Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Bet a ride r Ro n Com mo was th e to p American fi n isher in the World Championship event. Commo finished 23rd'overall w ith 233 points dropped. Finl an d's Tommi Ahvala dropped 46 points a board his fact ory water-coole d Ap rilia for th ird overa ll. H e da bb ed o n ly twice during the third loop. ano the r America n ri de r, G eo ff Aaron , w ho fin is hed secc nd in Sa turday 's ; Na tiona l. "Ah h, it went o ka y," sa id Comma . " It was difficu lt fo r u s (America n ri der s), but for th e Europeans yo u co u ld see that th ey di dn 't have m any problems. I' m just happy to fin ish. " The World Championship e ve n t was h eld the da y after Sa turday'S National C hampionship round , won by Colorado's Mar k Man ni ko , w ho did not finish the World ro u n d. Sunday's eve nt got underway a t 9:00 a.m. and each rider wa s given an ei g h t-ho u r time limi t to complete th e three loo p s. As was th e Natio na l event, th e World ro u nd was hosted by Central Arizo na T rial s, Inc. .Fo llowing the fir st of three fo ur-mile loop s, which to o k th e rider s almost five ho u rs to co m p le te, T arres held a fourpoint lead over h is nearest riva l, Ba sis, 9-5. Tarres cleaned all but the sixth sectio n, when h is Du cados Cigarette/ Coca Co la-back ed Beta clipped a ribbon m ar king th e co urse through the section , wh ich co u n ts as a n a u to ma tic five-p o in t dab. The n ext cl os est after the first loop was Fantic 307 rider M iglio, who card ed a 15. Migl io was follo wed by Am os Bilboa wi th 17, Fr enchma n Bru n o Ca mozzi with 18, an d Ahvala wi th 19. T arres was, again, th e class of th e 30-pl us rid er field in the seco nd loop, for the fo rmer Bicycl e Tria ls Wo rld Champion bett ered h is firs t lo o p score by o ne point for a combi ned to ta l of nine. Basis a lso impro ved h is score by sp lit in half, while Manniko in jured h is foot. "I think I .sp ra in ed so me of th e liga m ents in my foo t, I ca n' t w a lk on it at all right now ," said Ma nniko follo wing th e even t. " I was doing o ne, bu t was 18 po ints beh in d Tarres head in g in to the th ird a nd fin al loo p . Ahvala too k sa le co n trol o f th ird pl ace by ma rching Ba sis' secon d loo p sco re o f eig lu . w hi le Miglio d ro p ped to fourth w ith a nother 15-point loo p. In th e deciding final loop, T arres again tangled with ribbons in th e sa me sec tio n that he had previousl y, a n d he ended u p d ro p p ing a total o f 10 p o in ts in th e lo o p , making h is fina l points score a 19. Ba sis put together h is bes t ride of th e day in th e third loop , unl ike T arres who had h is worst, an d dropped just two points. T his ga ve Ba sis a to tal o f 19 poi nts, tyi ng Tarres. Si nce Tarr es had cleaned more sections than Ba si s, he was awarded his 13t h consecutive victo ry. Ahvala matched Ba sis' scores in both th e second and third loop s and locked up third overal l. After carding a 17 a nd a 2 1 in the firs t two loop s, Bil bao collected a lo w seve n in th e th ird loop (p lu s o ne la te-p o int pen alty) for fo urth o verall. A full -h ouse o f 15s, incl uding two p enalty points, gave Miglio fift h . " I felt good in th e first loo p , but th e heat of the su n bothered m e a littl e in the second loop," sa id Tarres. " I di dn't like th e way some of th e ribb ons were a ttache d 10 th e b us hes , beca us e if you h it a bran ch, it wo u ld break th e tape. " Two-time AMA /NATC Na tional O b se rv ed Tri a ls Ch am p io n R yan you ng and Manniko were expected to be th e to p American fin is hers in th e Wo rl d round, bu t neither ri de rs made it th rough th e fir st loop. Yo ung had th e sile ncer o n his Beta pretty good u p u ntil th e last sect io n o n th e first loo p . f just p u t my foot down wron g; I d idn 't cra sh or an yth in g. H opefull y I'll be ready for th e nex t Na tional in Pen nsylvan ia a t th e en d o f May." t:l\' Results MIC I. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Jordi T arres Diego Basis Tommi Ahvala Amos Bilhao Donato Miglio Bruno Camoui 7. Thiem Girard 8. Philippe Berlatier 9. 10. II. 12. 13. SteveSaunders Robert Crawford Lluis Gallaeh Gabino Renales Daniel Crosset 1-1. Pascal Couturier 15. Peler Jahn Spain Italy Finland Spain Italy France France France Great Britain Crear Britain Spain Spain Belgium France Finland Beta Aprilia Aprilia Famie Famie Famie Momesa Beta Beta Beta Cas-Cas Montesa Aprilia Bela Bela LOOP = I 5 9 19 Ii IS 18 24 29 24 39 41 32 42 3i 41 2 4 3 10 8 2 2 8 21 15 16 16 21 24 32 30 30 26 33 32 i 15 Ii 14 18 21 29 30 44 44 45 41 Penalty o o o I 2 I o o o o TOTAL 19 = 19 29 46 = 47 52 54 = 68 69 = 100 106 107 lOi = 118 119 5 I 5 35 (The abovereceive World Championship points) 16. Andreu Codina (G·G) Spain 132; Ii . Javier Puig (Bel) Spain 158; 18. Melcior Estorch (Mec) 164 ; 19. j ean-Luc Nictou (Bel) France 196; 20. Olivier Marechal (Mon) B elgium 222; 21. Michael Guns (Fan) Canada 2~4 ; 22. Tom Fan (Hon) Canada 228; 23. Ron C ornmo (Bel) USA 233; 24. Geoff Aaron (Apr) USA 235; 25. Brian Nagengast (Apr) USA 238; 26. Cezar Ramos (Bel) Chile 238; 27. Ryan Young (Bel) USA DNF; 28. Mark Manniko (Fan) USA DN F; 29. Andreu Codina (G·G) Spain DNF; 30. Gilles Ciarnin, France, DNF; 31. Michel Renard (Bel) Belgium DNF; 32. Marc Tessier (Bel) France DNF; 33. Christian Zarau (Fan) Spain DNF; 34. SteveClark (Fan) USA DNF. Point Standings I. J ordi Ta ms (60); 2. Diego Basis (51); 3. Tommi Ahvala (45); 4. Donato Miglio (37); 5. (T IE) Philippe Berlatierl Amos Bilbao (29); 7. Robert Crawford (24); 8. (T IE) Bruno Camozzi/Steve Saunders (22); 10. Pascal Couturier (16). 11

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