On The Pegs May 2020 - Volume 5 - Issue 5 | Page 84

On The Pegs
84
Oakland, which allowed me to train all day, and work 8 hours at night. This com-
bination of self funding, and the time and enthusiasm to train, was perfect for
improving my performances.
Of course we all would show up first thing Wednesday morning at the motor-
cycle shop to get the latest copy of Cycle News Newspaper, it of course had all
the results of the previous week, and advertised the upcoming events around the
western US. One week I noticed that the Souther California Trials Association was
promoting an event called the El Trial De Espana at Saddleback park in So Cal,
and that the club was sending their best two riders to Spain for the World Round.
I had to go, just to see how I staked up against the SoCal Rider.
I was all trained up, my bike was working well, so I loaded up my Hot Rod brand
new Ford Supervan, with its custom wheels, which was totally tricked out for
cruising, it was about the coolest hauler anybody could have in 1970. Then head-
ed for Saddleback and El Trial # 1, remember this year is # 50, so that’s how long
ago this was.
I traveled alone, nobody else was crazy enough to travel that far to ride a Trial
but me, and I was a man on a mission. Which was to beat the two riders the SCTA
were sending to Europe to represent the USA.
Arriving that night before the Trial, I slept in the driveway going up to the Mo-
torcycle Park in my van, just me and my Motorcycle. Then the next day, I spanked
the top two SoCal riders really good, making me the very first winner of the El
Trial De Espana, that was December 1970. Fred Belair was thrilled, and was out of
his mind happy a Montesa rider showed up out of nowhere and beat the OSSA
and Bultaco rider who they were sending to Spain, I don’t believe I have ever seen
Fred so happy ever.
Winning El Trial # 1 opened the doors of sponsorship for me. Montesa offered
to trade my old bike for a new on for free. But Bultaco contacted my and literally
rolled out the Red Carpet, by offering me free parts, 2 new motorcycles, and $250
for every trial I won, $150 for 2nd and $75 for 3rd, which was good money back
in 1971, considering a new Corvette Stingray was under $4 Grand. Me switching
to Bultaco crushed Fred Belair, and he never forgave me, but Bultaco just gave
me an offer I could not refuse, and remember I really didn’t want to ride Trials,
what I wanted was to go Racing, but this free bike and parts thing was awesome.
I won almost every trial I rode, but I never collected the win money from Bultaco,
because I felt guilty taking money for riding Trials, which I thought was fun, and I
didn’t feel comfortable getting paid to play.
The next cool adventure riding Trials was in Colorado, The Great Victor Trial in