Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

3 1 st Annua l Ute Cup T ria ls Gas Gasm o unted Mark M a nni ko rode a near-flawl e ss competition in h is f irst event i n almost two years. Norma lly, Manniko w orks as Jess Kempkes' min der during the National ser ie s , which keeps him from competing as much as h e may like, S TO RY AND P HOTO S By S HA N M OO RE/T RIA LS C OMPET IT IO N N EWSPA PER CRIPPLE CREEK, CO, AUG. 19-20 ~ i th th e A MA/ N ATC National ..... Championshi p series complete. the tra v eli ng tria ls c i rc us m o ved t o Colorado fo r t he annual running of the fam ed Ute Cup eve nt. th is year held on Mount Rosa , n ear Crippl e Creek . In 1890, a cowboy nam ed Bob Wo m ack dis covered gold in Pov erty Gu lch. now known as Cripple Creek, which started a gol d rush that cau ght th e attention of th e world. Alth o ugh th e m ines hav e be en dorm an t sinc e 19 62 , wh en th e veins dr ied up , Gas Gas-m ounted Mark Manniko prov ed th at there is still gol d to be ha d in "the m tha r hi ll s" b y clean ing 79 of th e 80 sections an d w inn ing the high -altitude cl assic . "It' s just an ex perience thi ng," M an niko said of th e Rock y Mou ntain T rials A sso cia tion event. " I' ve probably rid den t his th ing 15 times, and it just boil s down to being able to focus on re la t i v el y easy sec t ions for two da ys . I th in k later in m y career I have gotten better at that. I st arted ridi ng eas ier sec t io ns when I dropped back [from the Cha m pio nsh ip cl ass] to the Expert class at the Nati onals and I j ust had to start co nc ent rati ng m ore bec ause the sectio ns weren't as dema nding ." Six -t ime N ati onal Cha m pion Geoff A aron , c o m pe ting in just his second Ute , fin ish ed in th e runn er - up sp o t, with newcomer Wil son Craig of Br it ish Col um bia ro undi ng out the podi um. Now in it s 31 st y ear, the Ute Cup ex pe rience is un ique in th at all of th e competitors (Intermedia te - and Cham pion ship-le vel rid ers alike) compete on the sam e course. Th is yea r's part ici pan ts were given seven hours each day to com p lete t wo laps of t he 20- mile co urse. Starti ng at 10, 0 00 feet, t he lo o p , c o n si st i n g m a i n l y of gn a rl y singl e track, wou nd up and over Moun t Rosa to an altitude of 12, 0 00 feet. T went y sec t ions of In term ed iat e - to E x pe rt level difficulty were set alo ng t he loop, gi ving eac h rid er 80 scored rid es aft er t he two d ay s. Al tho ugh the sect ion s are relativ el y ea sy b y cham p ionshi p sta ndards. th e rigors of t he lo ng loop and high alti tude usua lly account for a fair sha re of poin ts . SATURDAY A t 7 :4 5 a .m .• th e largest Ute Cup turnout ever ( 136 ri de rs) to ok to th e cou rse at o ne- m inu t e in te rvals, with most of t he t op ri ders seeded m id pa ck. On c e away, Mannik o q u ick ly sta rted his move up th rough th e pack with his usual fast pa ce. " I go fa s t b e caus e I ge t into a rhythm , and th e rhythm help s m e keep m y co nce ntra tion up," Manniko said. F o rm e r Pr o m otocrosser D en n i s Sw eet en o pte d fo r a m ore moder at e pace but matched M an niko c lea n for clea n. Ca nadian Ch ampion Ryon Bell used the opposite ap proach, ch oosing to lay back and watch the lines devel op , but he ac hiev ed the same result. A ll th r ee finished with a clea n first loo p. Geoff A aron started off ba dly wh en he took a singl e dab in th e fir st section of the day, a c rook ed cree k sec t ion w ith slipper y ro cks hid ing under th e c urre nt. A ar on sa ved a potential fiv e by dabbing with his k nee to k eep from fall ing . This section also cl aimed a tw o loop wh en he hit a roc k tha t had been m ov ed int o h is li ne . Fac ed with th e poss ib il it y of land in g out of bou nds, Aa ron made a sing le-dab correction to get ba ck on cou rse . After clean in g h i s fi rs t lo op , Be ll again suffe red an unfortunate five, th is time when he bro k e a rib bon in the fir st section of loop two . Bell add ed another point in section 14 to duplicate Saturday's sco re of six . U.S. Montesa rider Craig kept a low profile all weekend and . des pite co mpeti ng in only his first Ute Cup, he rode like a veteran , finis hing Sunday 's event with only two poi nts . His six- poi nt total for the weekend was good enough fo r third overa ll , and proved th at a new comer to the event can do well afte r all. Aa ron co mbined a three- po int to tal on Sat u rd ay with his one o n Sund ay fo r a tot al of fo ur and th e runn er- up position. "We had a grea t time, and obv iously Mark is hard to beat in th is t ype of event ," Aa ro n said of hi s te ammat e. "T he sectio ns are easy, bu t it ' s also easy to make a mistake, so you really have to be foc used to wi n here. I guess we'll h a v e t o come bac k a n d ~ry agai n." Ma nnik o rebounded from his early firs t- loo p po ints to clea n Sunda y's final loop and tak e his fi ft h Ute Cup t itl e. No body else has m o re than th ree win s in th e 31-y ear hist ory of the event. "I had lots of close calls," Manniko said afte r th e win. "Th ere wer e a lot of sc ary m oments whe re I almost put m y foot down , but I strugg led reall y , reall y hard and , in the end , I was able to k eep it clea n . I j ust worked real har d and tried not to m ak e any m ist ake s. After a ll , t hat 's w hat th e Ut e C u p is a ll eN about ." from Gas Gas rider Kem pk es. Aa ron cleaned t h e re st o f the c o u rse for a firs t-loop to t al of o ne . W ilson Cra ig quietly turned in a two and sat in fi fth place. Ke m pk es came next with three. The Ut e Cup jitters ca ug ht up with many on the sec ond go -around, with Kempkes taking three mo re to fi nish the day wi th six . Aa ron had two singlepoint rides in slick sections, finishing with three for the day. Even " Steady" Edd ie Sweeten dropped one point in section 17 after cleaning the extremely difficult number 16. Defending Ute Cup cha mpion Bell's chances of a re peat wi n went out th e window with a five in section 16 whe n he set his front wheel o ut of bo unds while attempting a floating t urn out of the exit. While A merica's eli te t ho ug ht the even t to be rela tively easy, the m asses co ns ide red it t he to ughest Ut e Cup in some time. With few fire roads to rest on , the 20·mile loop req uir ed almost constant standing . However, the Ute is considered America 's ul timate trials tes t of man and machine, and most tou ghed it ou t with a sm ile. A t t he e nd o f d a y o ne, Ma n niko stood atop the sta ndings wi th a clea n ride and Sweet en fo llowed with a one. A aron and Craig came next with three and four po ints, respe ctiv ely , and Bell and K em p k es tied fo r fift h w ith six points each. S UNDAY Ute Cup organizer Cl iff Tucker shuffle d th e start times fo r Sunday's event. and Manni ko was th e second rider to leav e the start . " O n some sec tions [th e early start tim e] was good , and on so me sect ions it wasn't as good ," said Ma nniko whe n as ke d a bo ut the two po ints he t ook early in th e first loo p . " It was super slip pery and I wasn 't warmed up . Wh en I c ame b ac k aro u nd o n the seco nd loop , the sect ion th at I took points on was so mu ch eas ie r bec au se all t he m oss was scru bbed off." Aaron had a better day on Sunday , clea ning the first loop and tak ing a sin gle dab in section three of the second Ute Cup Trials Crip Ie Creek. Colora do Results : August 19-20 , 2000 O/A : I. Mark Manniko (2): 2. Geo Aaron (4): 3. ff Wilson Craig (6); 4. Denni s Sweeten (9) ; 5. Ryon Bell (12): 6. .Jess Kempke. ( 15): 7. Andy Seum (24): 8. Jason Carpenter ( 27 ): 9 . Eric Tid mo re (29 ) ; 10. Derek Martinson (3 t) ; 11. Bruce Carver (3 2); 12. Keith Wineland (34 ): 13. Kevin Busch (38 ); 14. Loy Burnett (4 1) : 15. Mik e Komer ( 42) ; 16. George J . Smit h (44 ) : 17. Jay Terry (44) : 18. Guy Van Geesbeek (44) ; 19. Zack Cleme nt (49); 20 . Adrian Lewi s (54) . BRIEFLY Recently crow ned Nat ional Champion Geoff A aron has ridden an ERE·sponsored 2BOcc Gas Gas in National compet ition all year . but he opted for the higher-displacement 321 model for the Ute Cup . " I think that . for any type of high·altitude event. the 321 is the bike to have. " Aaron said of his bike selection. " It's got more grunt on the low end. It was a blast to ride on these trails and big hills." Some of the riders we re wondering if Mark Manniko' s ridi ng days w e re numbered when he announced that he will be married on September 2 to his fiance . Marcy Merritt. " Neh. " M anniko replied . - Marcy rides. too . She has a 2S0 Gas Gas. and when I go practice . she goes with me. " Each year. the winner of the Ute Cup is awarded a traveling trophy, a silver vase that he is to keep fo r the year. The trophy is retu rned at the nex t yea r's event and th e wi nner's nam e is engraved on to it. Some o f the more no tab le names engraved on the troph y incl ude trials legend Sammy M iller. who won the Cup in 19 73. National Champions Scott Head and Curt Comer are also past w inners . The venue for the Ute Cup is ro tated eac h yea r betw een five different locations: Cri pple Creek. Fairplay. Monarch Pass. San Isabel and Rainbow Trail. Next year's event will be held on the Rainbow Trail. U.S. Scarpa importe r Mike Komer rode the new 2001 -model YS Scarpa. which features a Yamaha engine. in this year' s event. finishing a respectable 15th. The Scarpa has a very tractable power delivery. and Komer made many excellent rides in M ount Ro sa' s slippery creeks. cue I e n e _ S • S EPTEM BER 6 , 2000 53

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