Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141044
Will Marland Whaley Get the Trials Number One Plate? '" 8, '" .... C> e, M b y Christopher Ostind IRVI NE, CA L .. J an . 28 , 19 73 Marl and Whaley is ob vious ly very det ermined t o show the ske p tics th at h is ph en omen al fini sh es durin g t he las t th ree mo nths of 19 72 were n o t flu ke perform ances. If toda y's Plon kers-sp on sor ed English Trials is any in dication of wh at is to come, it wi ll take some sort of su per rider to keep him fro m wi nn in g the Number On e p lat e. There were, an d still are, a fe w wh o do n ot wan t to give th e yo un g Ca lifornia Sta te Ch amp the credit that he is due b u t th at's like sitting on a M .ci ., u. 3@ w Z W ...J U > U railro ad trac k w ith a train approaching and tellin g yo ursel f th at it isn 't reall y th ere . You can on ly let yo ur gogg les ge t so dirty be fore y o u have to cle an th em an d see what is reall y go ing d own. Whaley's total for the day was a well-controlled 28 points with 10 cleans. Finishin g second was Mark Eggar with a 3 1 b u t his t otal included 13 cleanly ridden sections. It's quite obvious th a t these two guys have he en doin g a lot o f practi ce over the past six w eek s an d the co nce rted effort ha s paid off. Marland's Montesa includes all so rt s o f nicely machin ed c us tom p arts co urtesy o f his talen ted d ad while Mar k's Ossa MAR sports th e "n o fro nt fen de r look" which was so p opular at EI Trial d e Espan a becau se of th e mud. Marl and an d Mark are both con sistently at th e t op o f th e stand ings in prac ticall y eve ry t rial th ey ride. Third pl ace rid er was Martin Belair wh o chal ke d up a total of 5 0 on his Monresa. Ri ght behind him was George Sm ith III o n hi s 35 0 Buhaco wit h a 5 I. Cho os ing to sit thi s o ne o ut was SCTA N o. 1 Richard Bledsoe. Ri ch appare n tly is su ffe ring fro m sic kness and th ou ght it wi ser to st ay in San Diego th an hassle a trip to Saddle back . I h op e h e recover s su fficien tly to co mpe te in th e n ext event as the co lorful Mr. Bled soe is an ess en t ial part of an y Southern California trial. Besides, it's fun to w atch him ride. The tri al was well laid out and the secti on s were plann ed with the rider's capabilities in mind. One Master section was especially fine as the start led in to a very narrow gulch with near vertical walls sev erely limiting the path th at yo u co uld travel. The bottom of the ravine was s trewn with boulders an d three foot sheer ro ck shelves that eve n had a nice growth of moss on the m to keep yo u hones. Th e riders th at went to Spain last yea r co m me n te d that it (t he sec tion) was very much lik e th e type o f sec tio ns t hat ha ve t o b e n egotiated in Intern at ion al competition except th e ones in Europ e are mu ch lon ger. The Novice sec tio ns were laid ou t with th e "first timer" in mind and conseq ue n tly were quite easy fo r th e better Novice rid ers . This resulted in a four sec tion ride-o ff at th e en d of th e trial for nineteen top riders, non e of whom had more than on e point aga inst th em for th e entire day . Since th e rest of the competition was alre ady finish ed, almost everybody at the trial was grouped ar ound th e specially laid o u t sections t o che er for thei r favorites , Scott Parke r on a Cotton p icked up 12 points t o edge out Debbie Evans on her Oss a MA R in the overtime action by tw o slim poin ts. T his whole group of riders will be m o ved u p to the Am ateu r Divis io n for the nex t trial. T he sections w ill be tougher and t he co mpe tit io n stiffer, but nobody can take away th e memory of zero in g that trial. T he diff icult "Master's Section" SOrted them out. F BST ME, FIRST PLACE. is absorbing A merica! -AND SECOND AND THIRD· 9O-Day Unconditional Guarantee - . .. 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