Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

into the lead , follow ed by Fall b roo k, Ca liforni a's A lex Wood and h is co usin Jimmy Wood. B y the c o m p leti o n of o ne la p Cu mmings wa s a lrea d y six bikelengths "o ut of th e Wood s: Herm an ( t he o nly vintag e b ik e in the field ), who w as ru n n i ng fourth , forced his wa y pa st both Wo od s b y lap t hree to take second . B y lap five Herman had compa n y and was work ing hard to keep hi s Triu mph ahe ad o f Jimmy W oo d, St ev e Mur ray and Paul ey, wh o had all joi ned in t he wa r o ve r s ec ond . M eanwh i l e, b a c k u p fron t , Cumm in g s con t inu ed t o pul l awa y , cl icking off consist ent 23 -sec o nd laps. Herm an, hu gging the po le to pro tect his p ositi on , wo u ld so m et i m es fa ce c halle nges as four rid ers ran sid e by side through the c orn ers. By lap 10 Jimmy Wood was un abl e to m atch W o rld Record L ong .Jum p Capes Hisffs It All at GAM£ LAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 19 y n w o o d , Wash ing t on's Ryan Capes left hom e with one goal in mind: to com e to th e Gr eat Ameri can M otorcycl e Experience at La s Vega s M o t or Sp eedwa y and se t a ne w m ot or c ycl e long j ump world rec ord . He got what he ca me fo r. Capes j um ped 260 feet, breakin g the w orld lo ng jump rec ord o f 2 5 1 f e et s et b a ck i n 19 9 1 at th e Ne w Hampshire Sp e ed w a y i n L oud on , when Doug D an ger jumped ramp to ramp o ve r 4 2 c ars. But unli k e th e p io nee r of thi s da n g erou s sport , Ev el Kn iev el, C apes wou l d us e a specia lly p r ep a r e d Ho nd a CR 250 rather t ha n a Ha rley L Davidson XR750. In th e parking lot area betw een th e drag st rip and d irt track at Las Vegas Motor Sp eedwa y , Capes and hi s c rew erec te d a huge takeoff r am p , w it h a 3 5- foo t- h ig h mound of d irt wit h a lon g back slo pe acting as his land ing ramp . Placed next t o his takeoff ram p wa s a radar sp eed sign mu ch like t he o ne s y ou see o n Am eri c a 's st ree ts dai l y , th e idea bein g that Cape s would be able to gauge his sp eed whil e focu sing on th e ramp rather th an di vert hi s eyes to a sp eed om et er m ounted o n th e han d lebars. At 5 :30 p.m. , C apes took to h i s m ount a nd ma de o nly one sig h t i ng pass. Th e next run at th e ramp was f o r r e a l , a n d Ca pes was ai r borne, mak in g a j arring land ing o n th e dirt GAM E Speedwa y L a s Vega s Motor Speedway B y R YA N E VA N S LAS VEGAS, NV, SEPT. 19 ill y Janniro st ole th e show a nd sco re d an in cr edible victory in t he Scrat ch Ma in at th e GAME eve nt at Las Vegas Motor Sp eed way. Scott Brant jumped into th e lead from gate one at th e st art of th e ma in eve nt, but th e ra ce was halted on th e first l ap wh en And y N orthrup fell in turn fo u r a nd fo rced D uk ie Ermo len k o to la y his machi ne down . N o rth ru p was penali zed 20 yards o n th e resta rt . B Th e sec o n d a tte m p t beg a n t he same way as Br ant got a good sta rt ag ain . Janniro and Ed die Castro bat tl ed for seco nd on th e fi rst lap before J anniro sec u re d t he pla ce and th en went afte r th e leader. Ja nni ro c ut into Brant 's lead a nd m ade h is m o v e at th e end of lap t hree . A s th ey exit ed turn four, J anniro brou g ht th e crowd to its feet wh en he went to th e outs id e and mad e a spe cta cul ar pass as t he vi sion -impaired Herman . Murray ran fift h bu t ran o ut of lu ck on his fina l lap and had to p ull o ut, hand ing fifth to Tula re , Californi a's Mike Vital. rid er s t o ok th e white fl ag . J ann iro pulled away on the fin al lap and was first t o th e checkere d fl ag . Br ant had to settle fo r sec ond , Castr o was t hi rd , E rm ol en k o f i nis he d f o u r t h , an d Northrup was fift h . An all -scr atch for ma t featu red three ro unds of fiv e-man heat s. Th e to p te n scorers tr an sferred to th e t wo semis. Th e t op tw o from eac h semi tran s ferred to th e Sc ratch M ain with th ird and fo u rth trans fe rri ng to the l a st c h anc e q ua l ifi er. T he win ne r of t h e last- ch ance transferred to th e m ain . Round one was full of ca utio us and ap preh e n s i v e rac in g as th e r i d ers found t he t rac k to be ex t remely deep . Ga ry Hi cks began th e ev ening with a win over Randy DiFra ncesco. Ja nniro sho we d no appreh ensi on and blast ed th r ou gh the d irt for a n impre ssive w i n . Erm ol en k o' s st ra tegy of low er gea ri ng paid off as he neg otia ted th e t ra ck with relative ease fo r a v ictory in rac e three . Brant earn ed h is first CN Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada Results : September 20, 200J PRO HALF MIL E: I. Nick Cum m ings (Hen}: 2. Lonnie Pauley (W -R); 3. Ji mmy Wood (Han) ; 4 . Paul Herma n (Tr i) : 5 . Mike Vital ( Ho n) . m ound . O ffic ia ls m easured , and i t Las Vega s Speedway S T O RY A ND PH O T O B y J A M E Y B LU N T ing hi s Hond a to stay in front of th e hi s fastest lap ti me of 22.4 5 fro m hi s heat rac e, and his bike was starting to leak o il. T he n on th e 12th la p Murray 's KTM lost a head gaske t , co ve r ing Her m an w ith c oo lant (a nd so me o i l fr om W o od) , ca us in g a v is io n probl em for Herman . At th e ' wh ite flag Cummings was o n c r u ise co n t ro l an d h ad a full st raig htaway lead . Pau ley had firm ly taken o ve r second, w ith Wood nurs- do us im p act up on land ing but rode awa y from it. was d e t ermin ed C a p e s c a me up short. What to d o? M o v e th e ramp " I feel g reat: Capes said af ter taking th e r e c o r d . " E v e r y t h i n g we nt smooth and went down good. Th is is back furth er and go a litt le fas ter. With out any m ore sig h ti ng run s, C apes simp ly w ent b ack , ga sse d it and hit his ram p agai n . O n ly to co me up sho r t o nce m ore . This p r o c es s rep eated its elf three times . Th en o n th e fifth jump, with th e radar po sting 72 miles per ho ur, Capes we nt for th e d i st a nce o f 260 fe et. Clear ing th e ga p , he again w iths t ood a t reme n - th e furth est tha t I hav e eve r jumped , a nd I am walki ng awa y o n my o wn two legs. " Capes had been sche duled to rac e in t h e Sup erm oto TT ; b u t with th e new world long jump record in hand , he wa s co nte nt to call it a successful wee ke nd. CN Ryan Capes slams back earth after one of his world l o ng jump record attempts at the GAME. The Washington stuntman set a new world record distance of 260 feet from takeoff to l and in g. win over A lan Ch rist i a n t o e nd th e first round . In rou nd two th e track was slightly b ette r , a nd H ic ks began the roun d wi th hi s sec o nd st ra ig ht w in . C astro sco red a w in over Bobby Schwa rtz in ra c e 12 . J ann iro was pe n al ized for c a us i n g a r e st art in r a c e 13 bu t im pressively wo rked his way t hro ug h a nd aro und ri ders and into sec on d . His v aliant effort didn't res u lt in victo ry , as three-t im e N at io na l Cham pi on " 'ike Faria t ook th e w in . B ra nt ma de it tw o wi ns in a row to end th e ro und . A fte r bei ng w ork e d o n se ve ra l t ra ns fe rred t o the m ain . Castro and Er mo lenko fini shed first and second , resp ecti v el y , in t he se cond se m i to t r an sfer to th e mai n . North rup used an o u ts i d e p ass t o s n at c h v i ct o r y from B ryan Yarrow in th e last -ch anc e afte r an excelle n t four - lap b at tl e t o g rab th e final spot in th e m ain . Th e fiv e-rider fie ld for t he Sup po rt M ain Ev en t was co m pletely fi ll ed by rid ers w ho are reg u l ars in N orth ern Cali fo rn ia . Iv an Se va rt jumped in t o t he lead and neve r loo k ed back as he ran away with t he win . Gr eg Sear le fin is hed second , Vi nce Berto lu cci was t hi rd , Ron Woodsford fin ishe d fourth , and Ian Ess ary was fifth . Th e Supp ort B M ain E v ent w a s dom ina te d b y Guy J essup , w ho led all four laps to ge t th e v icto ry . Mit ch Melott was sec o nd , D eW ayn e St ar k fin i sh ed third , and B ill y Sw ai m was wu rth. CN t im es, t he t rack had fi na lly bec om e rela tive ly smooth befor e roun d three. Hi cks began th e fi nal ro und w it h his t hird co nsecutive vi ctory to k eep hi s e ve n i n g p erfec t. Sh a wn M c C onn e ll held off Bryan Yar row fo r t he win in ra ce 22 . Fari a brought his po int tot al to 11 with hi s s econd w in o f th e eve ni ng in t he next ra ce. Janni ro was victo r io us ove r C ast ro i n th e fi na l heat race and fi rm ly esta b lishe d his sta tus as t he c rowd f avorite. Th e fir st sem i beg an w ith Br ant , Ja n ni ro an d F a ria locked in a dog figh t , but J anniro bum ped F ar ia o n t he b ack st ra ig ht, se nd ing him into th e berm o n the out side of the tra ck and c aus ing him to slow dra ma tically and f ad e ba ck t o last. J anniro t hen h eld o f f Brant for th e w i n a s b o th eye I e Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas, Nevada Results : September 19, 200J soeR MAIN : I. Ma rk Ada ms / Jack ie Benne tt ; 2. Mike Gilrno ur/veff Carr; 3. J eff Medberry/J eff Malloy: 4 . Joe J ones/ Br andi McEl roy ; 5 . Sco tt Co le /C hris Sears. S UP B MAI N : I . Guy Jessup (Ja w) ; 2 . Mi t c h M el ott (Ja w); 3. De Way ne Sta rk; 4 , B il l y S wa im (Ja w) SUP CONSOLATION : I. Doug Greyson (GM) : 2. Michael Nov rat il (J aw); 3. Ran dy K rep s (Ja w); 4 . Steve M urra y (J aw); 5. Devin De f'reec e (GM) . SUP MAIN : 1. Iva n Seva rt (Ja w); 2. Greg Searle (Jaw): 3 . Vince Bertolucci (Ja w) : 4 . Ron Wood sfor d (J aw): 5. Ian Ess ary (Jaw) . SCR MAIN : I. Bill y Ja nniro (Ja w); 2. Sco tt B ran t ( GM ) : 3 . Eddi e Cas tro ( GM): 4 . Dukie Er m o len k o (J aw): 5 . Andy Northrup (J aw). n e .... S • O C TO B ER 15, 2003 39

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