts of p ra ise for th e 16th an n ua l event. "Cactus Flats (w here th e event was held ) is a great area a nd is o ne reason I ca me down because it's a lo t ni cer than past loca tions. " T he morning sections were grea t and th e exhi bi tion was good if a ll yo u wan ted was threes and fives. I'll be back aga in next year if it's held in th e sum mer." Regularl y held in Decem ber, the EI T rial De Espana ra n in Cactus Fla ts a rea near Big Bear, Cali fornia . T his time of year reduces the chance that th e event m ight get ra in ed out. A typ- ica l summer ra in storm Saturda y worried event organizer, Ma n Pritch ard, but Sunday was clear a nd warm in th e morning with a few non-threat ening clouds in th e afternoon. The Ex perts ra n two loops in the morning, th e fi rst on e having seven sections a nd th e seco nd having 19. Head sta rted ou t wi th a seven- point loss and four cleans. H ea d 's only five o ft he morning was at section 19. Pyle was seco nd , n ine behi nd with Webb o ne more than Pyle. Pyle, Webb a nd Pritch ard were the o n ly other riders to score cleans o n th e fir st lap. Cl ean in g 14 of th e 19 sections on th e seco nd loop, Head ha d a tot a l o f 13/1 9 go ing in to the a fternoon ex hi bi tion. Webb moved in to seco nd wi th a 11110 for a to tal o f 28/ II. Dro p p in g to th ird was Pyle wi th a 2 1/1 1, fin ish ing the m orn in g with 37/ 12. The nex t two po siti ons were fill ed by two of th e LOp ATA riders. Dave Webster ca rded a 40/8 for th e morn in g , wh ile P ritch ard sco red 54/8. T he exhib ition co nsisted o f five World Championship-level sections. Pritchard an d Pyle, both ha vin g co mpeted in Europe, did th e setup a n d afterwards Pritch a rd sta ted " ma ybe we made it a little too hard." T hat was an understatement. Of the eight who a ttem p ted. on ly five riders made it th rough a t least one section - no clean s, no ones. Head scored two twos, one a t section one, th e o ther a t number fou r. Being on th e tough side, th ere was on ly one loop in the a fternoon. All of th e sections were located on a Sleep hillside loaded with huge bould ers a nd gra nite slabs . Sections one a nd two were the easi est of the five. Three wa s th e o n ly o ne nobody was a ble LO ge t th ro ugh . H ead made it th ro ugh the ha rd est part bu t rode o ff h is intended line a nd ra n into so me cac tus g iving h im a quick five. Even a fter a five, rid ers recei ved app la use fro m th e specta tors clinging to th e rocks. The final sta nd ings for th e a fternoon had H ead with 17 to cl inc h th e win . Webb, Pyle and Webster eac h sco red 2\ a nd fin ished overa ll in th e same order. Pri tch ard tried a ll of his sections but failed to ge t th rough a ny o f th em to pl ace fifth . T on y Leduc fro m northern California was the onl y other rider LO get through one of the sections to finish sixth. A two-way battle developed in the Amat eur class. Amateurs rode 21> loops for a to ta l of 29 sectio ns , and mos t of th e sectio ns wer e tri ckv with lo ts of tight turns. Jody Rich ison edged Bill y Hunter by o ne point. It was a close duel a ll da y between the two ; one would mak e a mistake th en come back a nd put in a couple of good rides a n d so o n. Rick Spruell stayed close LO the leaders awai ting a cha nce that n ever came. In the end, Spruell's 52/ I6 was good for thi rd , seven mar ks behind Hunter. Rich ison had the most cleans of the class wi th 17. Firsttime Amateur, Kaz Okuda, finis hed fOUT points a h ead of Bru ce Davis for fourth . In his seco nd event ever, Big Bea r resident T om H am ann pi loted a 1974 T Y I75 LO win in the Nov ice d ivision. Ha man sco red the most clea ns wi th ' 21, bu t h is win ning margin was by on ly two points. Tying for second with 39 ma rks each were Alle n Anderson a nd Tom Engelhard t. Ande rso n ca m e away with seco nd by h aving two more clea ns th an Engel hardt. Brad McCl ell an topped Walt Robl es by five for fo urth . J on Maeda and Jay East each carded 13 clea ns in the Beginners. Maeda took home h is first win by one point, 27 to 26. One p o int a lso deci ded th ird between Ken Warner an d J im Warner. Third p lace went to Wa rner with 38 points . G ary Conrad easil y wo n th e Senior Ama teurs , Co nrad's 57/ 8 was 12more th an seco nd pl ace Art Webster. J ack H eminwa y fini shed five dabs behind Webster. Bob Thorton thu mped h is wa y LO the Senior Novice win o n h is Honda. Two points beh in d Thorton was Mick Vanaman , dropping 45 marks for seco nd . T he p oint sp rea d for th e next three positions were qu ite bi g . Du ane Stone was 18 in fro nt o f Bob Grove, who was 24 a head of fifth place AI Moss. Bob O verton , mounted on a Sca n Head hand-me-do wn Beta , ra n away with th e Senior Beginn er win. Seven teen poi nts behi nd was Bul taco rider Jim Brod eske, Bob So ltys fill ed o ut th e to p three wit h a 54/8 score. Mark Kar iya defeat ed Ka rel Kram er by II in th e Pr ess cla ss. Both had three cleans while riding th e Nov ice sections . Da vid Ed wa rds drop ped 85 points, 12 beh ind Kramer. After the trial , a raffl e was h eld with th e proceeds going to the top Ex pert a t the end o f the year. T he funds will send h im to Europe LO bring ba ck th e skills the world 's bes t have. Webster , Pritcha rd a nd Ro ben so n are in a tight battle for th e LOp honor s. Donat ions included products from JT Raci ng , Malc o lm Smith, Gear, PJ-I , Baja Pro ducts. Griffin, O'Neal, H yper Pro d ucts. Scott. Wo lfe, Budweiser a nd Bay Area Cycl e Centre. T op prize was a Hitachi VC R wh ich was won by Don Liuel l. • Results EX: 1. Soon H. ad (Beta) 30 / 1B; 2. Kip Webb (Beta) 49 / 11; 3. n eve Pyle (Fan) 5B/ 12; 4. Oave Web ster (Yam) 61 / B; 5. Man Pritchard (Yam)79 /8; 6. Tony Leduc (Yam) 84 /5; 7. Oli Thordarson (Yam) 93 /6; 8 . Mark Oldar (Bul) 95 /5; 9. Gary LePlame (Han) 111 /6; 10. Soon Annano (Han) 15012. AM : 1. Jed y Richison (Yam) 44 /17; 2. Billy Hun t er (Yam) 45 /13; 3. Rick Sprue ll (Yam) 52/16; 4. KazOkuda (Yam)63 /10; 5. BruceDavis(Bul)67/ 11. NOV; 1. Tom Hamann (Yam) 37 /21 ; 2. Allen Ande rson (I-J) 39 /19; 3. Tom Engelhardt (Yam) 39 /17; 4. Brad McClellan (Yam) 46 /15; 6. Walt Robles (Yam) 50 /9. BEG; 1. Jon Maeda (Han) 26 /13; 2. Jay East 27 /13; 3. Ken Warner 38 /1 0; 4. Jim Warner 39 /9; 6. D. Morgan 46 /8. SR A; 1. Gary Conrad (Yam) 67 /8; 2. An Webster (Yam) 69 /9; 3. Jack Heminway (Yam) 74 /8; 4. Bob SChlatter (Yam) lOB/I. SR N; 1. Bob Thonon (Han) 43 /15; 2. Mick Van aman (Yam) 46 / 14; 3. Duane Stone (I-J) 66 /11 ; 4 . Bob Grove (Bul) 74 /13; 5. AI Moss (Yam) 98 /6. SR B; 1. Bob Ovenon (Beta) 24 /12; 2. Jim Bro deslte (Bul) 41 / 11; 3. Bob SoltyS (I-J ) 54 /8 . PRESS; 1. Mark Kar;ya (Han) 62 /3; 2. Karel Kra mer (Yam) 73 /3; 3. Oavid Edwards (Yam) B5/0. TRAlLBIKE: 1. Paul Beaumont 40 /6; 2. P. Van zuyte 76 /6.