Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Bernie Schreiber earned two wins in the Montana Nationals. AMA/NA TC Observed Trials Series: Rounds 3-4 Schreiber's Big Sky sweep By Len Weed Photo by N. E. Wicker Results BOZEMAN, MT, J ULY 3 It really is true. The sky is bigger in Montana. But a week after Donner's World/National round, the rocks were a lot smaller. The Bridger Bow I Ski Area, 15 miles north of Bozeman, was the site of Montana's first Na tional tri al. The Southwestern Montana Trials Association organized 10 the even t. The 16-member club was formally put together after Montana . received two nationals last December. Club board members Jeff Boyle, Eric Raecke, Ken Schwartz, and Ken Poelman coordinated event organization. Lynn Moore served as Clerk of the Course. Round three of the ser ies dr ew 109 entries from 25 states plus two exh ibition riders. Lisa Jones of England, a Scottish Six Da ys finisher, rode Sportsman. Her score would have placed her seventh in the clas s. Alan Lindsay of Ireland, visiting Bultaco International in Virginia, tackled the Championship sections. A late snow season did hamper the organizers. The parking lot was under four feet of snow as late as Memorial Da y weekend. The slopes were still being skiied two weeks before the trial date. The course and section markers weren 't placed until less tha n 48 hours before first -rider-out. Sev- Schreib er ro de the event w it h stock Michelin rubber. This fo llowed rider complaints a t Donner (by co m pe titors who finished more th an 100 points behind Bern ie). Curre nt NATC r u les s pe ci fy stoc k t ir es w hi le Sch reiber has access to several prototype co m po un ds. Bernie won with co nsisten t loop scores. His 2-3-2 da y all owed h im to overt ake Stites (2-1-6) on th e fin al loop. Stites' one was best for the second loop. Canadian Bill Sparks turned in the best third loop score - a one . T wo fives in his first six sections, one of th em a support secti on, saddled Sparks with a 12-point first loo p . H e finished th e da y in third wit h 15 points (12-2-1). St eve McN eal edged Canadian Champion Stan Bak gaard for fou rt h on clea ns. Kavan augh , the series point leader going in , too k sixth . Defending U.S. Champion Curt Comer , Jr. fin ishe d seventh. Kei th Ada ms bested Da ve P yl e o n clea ns for eigh th. Dwain e Walters took 10th, edgi ng Bob Mic ket, Jr. on clea ns. Sti tes' second moved him into th e p oints lead, 31-30 over Sch reiber (two wins in two starts). Kavan augh upped h is total to 27, fo llowed by Sparks (18), Co mer (16), and McNeal (15): Mike West, the 14-year-old so n of Fa ntic im p orter Chuck West, topped the H igh School class . Mi ke's 23 was the best support score o f the da y. Freddy Steele (class winner in Florida) was secon d wh ile Vance Walker (winner in California) was th ird. Ca na di an Peter Wille p u t toge ther a 12-p oint victory ma rgin in Sportsman wit h a 24, th e second best su pport score of th e da y. T h ree p oints separated five riders beh ind Pete: Dave T u bbs (36), Ron Commo, Jr. (37), Clive Belvoir (38), Bob Clark (39), a nd Kevin Cullen (39). The Sen ior class saw Colorado's Gu y Bodin p ost hi s seco nd straight win wi th a 26. Wiltz Wagner 's 28 ga ve hi m h is second straig h t seco nd. Bud Mylerberg ta bbed a 29. In Super Senio r, defendingchamp io n Bob Micket , Sr. took th e victory, topping Donner winner Don Wilcox by three points. Bill T hom pson was third . era l NAT e ' reps, arriving early to ins pect the sections, p itched in wi th input and manpower. T he coursemakers produced a 4.2 mile loop through grassy meadows and hill y for ests wi th snow-capped mo untain s as a backdrop. The Champi onshi p class tackl ed 17sections. The su p port classes rode 13. Five hours proved ample to complete three loops. The sect ions were decidely " English" - mostly stra igh t-on seco nd gear stream beds and wet, sloppy rock climbs. First loop ra infall added to the " English" feel until the sun broke through for th e remainder of th e afternoon. As might be expected, most su pport riders had a fu n da y, but the top Championship guys found the da y much too eas y with too few chances to display th eir magic moves. It was a da y in which one five co u ld drop a rider fro m first to third. Bernie Schrei ber , wh o wo n th e NorCal Natio nal th e precedi ng wee k by a 78 po int margin over Morgan Kavana ugh , came up with a twopoint sq ueake r over Jack St ites. winner o f th e open in g ro u nd in Florid a. CHAMP IONSHIP: 1. Bern ie Schre iber (SW M) 7; 2. Jack Stites (Fan) 9; 3. Bill Sparks (SW MI1 5; 4 . Stev e M cNeal (Fan) 16; 5. Stan Bakgaard (Mon) 16; 6. Morgan Kavanaugh (Bul) 19; 7. Curt Comer (Mon) 25 ; B. Keith Adams (SWM) 27; 9. Dave Pyle (SW M) 27; 10. Dwa ine Wa lte rs (ltj) 2B; 11. Bob M icket. Jr. (Bul) 2B; 12. Dan Sutf in (SW MI 29; 13. Dale Dore as (Bu l) 3 1; 14. Rich Hilbun (SW M) 33 ; 15. Dale Higgenboth am (SW M) 33 ; 16. Kip Webb (Bul) 36; 17. Vince Sandmeyer 39 ; l B. Brad Skree n (M on) 40 . SPORTSMAN : 1. Peter Wi lle (Yam) 24; 2. Dave Tubbs 36; 3. Ron Commo , Jr . 3 7; 4. Clive Belvoir (Bul) 3B; 5 . Bob Clark (SW M) 39; 6. Kevin Cullen (Bul) 39 ; 7. Tom Young (Mon) 49 ; B. Ted Feland (Bul) 5 1; 9. Van ce Lael (Kaw) 55 ; t o. Steve Oerhle (SW M) 56 . HIGH SCHOOL: 1. M ike We st (Fan) 23 ; 2. Fred Steele (Fan) 36 ; 3 . Vance Walker (SW M ) 3B; 4 . Dean W right (Mon) 49 ; 5. Andy Saum (SWM) 50 ; 6. Dean Dorcas {Bull 52 . SENIOR: 1. Guy Bodin (SWM ) 26 ; 2. Wiltz Wagner (M on) 2B; 3 . Bud Mylerberg (Bu l) 29; 4. Bill de Garis (M on) 37; 5 . Dave Russell (Fan) 3B; 6. John Husmann (Mon) 42 ; 7. Chuck Withrow (SWM) 44 ; B. Carl Peters (Bul) 46 ; 9. Glen McNeal (Fan) 46 ; 10 . Ken Marecak (Bul) 49 . SUPER SENIOR: 1. Bob Micket, Sr. (Bul ) 49 ; 2. Don W ilcox (SWM) 52; 3 . Bill Thompson (Yam) 65 ; 4. Curt Comer, Sr. (Mon) 73 ; 5. Bill Davey (Bul) 73 ; 6. Art Webster (SWM ) 90 . Rou nd /our WHITEFISH , MT, J ULY 5 " Clean the fish. " That's what the finisher stickers said. " Five the fish " would have been more appropriate. Round four prod uced the highest point-taker in series h istory. The tr ial site, about 30 miles so u th of th e Canadian border a nd just west of th e Gl acier National Pa rk , too k the com petitors about 300 miles nort h west of Bozeman. Bernie Schreiber dropped 144 ma rkers, nine more than at Donner. Morg a n Kavanaugh fin ish ed second wi th 186. T hey were the on ly riders to fin ish unde; 200. Both Bernie' and Morgan, who has ridden seven of th e nine world rounds this year, praised the sec tio ns. for th eir world class quality. Kavanaugh , who also finished second to Schreib er a t the super-tough Donner National, said, " T h is would have been a grea t world round, but I do have to feel sorry for the support riders." The Bultaco-sponsored Colorado rider recei ved his firs t overseas experience earl ier th is year in Spain, assisted by NATC raffle funds. He returned to ride France, Germany, Italy and Austria. In Ital y he was one of just 38 finishers from a mo ng over 100 starters . H is best placings were a 16th in Canada and an 18th a t the Donner U. S. trial. Morgan 's conce rn for the support rid ers was well-founded. Even though they rode just 12 of 20 sections, th e rain-slicken ed jagged rocks and log sections prod uced th e toughest support trial in series history . At m an y sections rider s were deciding wh ether to mak e a n attempt rathe r than wha t line to tak e. H igh Sch ool class win ner Vance Walker (SWM) had one 'two on hi s first loo p . H e finis hed th e day wit h 123 poi nts (no cleans, four ones) in 36 rid es to lead a ll support riders. The win was the seco nd in three sta rts for the 15-year-old Oregon rider. Onl y eig ht support rid ers finished the day with less tha n 140 points. The maximu m possi ble (fivi n g every section) was 180. Jack Sti tes, ru n ne r-u p in Bozeman a nd fourth at Whitefish, enjoyed the trial but commented, " It was probabl y too h ard for 99% of the riders and dangerous for about 50%. If we have too many lik e th is, we'll lose riders." Schreiber , who moved into the series point lead with his third straight victory, commented, " I felt today was a real European-type trial. They could put on a great world round here. As far as the sections go, an Am erican r ider cou ld h av e saved himself a thousand dollars by riding this instead of flying to Europe. The wet sections here probabl y ga ve Am erican riders more expe rience for Europe than Donner. Donner was dry which is what everyone expects of Am erican trials." Bernie added, " Don ner, as far as organization, secti ons, ever ything, was the best world round of the year." After th e tria l Bernie put on one of the protot ype compou nd tir es he runs in Europe to practi ce severa l sections. H e reported a bo u t a 50% improvement in tractio n (an d safety). H e th en added that curren t regulat ions requiring p roduct ion-onl y tires ca n only delay prototype development that will ma ke the "tric k" com p ou nds available for all riders. Th e organizing cl u b , GaTE (G lacier Obs erved Trials Enthusiasts), obviously su cceeded in putting on the all-time killer trial. According to the club's NATC rep, Rich Hilbun (wh o finished ninth in Championship), " T h e guys wanted a hard one and they got it ." GaTE was instrumental in bringing national trials to Montana. Hilbun and Vince Sandmeyer have been riding nationals since 1977. In requesting two nationals last December GaTE hoped to make Montana more aware of motorcycle trials. They were also hoping the nationals would bring out the small cluster of trials riders scattered across the 500-mile wide state. Club president Marshall Jones, past president Dean Peterson, Sandmeyer a nd H ilbun coordin a ted the trial. Peterson a n d Bill Fredenberg served as jo int Cl erk s of th e Co urse. G aTE 's five mile loop thro u gh heavy forest across fro m the Point o f Rocks post-competition banq uet site,

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