Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126997
Mark Manniko was untouchable in both days of competition . Here he clears a difficult portion of an exh ib ition section. Tom Hamann f inished second in the EI Trial de Espana and fourth in the Schreiber Cup; he dabbed seconds after this was taken . Arizona's Todd Roper makes this rock look easy; he was th ird in the Schreiber Cup then slipped to fourth at the EI Trial de Espana. Manniko cleans up Schr~iber Cup and EI Trial de Espana By Nate Rauba LA CRESTA, CA, DEC . 5-6 Colorado's Mark Manniko was practically in a class all his own as he breezed through both the Schreiber Cup and El Trial de Espana with relative ease, taking the Championship and Expert class wins in each event. ยท Cana d Ian Stev~ Fr~cy ca me closest to Manm ko 10 Satur- 28 da y's Schreiber Cup, finishing 27 points behind. Arizona rid er Todd Roper claimed third, six points shy of Fracy's 96-point score and two poi nts ahea d of local favorite Tom Hamann. The very next da y Manniko ca me back to win the EI Trial de Esp ana wit h a score of 31 po in ts a nd 10 clea ns, eas i ly o ut d is ta nci ng Hamann 's 49/6 score. Kenny Leduc improved hi s sta ndi ng from a six th in the Sch reib er Cup to th ird o n Su nday, beating Roper by six points. Fra cy scored fifth, Just three poin ts off of Ro per 's score. Sat urday's Vall ey Ob served Trial s Ent h usiasts- spo nso re d Schreiber Cu p, held in hon or of three-ti me Na tio na l Cham pion and 1979 World Ch ampion Bernie Sch reiber, was th e rid ers' even t design ed to test th eir trial s skills. Sectio ns were difficu lt a nd set up to be mu ch like those found in Europe, and rain.th e nigh t before made the sections wet and muddy. The wh ole idea of th e event is to prepare the American rid ers for what they wo uld encounter in a World Championship event . Schreiber wasn't p resent a t this year's event du e to co mmi tmen ts wi th his European spo nso rs, and a ttendance in gen eral was down from previous years. "It (the Schreiber Cup) turns some people off be,c,:au~e It'S sUI?Pos~ to be real hard, said Manmko. But hard trials are th e only way to be able to co m pe te with th e Europeans." Fantic-mounted Manniko didn't find this year' s Schreib er Cup too difficult, however, a nd was off and running after the first loop. Manniko made it th rough severa l sections with scores of one, cleaned a section, and accu mu la ted five points in only three of th e 10 sectio ns. H ama nn , aboard a Beta, was a close seco nd after th e fir st loop, scori ng two clea ns a nd consi stent twos a nd threes in most sectio ns. He also had scored fives in th ree sections, bu t was one of v:1ly a few rid ers to make it th rough th e di fficult section ' one with on ly three pa ints. Fracy, o n a borrowed Fantic, fin ished th e first loop in th ird, three points behind H am ann , with consistent rides of threes, a two , a pair of ones a nd three fives throughout the sections . After loop two Manniko improved his score with two more cleans, several ones and a three. The same three secti ons claimed a score of five once again. Hamann dropped several points in th e' second loop whil e Fracy rem ained co nsistent and added a clean to hi s scor e. That moved him into a tie in points wi th Hamann, but H amann still maintained a one clea n advantage.