Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

·DIRTTRACK Engines Only Barn Burner Series (Left) John Hlebo III (5) leads Paul Iwanaga (53) and the rest of the eight-rider Formula 100 Pro main event during the Bam Burner Series opener at the santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Hlebo went on to take the win while Iwanaga slipped to third behind Mike Kunsman (4). (Below) Ronnie Dominguez carried off some hardware after winning the Pee Wee Novice feature. (Above) Just like the pros: Jesse Venkol (90) and Chris Canepa (38) staged the dice of doom for (0-16) Junior class supremacy. Canepa stuffs!! his way past. Vankol st the finish line for the win In the closest race of the night. (Bel_) Racing In the barn Is Intensely ttght, as this photo Illustrates. By Scott Rousseau and Shawna Nelson Photos by Flat Trak Fotos \0 0\ 0\ T'""'i -..D l-< OJ "S OJ 6 z 32 SAN JOSE, CA, OCT. 19 ruise down Tully Road on the outskirts of San Jose, California, and you might hear it. Listen closely and it's possible that you could detect a short-burst, ascending and descending drone emanating from one of the many barns on. the property of the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds. Something on the order of sheep on steroids, perhaps? They're not sheep, but they are on steroids. The noise comes from a number of pumped-up XR100s, circling what could be the world's smallest dirt track oval, in the Engines Only Barn Burner Series. Frank Nye of Engines Only is not only the title sponsor and the tuning guru to most of the field present at anyone of the Barn Burner races, he is also the organizer for the series, which is in its third year on the dwarfed tenth-mile located inside a bam at the fairgrounds. "The first ones actually came around years ago through (former San Jose Mile promoter) Harold Murrell," Nye says. "It was just a friendly deal, and it died out. Then two years ago, Harold approached me and said, 'Hey, what do you think about doing another barn race?' "We looked at the building where they used to have them, and then we looked at the new ~uilding. I told them how to lay it out, and away we went." According to Nye, the inaugural Barn Burner event drew 50 riders, but word of the series spread quickly and the field swelled. By the third race, there were over 150 riders in attendance. That's no surprise to Nye, who maintains that the San Jose area is rife with hard-core dirt trackers, most of whom spent their lives growing up around the San Jose Mile. "This area needs a race track really bad," Nye says. "This is close, and the timing is everything. Nothing else is going on. Now (fall to early winter) is the time to do it." Nye also attributes the tremendous participation to the machinery itself. The vast majority of the field is mounted on the Honda XR100 in various states of tune, though other brands are allowed under the rules. The event is basically a minicycle race, featuring stock and modified divisions. "The bike has to be manufactured as a four-stroke minicycle, which allows Suzuki DRs, Honda XR 80s and 100s," Nye says. "In the Modified classes, we allow tran,splanting the engine to other frames, but it has to be a minicycle frame. You have to use the original head, cylinder and cases. Other than that it's pretty much a run-what-ya-brung deal." Nye himself has been the pioneer of . engine development for the Barn Burner bikes. His 120cc kits are practically the standard in the series' Modified categories, and many racers have stretched their engines to the 150cc class limit. Nye says that he never wanted to see the engines get that big, but in the tight confines of the barn, all of the trickery in the world doesn't seem to·matter. "At some of the other places we run, like Glen Helen or Lodi, it matters," Nye says. "Here I can just slow the track down. It's still a rider thing. If you've got a 120, you're right in the hunt. If you're good enough, you can get out there on a stocker and win it." And you'd better be good enough to survive in the barn, which offers some of the most intense, handlebar-tohandlebar action found in motorcycle racing. That action was well illustrated at the 1996 series opener, which drew a modest 60 riders, something Nye attributed to the numerous other racing events that were taking place in the area on the San Jose Mile weekend. "We had a vintage motocross race, a sprint car race and the mile," Nye said without worry. "Next week it will be a lot bigger." Even so, the Over 16 Expert Modified race, the main event of the night, was a hotly contested affair. The riders were "bid upon" in the traditional manner by the 300 spectators who filled the stands in the barn, with the total purse then being split between the winning rider and the fan who bid the highest for him. Local expert John Hlebo III was the man on the pole as the 20-lap Formula 100cc Pro main event readied at the starting line, and HJebo was the first man to the turn as the eight-rider field blasted off the line. Though he would lead every lap, HJebo had his hands full with fellow Northern California expert Paul Iwana- gao The Japanese rider was attempting to make ·the outside line work against the pole-putting Hlebo, and his desperation

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