International Six Days Trial
INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS TRIAL
A Formidable American Entry Grabs Its Share Of The Gold,Silver And Bronze.
AMERICAN RIDERS scored their best showing ever in Europe's most prestigious motorcycle competition event—the International Six Days Trial.
At final tally, when the dust settled and the noise died, Yanks had earned 16 coveted medals: two Gold, nine Silver and five Bronze.
Top honors, however, went to the East German team in a victory somewhat marred by protests and suspicion. In the early stages of the event the Italian team accused the East Germans of chicanery in the backwoods. ISDT rules dictate that a rider must finish the Trial on the same bike he started with. Well, the Italians claimed to have seen an East German rider trade his malfunctioning Simson mount for an identical machine clearly in much finer fettle. All this naturally took place in a rather secluded area removed from the competitive trail. It was theorized that the broken bike was clandestinely repaired while the rider stayed in game, going from checkpoint to checkpoint. Farther down the trail he could once again swap, resuming custody of the legitimate machine, no one the wiser. This year, however, the international jury which rules on such complaints had passed a ruling requiring photographic evidence to accompany accusations. None was forthcoming and the protest was overruled.
The Czechs also unsuccessfully protested the East Germans, claiming a rider illegally accepted spare parts from his pal in the woods
No such complications besmirched the impressive performance of the 23-man American team, a group of singularly talented and dedicated individuals. They were chosen from about 50 applicants who filed for entry with the FIM afiliate here in the U.S., the American Cycling Association. Team members were chosen by a panel on the basis of enduro experience with particular regard to the ISDT itself. Thus were selected such luminaries as Malcolm Smith, winner of Gold and Silver medals in past events; Dave Ekins, another Gold medal winner; Charley Hockderffer, Silver medalist; and John Penton, Leroy Winters and Dave Mungenast, all experienced ISDT competitors. According to Jack Krizman, member of the ACA selecting panel and this year America’s first ISDT international juryman, “We tried to pick out a fair cross section of riders from all parts of the U.S.”
In addition to its 20-man contingent, the U.S. was represented by a special Sachs team comprised of AÍ Baker, Don Rice and Preston Petty, which was sponsored by Sachs dealer-contestant Ted Lapadakis.
However, the U.S. was not represented in all nine displacement categories. Most of our effort was concentrated in the hotly contested 125and 250-cc divisions, while no American riders were entered in the 50-, 75-, 175-, 350-, and 750-cc classes.
Dale Richardson, aboard a 500-cc Triumph, was the only heavyweight ACA entry in the Trial, and the chunky Idaho lumberjack was eliminated on the third day. For each day of the enduro different colored markers were used: red arrows the first day and blue the second. On the third day, Dale had the misfortune to wear yellow tinted goggles; the same color of the signs for that day. Richardson, an excellent rider with no points lost, up until then was qualified for a Gold medal, but as he whizzed past a marker he misinterpreted the direction of the arrow, and got lost.
Tommy Maxwell was also eliminated, but his is a different story. On Tuesday evening the second day of the Trial, Maxwell came in to the final checkpoint more than an hour late, which means automatic disqualification. Tom was unaware of this, however, and the following day began the prescribed the 153-mile Wednesday section. That evening, he checked in several minutes ahead of the deadline. So far, so good, he thought-it wasn’t until Thursday morning that the awful truth was discovered.
Several American team members were mounted on specially set up Sachs, “super Sachs” they were called. But these machines were to prove the undoing of three American riders, and Bob Ewing, Ted Lapadakis and Bob Arison all met with failure on the second day. A heavy rainstorm Monday night saturated the course for events of the following day. And, as fate would have it, the Tuesday course included a long, steep and treacherously mucky hill. So, in the morning as competition got underway, four super Sachs began the trek. But the hill was as far as they got. The highly tuned 125s just didn’t have the low speed torque needed to climb the hill. In fact the only super Sachs to make it to the top was the mount of Charley “Hockie” Hockderffer and he literally carried the bike up the hill.
There were two other American team members who did not finish. John Rice missed a checkpoint and became somewhat disoriented Wednesday morning, disappearing for a short while. He reappeared a little later at another checkpoint and was promptly disqualified. It seems that to show up at the latter checkpoint he had to travel backward over the course, which is against the rules.
Andrew Richman did not actually start. Two days before the meet, while practicing on his Bultaco he fell, injuring his leg too seriously to compete.
Within the American team there was also a sub-team of sorts, Herb Uhl and his 18-year-old son, Bill. Herb and Bill were among the very few contestants to completely prepare their own bikes. Before the competition started, Billy and Herb could be seen in the pit with their 3M, wire and tools busily and meticulously securing their machines against foreseeable contingencies.
A rather fevered exchange took place between Herb and the Metzler tire representatives. Herb had installed rim locks on his wheels, so he could run at low pressures without the tire slipping on the rim. The tire people objected, refusing to mount or inflate his tires because it would take too much valuable time to change a punctured tire. After much shouting and gesticulating, burly, bearded Herb located an air bottle and filled the tires himself.
Later in the week, Billy’s bike turned sick during the road race phase of the ISDT. This takes place on public roads roped off during the racing-between heats they’re open to regular traffic. As they raced across the pavement Herb would ease back on the throttle, letting Billy in close behind to take advantage of the draft. As a fitting climax to the race, father and son crossed the finish line shaking hands. As things turned out, Billy had earned himself a Gold medal, and Dad got a Silver.
The 125 class also brought Silver medals to John Penton, AÍ Baker, Preston Petty, Ron Bohn and Dave Mungenast. Bud Green, Charley Hockderffer and Dave Ekins picked up Bronzes.
Malcolm Smith put on a dazzling performance in the 250 division. He brought his Husky home in 15th overall position for his second Gold medal. This is an excellent placing in the most competitive of classes where the MZ, IZH and Jawa teams are supported not by their factories but by their respective governments. Southern California’s own Mike Patrick won a Silver as did Gerald Pacholke from the East coast. Bob Hicks, affable editor of Cycle Sport magazine, won a Bronze medal on his Ossa and so did David Eames (the Berkshire Two-Day Trials promoter) and Robert Maus.
Leroy Winters, America’s lone representative in the 100-cc class, brought home a Silver medal for his efforts on a Penton.
But the best performances weren’t the exclusive realm of any country or team. Leo Zeller, of Germany, a solid looking fellow in his mid-30s, rode a 250-cc Maico to a Gold Medal win, placing 5th overall-a laudable performance indeed. Leo has only one leg.
There is also the matter of Ed Schmidt. Because of the many applicants to the ACA and the limited number of available positions, many applicants would be passed over, as was Ed. He did not let this deter him as he signed on as a Canadian team member. He rode his MZ to a Silver medal win. [0]
