Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Sunday's exhibition section created good spectating for the 500 people attending the eveni:. Mark M anniko was the big w inner for t he second year in a row. t o pping both the Schreiber Cup and EI Trial de Espana events. Schreiber Cup, EI Trial de - Es p a n ~ wins to Manniko By Ken Faught LUCERNE VALLEY, CA , DEC. 3·4 _ N ationally ra n ked number three Mark .Man n iko proved that his victories in last year's Schreiber Cup and El .Trial de Espana weren't just luck, as the Section One/Fanticsponsored rider again took th e overall win in both events. T he I Colorado rider narrowly topped Tom Hamann after tying th e Beta rider with 22 points each. The tic was broken by counting the number of total sectio n cleans, which gave Manniko the win with 21 to Hamann 's 19. Cesar Ramos rounded o u t the top three in Saturday 's Schreiber Cup. In Sunda y's competition Manniko com p leted 25 sectio ns with only II points , eas ily beating Kip Webb 's 22 a nd T om Hamann 's 24. The weather for th e even t wa s near perfect with temperatures drifting fro m h ig h 60s to th e mid-70s, as 146 riders a nd 500 spec ta to rs witnessed th e weekend 's event. The sections were a ll a t th e base of large sandsto ne roc k formations with severa l sections in corporating th e rock face. The Schreiber Cup, held in honor of three-time Nationa l Champion a nd 1979 World Ch ampion Bernie Schreiber , o n ly gathered 30 riders in both th e Championship and Support cla sses. "T he low turnout is because it's su p posed to be hard, " said Manniko. " Everyo ne wants to', save , their bike for tommorrow ( E l Trial d e Espana )." _ , Manniko rstarted hi s weekend off right by cleaning th e firs.! section which gave him the initial lead in th e Schreiber Cup, By the-end of th e first 10 section loop, ' Mah rriko had cleaned eight sections and finished with only two-pomts, Webb ' and Ramos were tied for second with nine points. The seco nd loop saw Hamann put in a stro ng ride, collecting seven po ints, w h ic h moved him from fourth to second in th e point standin gs. Manniko still held the lead but wa s n owhere n ear as spectacular and ga ined 13 points. Ramos advanced to third with a grand total of 20 points. The fin al loop saw Hamann aga in ea rn th e least points by collecting a IOtaI o f four, putting him in a tie w ith Manniko a t 22. However, Manniko took the o vera ll win by cleaning 21 sections to Hamann's 19. Ram os, Chile's number one rider, fini shed third with 26 /16 over Webb's 31/22 and Dave Pyl e's 64/ 12. "Everything started off real good," said Man niko. "My first la p was rea l good - a two point lap . I haven 't been practicing as much as I'd like to, so, felt real good about that. After that I just went downhill a little bit. I was tired because I haven't ridden enough and I'm a little bit out of shape. As far as the sections, I though t they were good, but I think they should of been a little bit harder." Pyle started EI Trial de Espana off right by cleaning th e first two sections, putting him ou t front. Webb was in second with two points ahead of Manniko and H amann, who were tied with three. The rest of the 10 section loop saw Pyle maintain the lead taking only three dabs and eight cleans, while Manniko would go into the second . loop in the runner-up position with 4/8. Ra mos claimed five points in the first section, but rebounded with an amazing nine cleans to hold third. Hamann and Webb tied for fourth with eight points. Loop two started the Honda/Bell Helmets/Cycle N ews /Gerard Roo f Tiles-sponsored exh ib itio n section, which was designed for expert level riders only, and was the most difficult during the weekend. The Section One-sponsored Ma nniko amazingly cleaned all but one section, where h e lost on ly one poin t a fter a dab. Webb caugh t up to Ra m os and tied for second with 16 points, just one point ahead of Hamann. Py le los t an irreplaceable 16 points with an even split of threes and fives to hang onto th e fina l top five position. Manniko continued his dominance in the third loop by gaining six points for a score of I I/IS. Hamann moved up one point 10 tie Webb for second after gaining only two points on loop three. Ra m os was fourth at 24 points with Pyle close behind with 26. The final loop in the exhibition section told th e story. Manniko cleaned all five secti ons after surviving a near disasterous move in secti on three. The Fantic rider nearl y lost control whil e trying 10 balance atop two large sandstone rocks, but amazingly recovered without placing a dab. Webb co llec ted only three points on loop four for second with a IOtal score of 22/13 topping Hamann's 42/13. Pyle managed 10 pull off fourth wi th 32/ 13 after leading the field ' onto th e exh ib ition section. , Ra mo s slipped two positions from his placing in the Shreiber Cup to take fifth with a grand total of 36/ 13. "Everything went real good," said Manniko. "In th e morning it was hard for me to concentrate - it (the course) was easy. The easier the sections are, th e harder you have to concentrate and the easier it is to make mistakes. The sections are also less exciting.. so it 's harder to get psyched. In the afternoon it's really nice because of the spectators and everyth in g is more professional everyone is there and it's easier to get motivated. Today the trial is really decided in the afternoon. The sections there are difficult enough that' kn ew I could make up points on everybo d y be cause I'm much better on th e harder sections. " e Pyle's lead coming into the exhibition section was incredible considj ering that he hadn't ridden in six months. a "Everything went good compared to what I had expected," said Pyle. '" haven't ridden in six months ~ a trials bike, anyway. The most amount of practice I had was p rerunning the course in Baja for th e 1000." Pyle holds a different view of the course compared 10 Man niko. "The course was probably harder than last year's, " said Py le. " T he way it was laid OUI it was more a five or clean type of event, so the scores may no t show if it was easier or not

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