Sept. 17, 1973. This date, 30 years ago today, is an important date in POG history, who knows why?
Paul,
Gotta be that you were doing the six days in Dalton, MA???? And I was a mere mortal watching from the sidelines..... oh well, some people are blessed with all of the talent ....
Following is a quote from the vintage website and the rider list from isdt.org.
1973 International Six Days Trials
"In 1973 United states was determined to give the czech's a fight on home soil and had a bit of success in that effort. The competition was held at Dalton Massachusetts and the US team took the Vase (Junior) trophy. The 1973 Vase riders where Dick Burleson, Malcolm Smith, Ed Schmidt and Ron Bohn. Czechoslovakia won the Trophy as usual despite the seemingly strong US team with names like Tom Penton, Jack Penton, Jeff Penton, Carl Cranke, Dane Leimbach and Bill Uhl that only managed 5'th place overall."
and the riders:
50cc class: No US riders
75cc class: No US riders
100cc class: 16 total riders
5th Bill Uhl(30) Penton Gold medal
9th Dane Leimbach(20) Penton Gold medal
125cc class: 71 total riders
17th Joe Barker(34) Penton Gold
20th Stellan Tingstrom (75) Monark Gold
21st Doug Wilford (67) Penton Gold
23rd Paul Danik (81) Penton Gold
30th Tom Penton(57) Penton Silver
54th Jim Hollander (98) Penton Retired
57th Les Grable(107) Dalesman Retired
175cc class: 54 riders
19th Bren Moran(55) Puch Silver
20th Dick Burleson(125) Husqvarna Silver
29th Jeff Penton(112) Penton Bronze
35th Jim Sparkes(119) Puch Retired
46th Tom Clark(141) Puch Retired
250cc class: 67 riders
8th Carl Cranke(189) Penton Gold
13th Malcolm Smith(168) Husqvarna Gold
17th Charlie Vincent(185) Ossa Gold
22nd Don Cutler (209) Ossa Silver
27th Dave Latham (161) Ossa Silver
32nd Jim Piasecki(200) Husqvarna Bronze
42nd Ken Maahs(207) Husqvarna Bronze
350cc class: 27 riders
6th Jack Penton(240) Penton Gold
12th Ron Bohn(229) Husqvarna Silver
13th Gary Snider(236) Rokon Silver
14th Carl Berggren(225) Lind-Qvarna Bronze
15th Jim Fogle(232) Rokon Bronze
17th Ron LaMastus(223) Rokon Bronze
18th Jim Simmons(244) Rokon Bronze
500cc class: 36 riders
10th Ben Bower(248) Husqvarna Gold
11th Jake Fischer(271) Husqvarna Gold
15th Gary Surdyke(251) Yamaha Bronze
17th Barry Higgins(260) Kawasaki Retired
18th Lars Larsson(255) Kawasaki Retired
22nd Mike Patrick(266) Kawasaki Retired
23rd Eric Jensen(282) Kawasaki Retired
27th Ron Bishop(274) Kawasaki Retired
34th Don Stover(249) Husqvarna Retired
1300cc class: 18 riders
3rd Ed Schmidt(284) Husqvarna Gold
7th Dave Mungenast (299) Triumph 510 Silver
9th Dave Eames(290) Husqvarna Silver
10th John Greenrose(293) Triumph Silver
18th Ken Harvey(287) Triumph Retired
World Trophy Teams: 12 teams
5th: USA-Tom Penton, Jack Penton, Jeff Penton, Carl Cranke, Dane Leimbach,
Bill Uhl.
Silver Vase Teams: 25 teams
1st: USA "A"-Dick Burleson, Malcolm Smith, Ed Schmidt, Ron Bohn
23rd: USA "B"-Tom Clark, Don Stover, Lars Larsson, Jim Hollander
Manufacturers Teams: 50 teams
9th: Husqvarna "A"-Malcolm Smith, Ron Bohn, Ed Schmidt
11th: OSSA USA-Dave Latham, Charlie Vincent, Don Cutler
17th: Penton "A"-Jack Penton, Jeff Penton, Doug Wilford
20th: Rokon USA-Jim Simmons, Gary Snider, Jim Fogle
30th: Penton "B"-Carl Cranke, Tom Penton, Jim Hollander
34th: Triumph USA-Dave Mungenast, Ken Harvey, John Greenrose
46th: Kawasaki USA-Eric Jensen, Ron Bishop, Mike Patrick
Club Teams: 24 teams
6th: Amherst Meadowlarks-Jim Piasecki, Doug Wilford, Paul Danik
7th: Greylock Riders-Jake Fischer, Dave Eames, Carl Berggren
10th: Golden Gators-Ben Bower, Joe Barker, Barry Higgins
11th: Twin City Competition Riders-Stellan Tingstrom, Jim Sparkes, Gary
Surdyke
19th: Lansing Motorcycle Club-Les Grable, Ron LaMastus, Ken Maahs
Interesting side note: In the official program of the 1973 ISDT, Bultaco
observed trials champion Lane Leavitt is listed on the Vase "B" team. Lane
declined to ride the ISDT after Bultaco would not outfit him with a prototype
Frontera (as used by some of the Spanish factory riders) and instead wanted
to mount him aboard a Matador. Lane argued that the Matador would not finish
the six days of riding. He was also contesting the observed trials
championship in 1973 and after declining the Vase ride, went on to capture
the trials championship astride a Sherpa T.
Jim Hollander was drafted to fill Leavitt's spot on the Vase B team.