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Matt Silva, 9 years old, won the Youth
Novice class during AHRMA National Trial
action in Hollister Hills, California. It was
Silva's first-e ver trial.
By Kyle Myers
A
MAlAHRMA Speed &Sport National Vintage
T Series
rials
'The good
old days
By Darlene Williams
HOLLISTER, CA, OCT. 17
labama' s Cu rt Comer showed the
winning form that took him to an
AMA Na tio na l ti tl e in th e ea rly
'80s as he po st ed the low tot a l for th e
d ay a t th e Sta rman Mo to rs por ts-promoted AH RMA Speed & Sport Vintage
N ation al Trials Series round at Cali fornia' s Hollister Hills SVRA.
Saturda y' s "T rad i tio na l Observed
Trial s " even t w as p art of th e ei ghth
a nn ua l Sa nta Clara Rid ers Unli mited
Vintage Motorcycl e Classic, and drew
more tha n 80 en tries - a great turnou t
for a vin tage trial.
The tria l took place on the "Up per
Ra nch," with the sign- u p overlooking
the famous GP motocross track, where
Sunday' s motocross action wou ld take
pla ce. A total of 10 sections were located
along a loop behind the motocross track ,
consis ting of existing roads, narrow goat
trails, brushy descents, powdery climbs
and sandy-ereek side pa ths , all winding
through the pa rk's Upper Ranch area.
"We have at least three miles of loop
trail connecting the 10 sections, believe
it or not, " said trial master Mike Fenn er.
"We have wound up and down all the
hills here, befo re we bring you back to
th e check -in. But to keep it easier and
safer for the four-l ine rid ers, w e will
hold them to the fir st seven sections.
This ar ea is also us ed bv the fou r-w heel
drives, so unfortunatelv there are a few
dusty spots this late in the se~son."
Actu ally, the silty sections, while deep
in powder, were mercifu lly brief. To
combat dust, the water tru cks were busy
on the pa rk roa d s and pit a reas . The
Parks Service Rang er s extended th eir
efforts even further and totally did righ t
by the trials riders, wit h an added bonus:
They dumped a few thousand gallons of
water down the creek, making the several sections in and around the creek bed
damp and really nice . The sections all
fea tu red clever and d escr iptive names
A
such as " Poiso n Circle ," "Fa ult Line "
and "C reek Crawl" that kept the smile
factor high. Another smile producer was
the fact tha t the park officials decla red
the trials loo p a "Closed-Course Even t,"
allowing an opportunity for the nongreen-stickered vintage motorcycles to
use the park's facilities.
Overall and Classic Expert-elass wi nner Co mer made a few min or bobbles
on the dema nd ing one line du rin g the
firs t loo p, d roppin g five po ints to trail
Modern Classic Expe rt Steve Muscatell's
two points in th e early goi ng . Modern
Cla ssic Exper t Joh n Moore an d Twin
Shock Expert Jim Win ter were also in
t he hunt fo r th e tri a l w in with eight
poin ts each after the first loop.
Co mer came in wi th a clea n secondloop score card , as di d Moore, but Mu sca tell stayed in first with just a sing le
po int d ropped . Jim Wint er fell out of the
running for the overall with a di sastrou s
14-point loop . Winter redeemed himself
and his trusty Reflex with a great final
loop, dropping only four points to ho ld
first in his class wi th a 26-point total.
Comer was flaw less again on th e
fina l loop, posting a final tall y of five
points and mathemat ically eliminating
Moo re from an y trial overall possibility.
Mu scatell was leading at this po int with
on ly three points total, but a few slips
la te in the trial led to a four-point third
loop, assuring Comer of vict ory. Muscatell's seven-point total score was still
good for first in th e Mod ern Cl as si c
Expert division as well as second overall
behind Comer. Moore dropped fi ve
points on the final circuit to post a 13p oint total for seco nd in th e Mod ern
Classi c and third overall.
"Yea h, I had a little trouble on that
first loop, but I pulled it together a nd
won the trial," said Comer.
Come r al so raced th e MX and w as
among those honored on Sunday during
a sp ecia l "Ga thering o f th e Leg ends"
half-t ime present ation .
Th e Youth No vice class sa w th e
d ebut of 9-y ear-old Mall Silva, wh o
rod e his Yamaha TY80 with determinat ion in h is first-ev er AHRMA tri al.
Silva's 11 cleans and 30 total po int s wo n
his class, and the tiny rider' s fine form
a ttracted a lot of a tten tion - including
that of tria l win n er Come r, wh o
watched the eve nt' s you ngest competi- .
to r tackle se vera l sections. La ter , the
cha m p a nd th e kid w er e introdu ced ,
and Com er expressed praise and words
of encou rageme nt for Silva.
In the You th Inte rmediate class, Max
Halsbary earned firs t place with a ride
tha t improved ' wi th each loop, resul ting
in 20 sections clean ed and a grea t final
score of 23.
Fi rst-t ime AH RMA tria ler Kevi n
O'Neal was a qu ick stu dy: He won the
Beginner class wit h a low 10-point total
on the fou r line.
Premier Heavyweig ht Expert Pa ul
Olliges had a great .trial , with 25 cleans
ou t of a possible 30. Olliges' seven-point
to ta l eas ily u nd ercut second -p laced
Der ek Belvoir's 15 points.
In the Premier Heavyweigh t Intermed iate class, fan favorite Dick Mann won
with 12 points total an d 23 traps cleaned .
The fo r mer A MA G ra n d N a tio na l
Ch ampion was at his best form on th e
second loop, where he committed but a
single d ab. Don Richardson im proved
with each loop , but he had to settle for
second place, with 44 total point s.
The largest class of all was the Modem Classic Novice, and the compe tition
was corres pond ingly close. Only three
poi nts separa ted the top five riders after
three loops, a nd low sco res were th e
norm as th e tal en ted rid ers made the
difficult sections look easy . W hen the
sco res were coun ted, Rand all Ressell
a nd Kevin Kelley were tied with th ree
points apiece. Both riders had 27 cleans
each, so ones were compared next, giving Ressellthe nod, thanks to his superior one-o ne-one lap sco res for the three
lo ops. Third place went to Curtis
Fou rnier, who also cleaned 27 traps .
Rick Wh eeler and Jan et Borg rounded
out the top five riders in this class.
C:-i
Hollist er Hills SVRA
Hollister, California
Res ults: October 17, 1998
O /A : 1. Cu rt Comer; 2. Ste ve Mu scat ell : 3. Joh n
Moore.
BEG : 1. Kev in O ' N e al ; 2. Jo h n Silva ; 3. Stev e
wheeler .
CLSSC NOV: 1. William Con ne r.
CLSSC EX: 1. Cu rt Comer .
MORN CLSSC NOV: 1. Randall Ressell: 2. Kev in
Kelley: 3. Cu rt is Fou rnier; 4. Rick wheeler: 5. [anet Borg .
MORN CL SS C IN T : 1. Robe rt Bu sh ; 2. Da vid
Boyds tu n. 3. Scott Cha p m an: 4. Doyl e Coo k.
MDRN C LS S C EX: 1. S tev e Mu sca tell : 2. Joh n
Moure; 3. Jeff Neff.
RICID EX: 1. Mil" renner .
SCL SHOCK EX: J. C h r is Na pol ta no : 2 . Do n
Hal sba ry.
TW S HOCK INT: 1. Robert Miller.
TW S HOCK EX: 1.]im Winter .
YTH NOV: 1. Matt Silva .
YTH INT: 1. Ma x Ha lsba ry.
PR EM HIM NOV: 1. Da n Wilson.
PREM HIW INT: 1. Dick Ma nn : 2. Dun Richardson .
PREM HIW EX: 1. Pa ul O lliges: 2. [Nrt'lc Belvoi r.
PR EM UW NOV: 1. Don Kelley; 2. Bruce Stevens.
PREM UW INT : 1. wayn e Su m mer .
I'REM UW EX: 1. Ken Dod ge .
SR: 1. Den n is Thompson; 2. Harold Heitmiller.
GAINESVILLE, FL. OCT. 25
T he sixt h a nd fin al ro u nd of the Un limited
Spo rts Florid a Gold Cu p Se ri e s w as he ld a t
Gat orback Cvcle Park, where more tha n 400 riders from se ven s tates co m pe ted and Team Gree n
m in i p ilo t Ja m es St ewart p osted a fo u r-m ote
sweep to win the highly contes ted SOcc 02-13)
and Supermini d ivision s.
Whe n the gat e d roppe for the firs t Superd
mini mote, Bryan Johnso n led the 28-ride r field
in to tu r n o ne , w ith Pa u l Perebijnos , Donny
McGou rty , Shane Lusk and Jesse Richard s giving cha se . Ste wa rt sta rted sixth but mad e his
way to the front by th e comp letion of lap on e.
McGourt y set hi s s ig h ts on Pereb ijnos a n d
slip ped by to move into thi rd , bu t a few tur ns
late r, McGour ty fell, handing the posit ion back
to Perebijnos. McGourty quickly rem ounted , but
no t before Chad Ward got by. Ste vcart, on his
Fox/Oakley / FMF mac hin e, pulled out 10 a sixsecond lead, whi ch he held on to unti l the finis h.
Johnson, Perebijnos, Ward and McGourty filled
out the top five positions.
Johnson once aga in blasted out of the gate to
start moto two, with McGourty, Ward, Drew Kain
and Perebijnos eating his roos t. Stewart ran 5CV enth but quickly moved up in to th e runner-up
position while Johnson led the opening lap. On lap
two, Stewart overtook Johnso n in the S tum to lake
over the point position. Ward then took a soil sample. as Perebijnos raced by. Stewart continued to
lead while Lusk motored by Kain for fifth on the
last lap. Stewart flew across the finis h line, with
Johnson, McGourty, Perebijnos and Lusk in tow.
Stewart later returned to top both motos in the
80 02-13) class over Ho nda rider Lusk, who went
2-2, and Richard s, who put together a 3-3 tally.
Kyle Farnell topped two classes on the day,
as he won the 125cc Youth and 125cc B divisions
o n his RM. Farn ell posted 2-1 sco re to w in the
rare over Ryan Davis, who had a 3-1 tally for the
runner-up spot. Farnell the n swept both 125cc B
mo tos ove r Matt Johnso n, who wa s seco nd overall via a 2-2 sco re.
Th e surp rise win of the weekend cam e in the
250cc Pro class, as Ronnie Re nner used a 1-2
tally to score the wi n over Nationa l rider An thony Pocorobba an d Jason Thoma s. Ren ner led the
fi rst m oto wire to w ire o ve r Th om a s, Tyson
Ha dsell and Pocorob ba. Pocarobba fell in th e
fir st turn an d sta rted half a lap down, b ut he
flew thr ou gh the field to finish fou rth. In moto
two, Re nn er led the cha rge, wit h Pocorobba
sta rting aroun d four th aga in . O n lap th ree
Pocoro bba moved in to th e lea d to clai m th e
moto win but finished second overall to Ren ner .
Thomas posted a 2-1 score for third .
Thoma s lat er returned to win both 125 Pro
motos a head of Pocorobba and Renn er . Pocorobba also raced the 12See and 250cc A classes and
wo n both classes to collect Suzuki con tingency
mon ey.
Results
p / W (4--6) 1. [esse Freeman (Cob) ; 2. Mik McArthur (Cob);
:
3. b e Free berg (C o b); ... Tyle r Moore (C o b); 5. Cody Gr av ~
(Cob).
P/W (7-8 ); 1. Ricky Rt'f\1WT (Cobl; 2. Ryan Lawhorn (Cob); 3.
Orland o Hamilton (Cob) ; .. . Co lle n Md yn a rd (Cob) ; 5. Roger
W illiams (Cob) .
Ricky
f10 (1-9): 1. ldk Griffu, (K,aw ); 2.
Rmnt"f (K,aw ); 3. Jon
Camp ( K.aw); 4 . Kyle Keylon ( ! (Suz); " . Kylt- Chi!>hoIm (Kaw ); S. MItt Ikmi (!Caw).
&) 0 2-13); 1. James Stewart (lYIw ); 2. Sha ne Lus l (H on) ; 3.
jesse Rich.trds (Yam ); 4. D.m ny Ju...es (!Caw) ; 5. Ryim Luke ( )(a w) .
80 (14- 15): I. Paul PrTebi jnos (Hon ); 2. CMd Ward (H on) ; 3.
Shdwn M.lyo (H(>J1 4. C . Sco tt PerT)' 5uz); 5. Drew K.in (!