Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126672
Shumate practices refueling prior to the record attempt. To accomplish the refueling, Shumate had to stand on the bike, slow down to match the speed of the team's pickup truck, then grab a hose and attach it to an extension on the gas cap. Shumate had to refuel twice during the 102 miles. Tilson Shumate concentrates as he rounds Ascot's turn four and starts another lap. The belt around Shumate's back helps reduce the strain of hanging onto the handlebars for three hours. Note high-mounted radiator. Wheelie wars:' Part J Shumate .one-whee/s it for 102 miles By David Edwards GARDENA, CA, DEC. 6 Tilson Shumate, a 30-year-old painting contractor from La Mirada, California, wants to give Wheelie King Doug Domokos a onewheeled run for his money. Shumate, who bills himself as the "Wheelie Champion," wheelied around the Ascot Park half-mile oval today for 102 non-stop miles, 6 eclipsing Domokos' old mark of 61 miles. "Domokos is the Wheelie King and I'm the 'Wheelie Champion,' said Shumate before his record attempt. ''I'll compete for that name, I'll accept any challenge. Today, I'm out to prove my name and set a world record." Tilson set his record but it wasn't easy. He was almost 50 miles into his first attempt when the water-cooled engine on his specially prepar~ Ca- giva enduro bike started to overheat. With the front end held high, the fork-mounted radiator wasn't getting enough air flow, despite an al umin urn shroud that was intended to duct cool air to the radiator. Tilson's support crew tried to cool the engine by riding alongside in a pickup truck and blasting the radiator and cylinder with the stream from a fire extinguisher. That procedure helped for a while, but the slow speed required for the fire extinguisher pass and and the fog of cold chemicals around his legs distracted Shumate enough that he let the front wheel drop at 48 miles. Rather than immediately get back on, pn.e. ~A~I. _and start the. ~e.cord Shumate's assitant Carl lucas marks off the laps while Cagiva's Terry Varner and Ascot's Chris Agajanian look on. Ittook three hours 27 minutes. attempt again, Shumate and his crew decided to modify the radiator so it would sit perpendicular to the wind when the bike was in wheeliejX>sition. By discarding the number plate, bending the radiator mounting brackets and adding various sections of tubing, Shumate had a radiator that worked effectively, even it it wasn'tan asthetic triumph. "You're not going to take pictures of it like this, are you?" one of the concerned Cagiva reps said to a photographer as he busily clicked away. Sh umate then set out again for the record. This time he got it, despite not being able to see over the highmounted radiator. The radiator also affected the bike's balance jX>int so much .t1).at Sbu!l!,lte Almost, th,tewJQ.~ the towel after two laps. "I thought I should stop," he said. "But I decided to keep going for a few laps; I didn't want to be a quitter. Then I had too many laps to quit, so I kept going." With darkness rapidly approaching, Ascot oHicials turned on the track lights arid Shumate wheelied on into the night. After reaching the 100-mile mark, he wanted to go for more, but, handicapped by cold hands and a weak battery that stopped spinning the front-wheel gyro motor, Shumate set the front wheel down at 102 miles, a new record. Shumate averaged about 52 seconds a lap during the record-setting run. Shumate may be new to the wheelie-record business, but riding around on. AQG ,'¥hpe\· is. someJhjog lQe