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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127547
Scott Head was the runner-up aboard an older, con ven tional-forked Beta Zero.
Kenny Leduc wheelied and hopped his Gas-Gas to a strong fourth -place finish,
America n Trial s Associat ion Champion Tom Hamann lost a tie-breaker for second.
Norto n exp lained. " 1 hit my back
pretty hard an d my knee. They (the
official ob servers ) wouldn 't let me up
so I j us t laid there."
After bein g examined by a paramedi c he was all owed to continue, but
he fived the next sectio n and was
effectively out of co ntent ion .
The final exhibitio n section, sponso red by the Ca lifornia Off- Road
Vehicle Associations, put Manniko in
th e lead for good wh en he o nly footed
twi ce wh ere H ead a nd Ledu c took
threes.
The CO RVA Section featured a rock
laun ch whi ch provid ed H ead an
o p po rt un ity to get so me big air. A
co up le of steps and turns later, th e
riders had to nav igate a right-hand
turn around a bo ulder that ha d a line
approxima tely six in ches wide, with
a five-foo t drop to th e left. No ri ders
fell off the line but dab s were taken
at a step climb topped off by jumbled
boulders g ua rdi ng th e exi t.
Manniko got an unbreakable gras p
o n th e fabulous first place trophy,
donated by Spain 's Solo Moto magazine , wh en he tore throug h the second
exhi bition loop.
Ma nniko dropped o nly one point in
the first four sections com pared to 15
points taken from Leduc and a dozen
d ro pped by H ead .
After pos ting the best first loop
score, Leduc had do ubl ed it o n his
second go-round.
" Loss of conce nt ratio n ," grimaced
Leduc. " I made a cou p le of mi stakes
and it got to me. I had some bad lu ck
and some bad gear choices."
L edu c felt good a bo ut h is
exh ibi tion-opening clea n. " That was
probably th e hot ride of th e da y."
Manniko's las t loop single dab score
o nly made th e fat lad y sing louder and
he cruised to an im pressive win. " I just
calm ed down and took more time,"
Manniko said as he exp lai ned hi s
dramaticall y improving scores. "I
didn't rid e the sections first (on -the
later loops). I wasn't bein g the quinea
pig in the sections."
Meanwhil e, Ham ann rec o vered
from a disastrous start of 16 po in ts on
the opening four sectio ns to stage a
ru n at H ead 's second pl ace spot.
" I was a lill ie tight to begin with
(d ue to the cro wd)," Hamann sa id,
" Bu t I loo sen ed up and rode mo re like
myself...
T railing Head by a point go ing into
the final exh ibi tion loo p, Ham ann
took over second wh en H ead fived th e
AXO Secti on. Hamann scored a two
in the fin al section and appeared to
have sealed up second pl ace when
Head scored a three.
Ho wever, the official observer ruled
a spectator had interfered with H ead
and he was granted a reri de.
Head mad e th e most of the reride
and took o nly o ne dab in the CORVA
Section to put h im self in a tie with
Hamann o n point s. :
Wh en cleans were to talled, Head had
accu mulated o ne mor e tie-breaking
perfect ri de and too k sole possess ion
of the ru nner-up spot.
" I felt kind of bad ab ou t tha t," H ead
said, bu t following a laugh conti nued,
" bu t no t 100 bad ."
Manniko was clearly enthused about
hi s showing aga inst some top cali ber
riders.
"T 'rn reall y exci te d for the
Nat ional s," he sai d with a sm ile. " I
haven 't been th is excited in years."
In th e var ious su p port classes,
Sen ior di vision rider Pete Croft had the
lowest overall Sportsman score. Lon
Brand ri ding a twin-shockCagiva
tu rned in the lo west Intermediate score
and Michael Suzu ki rode hi s Yamaha
to th e low est overa ll Nov ice score as
he won th e Sen ior di visio n.
It was a th ree-way dead hea t in th e
Beginner cla ss when Ron Cavataio,
Ch arl ene La ti mer and Ri ch ard Zin smann all scored only a sing le point.
T h ree o ther riders in th e Sen ior and
Vetera n div isions a lso clocked in onepoint totals.
Scott An na nd and Greg Bush rode
thei r Vintage mac hi nes to a fir st place
tie with two pair of u nblemis hed loop
cards.
Brad Hannon too k th e Kids class,
Dirt Rider magazine 's Mark Kari ya
crushed the rest of the Pr ess class and
Mark Miller wo n th e T rai l Bike
class .
C1'l
Results
C'SHIP: I. Mar k Man niko (Fa n) 20 pts: 2. Scott
Head (B.I) 38/ 10 cleans: 3. Tom H am ann (& ,) 38/
9; 4. K