Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ 0BSERVED TRIALS AHRMA Vintage Trials Series: Round 6 ~ Enough classes were provided that riders could find a category for almost any bike. As is the case with many AHRMA events, bike-watching was an important part of the day. A wide variety of beautifully restored vintage machines were on display. Johnson doubles at Donner By Don Williams NORDEN, CA, AUG. 29 hile the thunder of primeval fourstrokes and the crackle of primitive two-strokes echoed throughout the ancient granite canyons, menacing black clouds reigned thunder and lightening from above before dousing the American Historical Racing Machine Association Vintage Trials Series round at Donner Ski Ranch. Emerging from the elements as Donner's big winner was Derrell Johnson. Riding two vastly different bikes in two concurrently-run classes, Johnson took home to Salt Lake City an unmatched pair of incredible one-ofa-kind trials-sculpture trophies by artist/fellow competitor Ron McCabe. To take the pair of victories, Derrell had to contend with sprinkles followed by a 30-minute downpour and temperatures in the low 60s. W 32 Johnson earned his first win of the day on his 1969 Sammy Miller Bultac() Serpa T in the hotly con" teste1i Mffilern Classic Intermediate class. After Johnson .dropped his foot down only once when it counted on his first trip about the rocky mile10ng/10-section loop, he found hiniself with eight other competitors right on his aluminum rear fender with single-digit totals. Jeramie Tremain's two-point first loop put him in second with John Wheeler and Terry Breitmaier tied for third with three dabs each. Responding to the challenge, Johnson rode every section of the second loop cleanly. With only one loop remaining, Johnson had a solid five point lead over Jon "Dr. Dab" Scudder. Scudder leaped into the number two spot with a two-point second lap while the other riders fumbled. , Johnson was fighting both the stiff competition and the clock. Filling the day's ironman role, he had to finish his three loops on his Modern Classic and then jump on his Triu'mph/ Greeves hybrid Premier Heavyweight for another three circuits before the cut-off time. Rushing through the last loop on his Bultaco, Johnson carded two points, clin~hing his first win of the day as he mounted his self-described "Grumph" to do it all over again. Although Johnson's ride on his Bultaco was uneventful once he got his heavily leaking petcock fixed before' the event started, the Grumph (made up of a 1970 Triumph 500 twin wedged into a 1952 Greeves 250 frame) had some problems. "The coils were weeping fluid, the engine had a power band like a lit pack of firecrackers, the mufflers were going to kiss lots of rocks," Johnson continued, "and the 29-year-old MX-type 'rear tire suddenly seemed very checked and hard." The Grumph looked more like a flat track bike than trials iron with its downswept twin exhausts and bobtail rear fender and seemed to be a good oet to DNF. Johnson opened up an eight-point lead on his opening lap in the Premier Heavyweight Intermediate division and coasted to an easy victory from there. There were some incidents as he lost both his mufflers at the end of the second loop, his Triumph Twin became a Single during the final loop and his rear tire went flat on the eventending section. With all these problems, Johnson carded an incredible two-point final loop for a 25-point total and a II-point margin of victory over a Dick Mannmodified 1955 Matchless-mounted Mike O'Brien. "It really made me feel like someone was on my side," Johnson said after his two wins. He added that at most rides he is slow to warm up and that "if it went five loops I'd win it." This time Johnson got to put in six loops. Finishing third behind Johnson and O'Brien was Fred Mork on a 1957 Royal Enfield. In many ways, the machines, not the riders are the real stars of any vintage trial and Mork's beautiful Royal Enfield was perhaps the most historic bike in attendance. The Royal Enfield is believed to be the former factory works bike that the legendary John Brittain rode to victory in the 1957 Scottish Six Day Trial. Imported into the United States by former Greeves dealer and early American trials enthusiast Frank Conley, it was one of the first purpose-built trials bikes in the country. The Royal Enfield eventually found its way to Mork and was sold with the understanding that it would be used for competition and not stored away for speculation. Nevertheless, one might be tempted to put ~e bike into a hermetically sealed glass case. , It features magnesium crank cases, chrome-moly fork legs, one-off front dampening rods, modified triple clamps, a lightweight roadster-style front hub and many other trick weight· saving touches. At an earlier event Mork broke the oil pump casing and had to do some extensive repair to the magnesium cases. "Anything can be repaired," Mork said. ' "This is the absolute hardest class there is to build a bike for," explained Mork who is also involved in vintage motocross and road racing, "but after the bike is built they're very reliable because you aren't screaming their guts out. " A good example of an "average" Rigid Premier Heavyweight bike was Steve Martin's BSA thumper.

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