Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Tom Hamann rode on his front wheel down this rock ledge. Colorado's Mark Manniko topped both the Schreiber Cup and EI Trial de Espana for the third year in a row. Paul Webster f inished third in the Championship class in the Schreiber Cup. then lost a t ie for fourth in the EI Trial de Espana. Manniko sweeps third straight Schreiber Cup, EI Trial de Espana By M ike Cushionbury Photos by Dennis Greene and Cushionbury LUCERNE VALLEY, CA, DEC. 2-3 National number three Mark Manniko once again ran away with the victory at the Schreiber Cup and the 20th Annual El T rial de Espana trials events held on the rock formations in Lucerne Valley. The Bob Miller/Section . /AXO/Kal O ne /Fan ne Motor. . Gard sponsored n der easi ly 14 defeated second-p lace Kip Webb by a 45-point margin in Saturday's ·Sch reiber Cup. Ma n niko ended the da y with 20 points while Webb tallied up a score of 65, II points ahead of third-place Paul Webster. Things were a litt le closer in Sunday's EI Trial de Espana as Mannik~ comI?leted the four 100ps of25secq.onswllhatotalof20po~nts once agam and took the $700 firstplace custom bronze EI Trial trophy featuring an action image of Manniko. This time Webb cut the difference to 15 poin ts he ended up with a total o f 35. Local boy Tom Hamann finished third with a score of 40. The temperature was in the low to mid 70s and the sun was shining . bright to greet the 104 riders and 300 as spectators to a great weekend of trials action. The sections were all on and around large sandstone rock formations which featured seeming! y impossible climbs, drop-offs, ravme jumps and thick sand turns. . The Schreiber Cup, which is held in honor of three-time National Champion Bernie Schreiber, featured a new class this year, Experienced Novice. The Schreiber Cup usually only has two classes, Expert and Support, which contain harderthan-normal sections. Because of its di££iculty, the Schreiber Cup usually has a low rider turnout and the new class was created in an effort to allow more riders to enter. This proved positive as 43 riders entered this event, 12 more than last year. O n the very first section of the weekend the first two riders got fives. We bb stalled his Fantic in the section, then Tryals Shop rider Todd Roper crashed. The n ex t rider through was Ma nniko. At the sandy entrance to the section Manniko got o ut of shape, a lmost getting a five, b ut made a nice save to end up with a three. Next to come through was National High School Champion Mike Guns. The Bob Miller/Eveart Honda /Gary Lawver-sponsored Fantic rider made it halfway through only to crash, making him the third out of four riders to get a five on the first section ridden . Then Hamann came through with a two, much to the delight of the crowd. By the end of the first loop Manniko had lost 14 points. Webb was in second with 28, followed very closely by another local rider, The . Motorcycle Works-sponsored Paul Webster, who lost 30 points on his first trip through the 14 sections. Roper also got a 30 on his first loop to place him in a tie with Webs ter. On the second lo o p Manniko smoked everyone, losing only three points. The next best second loop score was by Hamann as he lost 18 points. This put Manniko way out ' in fro nt wi th a score of 17. Webb was still in second wi th 47 points and Webster held third with 49. Hamann was in fourth with 52, his low 18 point score was hampered by a first~ loop score of 34. O n the final loop Manniko once again lost only three points and this gave him an easy victory with a total of 20 for the day. Webb followed in second wi th a 65~point score, Paul Webster. came in third with a 74, American Tria ls Associa tion number one rider Hamann finished a close fourth with 77 and Todd Roper on an Aprilia rounded out the top five with a score of 80. "It was fun, I really enjoyed it," said Manniko. "I liked it better than last year, but I always like this kin d of rock. I really like the traction, compared to the East Coast where there isn't any. It took me the first loop to really get used to riding closer to sea level where there is more power, since I come from Colorado at 5000 feet. After the first loop I really started to ride well." Yamaha-mounted Dave Webster came out of second p lace after the first loop to take the victory in the Support class. After the first loo p Bim Miller had the lead ' with 14 points. Webster had 17, but on the second loop he came through with only six dabs while Miller took 13. This brought Webster into first place with 23 points, followed by Miller who had 27. At this point there was a tie for third between Na tional H igh School rider Don Petrick and Mike Torter as both riders had a 43 after the two loo ps. O n the final loop Webster lost seven points. This gave him a total of 30 points and the win. Miller ended the final loop with 17 for a total of 44 points, which was good for second. Torter claimed third by losing 15 poin ts, Petrick lost 22 for a total of 65 and fourth place just one point ahead of fifth-place Kenny Lane. For the EI Trial de Espana the Expert class riders rode one loo p on the regular trial course which consisted of 10 sections. They then rode three loops on five exhibition sections at the end of the day. The first loop fetaured fairly easy sections. Manniko and Webb easily made it through and were tied for first with o ne point Ro per was in second with a three point score, Hamann hel d third wi th five a nd Guns was in fourth with seven points. Manniko started o££ the exhibition . on the wrong foot. H e was the first ri der to ride the Honda-sponsored exhibition section one, which was a very scary- looking rock quarry section, and as he was hopping arou nd . ju st inside the entrance ga tes to set u p for a big rock climb' he hop ped his front wheel over the section ribbon for a five. . Rope r was the next rider through and he cleaned the section. The only

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