Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

(Left) Joan Pons made It a Gas-Gas sweep by finish ing second overall. (Right) No, Tomml Ahvala isn't levitating. Despite this mishap , the former World Champion finished third. (Below)Marc Colomer dropped further off the championship pace with a sixth-place finish. this happens, d read ed "late points" are ,accumulated and added to precious low .scores. Spectators were treated to audibly shrill w histles blown by checkin g staff to warn riders at the various minute intervals. Rider coaches, known as mind ers, we re also acutely aware of the time limitations, and in some cases verbally hurried their riders along. In spite of the length of the sections, which were generally laid out at the maximum length allowed, the re lative ease of the sections - at least for the visit ing Europeans - ':'lade for no worries about bottlenecks or close time management. Section one was a relatively simple affair, highlighted by a short, loose and rocky climb that claimed many a dab from the U.S . riders. Crowd favorite Lonny Hallsted of Po rtland, Oregon: was the first American to make the climb, b u t fived th" section when his Martin Belair-sponsored Mon tesa hung up on a large granite outcropping. All of the European Wor ld riders cleaned the ' section, which was a crowd favorite, being closest to the pit area. Section three featured a number of technical turns and climbs, again amongst intimidating granite slabs, but ended in an incredibly difficult section that allowed riders to take a variety of lines. World Champion Tarres hopped and skipped his factory mount up the chute, s traddled a six-foot gap, arid leap-frogged up to the exit. Top Japanese rider Takumi Narita - dubbed Speed Racer for his lean, aggressive style and calm demeano r - showed a flash of brillia nce in lin e se lect io n tha t was quite d ifferent from the Spaniard. Narita, the only Jap ane se rid er on the World circuit, picked his way carefully and deliberately through the chute w ith the sa m e result: a clean ride. Perhaps the most visu ally stunning of the sections was the famous Otis Eleva tor section eight. Long a favorite at Donner, "Otis" features repeated steep climbing, then descending, hence the name. Interestingly, U.S. Fantic impor ter Bob Miller noted that at the 1982 Do n n e r World round, only two com petitors were able to com plete Otis Elevator withou t a score of five. Those riders were then-curre nt champion Eddy Lejeune of Belgium, and American 1979 Wo rld Champ Bernie Schreiber of La Crescenta , California. In the 199 4 edition, with 1994 technology and skills, every rider in the field a t least made it through the entire section, with every World Championship rider cleaning it. How times change. . Sections 10 and 11 featured eno rmous climbs on sticky Do n ner gra nite, forcing riders to make 's harp tu rns and jump vast gaps, sometimes four feet across, perhaps six feet in the air. After the first loop, Tarres noted that: "Riding on these rocks is deceiving because the tremendous grip allows for good rides, but can also make small mistakes into big mistakes when trying to correct the mis take ." The first lap ended with Tarres tied at six points wit h Spanish wunderkind Joan Pons . In his third World championship season, Pons has matured into a steady , aggressive rider, certainly cap able of accumulating top world po ints, Fonner World Champion Ahvala carded a third place fo r t he lap w ith a n eight-point tally. Touted as a future World Champion, Marc Colomer, mounted on a Beta Techno, had been tied at six points with Tarres and Pons going into the last section - a straight-forward rock garden highlighted by a climb over a four-foot diameter log - but the pressure of performa nce under daun ti ng conditio ns overcame the Beta rider..The Spaniard slipped on a lar ge granite platform, fell and accrued a five. Angered by his failure, Colomer, shouting ob sce nities in Spanish, gunned his bike off the section into a crowd of spectators lined up three deep. Narrowly avoiding the gathered masses, Colomer raced off in a rag e to the pits, to collect himself. A reprimand fro m the FIM jury settled down the young rider, who was in some jeopardy of being chased and possibly assaulted by a few of the hooligans angered by his show of poor sportsmans hip . First American honors fell to Geoff Aaron of Connecticu t, moun ted on a Cos mopoli tan Motors Beta, with a firstday score of 39, followed closely by 1993 National High School Ch ampion Jess Kempkes of Nebraska. The eno rmo us difference in score between the Americans a nd the World Championship riders reflects a tremendous gap in ability and seriousness with which the sport is approached. By and large, the Eu ropean riders, and Japan's Narita, are full-time trials riders, while Americans ride tria ls as a hobby or leisure activi ty. Aaron is a full-time college s tuden t; We b b a diesel mecha nic. Sunday saw a carbon copy of Satu rday's event, with Tarres car ding repeated low scores; Pons and Ahvala in pursuit. The organi zing club, Pacific International Trials Socie ty (PITS), had announced tha t riders wo uld be allowed only one coach, or minder. All riders abided by this ru le, though Tarres had an entourage of minders d isgu ised as event s taff. He enjoyed a total of four minders on Saturday, and am ongst them was his brother. The PITS club made stringen t effort s to correct th is on Sunday in an effort to ma intain fairness among the compe titors . With or without his excess crew of minders, Tarres proceeded to sp ank his competition with a display of balance and technique that far surpassed h is competitors. When all was said and done, Tarres stood atop the field with a -21

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