VCGP HISTORY MAKING DAY

 

VIRGINIA CITY (April 26) – After crazy weather on Saturday Mother Nature blessed Sunday’s race with mild, sunny and dry conditions. And that set the stage for a historical day on the Comstock.

 

On Saturday the pros, expert and amateurs race but Sunday is reserved for Novice, Women, Bombers and Vintage Bikes. And at least one hill was eliminated shortening the course from a 25-mile loop to 20-miles.

 

Once again two head start positions were auctioned off to help VC charities. Jakobee Reviglio got the 2-minute head start and came down the hill to the cheers of the crowd.

 

Then last year’s runner up, Brooke Hodges went by with a one-minute head start. After that over 40 rows of riders started in groups of 10 every 15 seconds with a bunch of vintage bikes at the end.

 

This year there was a special course for the vintage bikes and they all had special numbers.

 

When the dust finally settled on the race Hodges made history as the first woman to ever score the overall victory at the event.

 

Then she said, “I’ve done this race once before on Sunday and I took second overall. A pro raced a bomber and beat me then. But today nobody passed me and about mile 2, I passed the guy that stared 2 minutes ahead of me and I actually caught the sweepers that I thought were going out to their position.

 

“They weren’t expecting me and a couple of them held me up and I had to start yelling at them, ‘like I’m racing, out of my way.’ I thought the course was good, it was really fun, my first lap I got to be really smooth and really look for lines cause I knew when I came around lap 2, 3 or 4 there’d be some bottlenecks. I was mostly looking for spots where I thought there would be bottlenecks and lines I could take to make it around there.”

 

And she was right, as there were bottlenecks where riders were stopped waiting for those ahead of them to either go up or downhill and move out of the way.

 

At that time, even though no one had passed her Brad Bower, who started on the first row would have been in the lead on corrected time. Chris Martin and Scott Wilson were second and third.

 

At VC a rider’s corrected time determines their actual finishing position. Since Bower was less than a minute behind Hodges he had the lead on time even though no one ever passed her.

 

Unlike days gone by timing is now by a transponder system and the computer software makes the corrections. Art Verling’s Desert Race Timing Team makes this possible.

 

Lap after lap the riders stormed around the course and many got held up at either one or both of the bottlenecks. And her scouting while racing served Hodges well.

 

“It really worked in my favor because on Lap 2, when I came around there was just a total mess on a hill and I knew if I kept my momentum up I could side hill climb. I just sort of popped my clutch, jumped on the side hill and went by. I think they were pretty impressed as they were all cheering for me,” she said.

 

She added there were a lot of rocks on the course.

 

“I hardly ride any more because I’m a college student and I sure felt it. My arms were really tired but it’s the competitor in me to just dig deep,” she said.

 

While the slower bikes got out of the way she did have some problems dealing with the faster bikes that she was lapping.

 

“I was, you know, polite, I didn’t take anybody off the cliff where I could have,” she said.

 

Hodges, who is now 23, explained she’s been racing since the age of 4 and a few years ago competed at the 6 Days event in Italy. However her focus is graduating from college this year.

 

Going to school cost her a lot of sponsorships but she appreciated Steve Sylvester at 650 Racing for his support as well as that of her parents.

 

At the end Bower pulled off early and that clinched the victory for Hodges. Less than seven minutes behind her Robert Brumit took second while Chris Martin was third.

 

“I got pretty far ahead with that start,” Martin said. “Actually after the second lap it was people after people. I made it through the bottleneck pretty quick. And my mom and dad pitted for me.”

 

His podium finish made Martin, who lives in Dayton, was the highest place local rider.

 

Randy Wood came from the 13th row but made up enough time to claim fourth place. Following him was Scott Wilson, who at one point was third.

 

After taking the checkered Wilson said, “This is my second time and the dirt was prime, nice and wet. They did a great job with the layout, got a little beat up but the blue groove was definitely fun as it felt like I was on asphalt most of the time.”

 

Then he thanked sponsors Roseville Yamaha, Chat at MPC and Ed Macies at Matebo Power Tools.

 

One of the racers was Sherry Blair, she and two others had “pig tails,” on their helmets. But Blair was riding to honor three cancer patients; Brianne True, John Gibson and Jess Rall.

 

This year a new class was added, Vintage bikes and 10 riders showed up. To help them a special course was created so these old bikes didn’t use the full course.

 

While only three lasted to the finish the VCMC is going to try and work with the organization that stages races for these bikes. The aim is to have more next year.

 

Callum Campbell won for the initial outing for this new class. Coming in second was Scott Chapman with Craig Milligan third.

 

Once the checkered waved all the vintage bikes were pulled off and the first one to cross the line was Chapman on a 1974 500cc MX Yamaha, who said, “This thing handles better on a flat that it does with air in the tires. It’s typical vintage as it beats the living daylights out of you with no suspension. And I did the last three laps on a flat tire, which seemed to help.”

 

Attrition is always part of any VCMC and this day was no exception. There were 400 entries to start the day and only 307 riders were qualified as finishers.

 

A rider must complete one lap to be considered a finisher.

 

Now everyone has gone home and the VC Motorcycle Club has cleaned the course so it’s hard to see any evidence there was a race. And very soon the planning for next year’s event will begin.

 

So a year from now motorcycle racers will head for the Comstock and get ready to meet the challenge this race offers. It’s one of the races any rider wants to win.

 

RESULTS*

44th Annual Virginia City Grand Prix – April 25

+Overall: 1. Brooke Hodges, Women, 3:01:13.924, 2. Robert Brumit, Bomber, 3:08:30.918, 3. Chris Martin, Nov. Open, 4. Randy Wood, 5. Scott Wilson, 6. Jesse Melendy, 7. Luke Metcalf, Nov. 250, 8. Ryan Coons, Nov. 30+, 9. Miles      Friesen, 10. Travis Lee, 11. Phil Means, 12. Kent Snyder, 13. Jason Behm, Nov. 40+, 14. Heather Pickering, 15. Dave Dickson, Nov. 50+, 16. Dillon Boyson, 17. Brian Cann, Nov. 125, 18. Jackson Esselman, 19. Rich Hall, 20. John J. Sebangh, 21. Scott Ruthford, 22. Richard Sommer, 23. Rob Baker, 24. Zach Zanter, 25. Steven Leutz, 26. Joshua Paloma, 27. Kodey Orth, 28. Sterling Fernandez, 29. Nick Risner, 30. Wade Goddard

 

+ Ultra Master: 1. William Craig, 2. Steve Campbell, 3. Roy Watson

 

+ Masters: 1. Scott McKay, 2. Tom Burba, 3. Peter Prichard, 4. Brad Clark, 5. John Boyson

 

+Vintage: 1. Callum Campbell, 2. Scott Chapman, 3. Craig Milligan

 

+Bomber: 1. Robert Brumit, 2. Randy Wood, 3. Phil Means, 4. Robe Baker, 5. Glen Pearson

 

+ Nov. 50+: 1. Dave Dickson, 2. Socrates Agravante, 3. David Risner, 4. Ted Elswick, 5. Rich Wilson

 

+Nov. 40+: 1. Jason Behm, 2. Rich Hall, 3. Richard Sommer, 4. Steven Leutz, 5. Steven Wakefield

 

+Nov. 30+: 1. Ryan Coons, 2. Travis Lee, 3. Jackson Esselman, 4. Zach Zanter, 5. Nicolas Simpson

 

+Women: 1. Brooke Hodges, 2. Heather Pickering, 3. Nicole Collins, 4. Katie Andersen, 5. Nicole Sterley

 

+ Nov. 125: 1. Brian Cann, 2. Sterling Ferrandez, 3. Tyson Rasmussen, 4.  Matt Tucker, 5.Derrick Elswick

 

+ Nov. 250: 1. Luke Metcalf, 2. Miles Friesen, 3. Kent Snyder, 4. Dillon Boyson, 5. John J. Sebangh

 

* – For the full results with times, go to www.vcgp.com.

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