Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

29t h A nnua l N MA W o rl d Min i G r and P r ix (Abov el The starting gate was always f illed to capacity. (L eftl Billy La ninovlch won the 250cc Modified Intermediate class. (Be low l Co lton Ba iley took top honors In t h e Pe e Wee 50cc Stock (7 -81 c lass. he stays foc used in class. I k now his teacher says he's focused a lot, Ten-year -old Ben Evans, from Boise. Idaho, was the recip ient 9f the inaug ural Cycle News Brass Brain Award, which was presented to him and I think that' s really important. at the Worl d Minis . . " On th e trac k , he gets good st arts." Evans senior sa id . "T hat com es from conce ntration and being focused. The other good thin g Th e Brass Brain A ward recogn izes the importance ofa good education as weli as talent on the track . The winne r is' chosen by using a . that [being sm art does] for m otocross is to [help yo u] mem orize the tra ck . If you have a brai n, you can think about where the lines are, "highly sophisticated" and "scientific" points formula that co m bines a rider's grad e-point .average with his/her clas s finish/finishes, with and he's good at that. heavy em phasis on the rider 's GPA_ Evans came to the World Mini s "I also thi nk that being sm art.gives off a good image , and sp0'lsors with a 4 .0 grade-point average and signed up to do battle in the lik e that - they [educated racers] are well-rounded . Als o, any professional athlete that is lacking in the brain department or cuts himself Junior Cycl e 60cc Stock and Modified (9 -11 ) classes. After going 6 -6 short in school is asking for troubl e; after his sports day s are over , and transferring to the run-offs inthe Modified cla ss, Eva ns was also he'II have a hard time. So it' s a good idea to have som e upstairs all set to transfer in the St ock class after finis hing fifth in the fir st m ota. But while running in sixth place in the second mote, Evans said speed as well as throttle speed." • Of course Ben wouldn't be smart if he didn't thank his' sponsors: . . he was "T-boned by another rider" and was knoc ked back to 25th Carls' Cy cle Sales, Westem Power, PBI Sprockets, Fly , O'Nea l and place. Needless to say, he did not transfer, In the Modified final , Evans Tu ning by Travis (Ben's brother's business) . . finished 16th. "I' m very proud of him ,"" said Mr. Evans, a fourth -grad er, atte nds Cole Valley Christ ian Sch ool in Boise, and when he 's not hitting th e Evans as they were loading up their tra iler fo r t he lo ng dr i ve back to books, you usually can find him out riding one of his Ida ho. " Ben 's got so me hom ework Kawasaki KX60s. to do in the truc k." . " I' ve probably been rid ing m ot orcycles for four years," Evans said. "We had a ranch, and my two For more information about how brothers start ed trail ridi ng, then got interested in racto qualify for the Brass Brain Aw ard at future races, see "In Th e Wind " on ing, and that' s how I got into it. l'hey got my dad to page 2. buy me one." ,o7 Th is Is Evans' third .tirne competing at the Wor ld Minis. His first ride nette d him fifth overall in his class, .but las t year, he wasn 't as successful and was quick '. la point out,that, ' ''My ;dad didn:t tig hten my bolts to 'm y silencer in the main and , it fell off. I started drop" p ing back , and that wasn 't very g-ood _" Shame on dad. ~, . . ;.. ~.:.ot?~ ~'

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