Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

H ig h O c t ane " Dunes" F ree s tyle Event off the 7 5-footer, a no -footer off the 65 -foot double and then wheelied up to the gO-fo ot er ( wh ic h m ost of the riders were j ust happy to cl ear) and pu ll ed a hug e Cordova . He followed that w ith va ri o us t ric ks such as a p l etel y s ideways and sw app ed th rou gh the sand all th e way into th e ne xt co m er. Hi s sic kness wo uld ea rn h im fi fth pla ce - and $1 750. J erem y Carter st art ed hi s ru n by throwing a no -footed ca n -can off the 75 -footer, bu t he ca sed it and lo st his m omentum approaching th e 6 5 -foot er . He j um ped the 65-foot er and did an ol d - sc ho o l one - hand e r , a nd h e c ase d tha t j um p to o . His run woul d smooth o ut quite a b it as he m ixed heel -click ers , bar-hops , a ca ndy bar, a Sup erman seat -g ra b and a suici de no -h ander into his run . It wa s eno ugh for third pla ce , and $3000. Adam Pierce he ld the lead in th e event until his fellow Mulisha m ember De egan took to th e track in c lassic ant i -e st ab li sh m ent styl e. W ea ring a Fox T -shirt in p lace of his Shift j er sey, Deegan did in the fin al th e sam e as he did in his hea t: He rod e perfe ctIy . H e made r iding a ro u n d i n t he sup ersoft sand look eas ier th an walk ing in it actually w as. Starting th e run with a Su perman seat -g rab Ind ian air B Y S T EVE Co x P HOT O S BY M A RK K A RIYA ANAHEIM. CA. SEPT. 16 ne of th e most commo n complaints among fr eest y ler s is that i t se em s the bi g g es t and be st - p rom oted e ve nt s a lso see m to b e the most cra mped eve nts . Ma ny fr eeride rs , B r i a n D eegan i nclu de d . h a v e even rece n tly sa t o ut at cer tai n events b e c au se th e y th o ugh t t he j umps were too sma ll and th e arenas were too cr amped . Freeridin g is su p posed to be abo ut freed om , rig ht? In a move that may change th e face of the sport forever. High O ct an e decided that it co uld be possible to b ring a real freerid ing feel to the riders and still sell tickets. It seem ed to work . With a course made entirely of beach -like sand and a paid attendance of about 4500 (a great number of people. unfortunatel y , sn ea k ed in ) . the y m ight hav e accomplished what they set out to . with a $25.000 purse to be distrib uted among the freestylers . to bo ot. A ll th e riders were on pa ddle tires, and all th e successful riders rode 250s. There was only one 125cc rider in th e fi eld . and he did not m ak e the main ev ent. Another nota ble t iddler pilot , J er emy " T w i tc h " Stenberg, de cid ed to sit ou t th e event because th e sand m ad e jumping the obstacles too diffi cult. Th e course c onsisted of a 75 -foot double. a very difficult 65 footer right out of a turn , a gO-footer. whi ch w a s adjacent t o the Seth @ Enslow j um p (See ..B riefl y .. ;" ) . a nd th en a st ep -up that launches th e rid ers out of th e lakebed and onto th e elevated riverbank. Two laps m ad e a run , with no time li mit. By looking at th e track (and it was a tr ack , not a cou rse), it w as pre tty easy to see th at a ll th e rid er s w it h rea l - wo rl d profes si ona l moto c ross experience wou ld ha ve an easier ti me of i t ; a nd th a t sui t ed f o r m e r Los Ange les Super c r oss wi nner Deegan just fi ne . "I was pretty sto ked in the sand ." Deeg an said. " You had to have so m e skill s to j um p thos e jum ps out he re.' A co uple of the riders in the final didn't even make all of the j um ps in their preliminary run. Among those was A dam Pierce. The final would be run in order from last -place qualifier to fi rst . which meant tha t Pierc e had fir st s h o t at t h e fresh ly groomed track . He st art ed off with a recl iner off th e 75 -footer , followed th at with a double Saran Wrap off the diffi cult 65 -footer, and then threw in assorted h eel -cli ck er s. Superman seat grabs and no-footed can-cans , fin ishing his run w ith a no -h an der la nder off of th e h u g e step - up a n d l an di n g in d eep s a n d . He scored an 87.0 for h i s efforts, and tha t would prove ha rd to beat. B illy Walls threw arguably th e most rid iculous trick of th e c ompeti t ion off th e gO -footer when h e att empted a whipped ca twalk . and it almost c o st him . H e l a n d e d co m - cli ffha nge r, a Saran Wrap. and a Hart A tt ack off of th e gO-footer on his sec o nd and fin al lap . It was o bvious that t he m an w ho h as been acc u sed of l acki ng class w as t he cl ass o f th is fiel d of riders . H i s win n ett ed h im $5000 a n d knocked hi s co ho rt Pierce to seco nd and a $4000 pa ycheck - not too ba d for a day's work . esp eci all y c onsid ering that winning a 250cc m ain event in Supercross, in front of as m any as 60 ,000 scream ing fa ns . so met im es on ly pays $5750. eN Santa Ana Riverbed Anaheim. California Results: September 16. 2000 F1NAl: 1. Brien Deegan (9 1.00); 2. Adam Pierce (8 7.00 ) : 3 . Jerem y Carter (86 .75): 4 . Dan Pastor (84 .75 ) : 5 . Bi ll y Wall s ( 84 .25) : 6 . T rev or Vi ne s ( 82 .75): 7 . Kr i s Rourk e ( 82 .00) : 8 . Je ff Willoh (79 .50) . Adam Pierce had a breakthrough at the High Octane event. He qualified eighth out of e i ght f or the fin a l, b ut he h eld the l e ad until his Metal Mulisha t eammate Deegan took t o the track. His second-place .nish earned h im a cool $4000. BRIEFLY Tuf Racin g ' s Jeff Willoh (right) was co mpeting in o ne of his fir st freesty le compe titio ns . Willoh won many main events and fi nished third in point s in the 1999 -2000 Natio nal Ar enacross Series and has long bee n known for his j umping prowess . Al though he was o ne of the most stylish co mpetitors. and even ran the number three on his moto rcyc le 's side plates. his lack of freestyl e tra ining left him plumb out of trick s co me his second lap aro und the co urse . He still made the main . but he fini shed eighth (taking ho me $1 000l. After the co mpeti ti o n wa s ove r. famed crash e r S et h Enslow (le ft) was t o mak e an appearance and jump a 14 5-foot gap from ramp to sand . He made quite an entrance. jumping th e gap rig ht in th e mid dl e of the award s cere mony. which wa s hel d le ss tha n 15 feet away on th e la nd in g ramp adj ac e n t t o hi s - twic e . Enslow 's payday helpe d push the to tal mone y dispersed among the riders to ove r $30.000. T h e Met al Mu lisha is re c ruiting more and more free stylers every day . it seems. New M ulisha members at thi s even t included Adam Pierce and Seth Enslo w . Ev e n t ho u g h the M ul is h a m embers m ay not w in a spe lling bee . they hrushed one -two in the main eve nt and too k hom e a to tal of $900 0 between the two of them . Form er BO ace Doug Parsons showed up at the eve nt riding a Yama ha fo r M etzger M ot orcc spo rts . A lt ho ugh he loo ked good . he lacked t he co ns istency to break into the mai n event . althoug h his 13t h-place finish netted him a co ol $5 00 . The co urs e wa s built by two-t ime 125 cc National M otocro ss Champion Micky Dymond. " It' s as clo se to bring ing the sand dune s to Orange C ounty as yo u can get .· he said of the even t. " Thera's nothi ng to ho ld the part icle s togeth er. Yo u have to use a paddl e tire : the ju mps can only be so steep . so to make it wo rk. you hav e to build a bigger jump with mo re space . Eve ryb ody here see ms to lik e it now , but hated it earlier. I hate it mys elf . but it' s ano the r aven ue that freestyle co uld go . Eve ry state has [a dry riverbed] and there' s be aches all over the co untry. so maybe th er e are new places where motor cycles can be taken . R cue I e n e .... S • O CTO BER 4 , 2 000 31

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