Sunday at the VCGP is very different than Saturday.

VIRGINIA CITY (May 1): The Virginia City Grand Prix has a split personality even though it’s still a test for any rider and their machine. On Saturday the pros, experts and amateurs race; it’s a day for the fast movers.

Sunday is quite different. Although the race is still a race the groups include novice racers, women and some of them are veterans, as well as the older bikes, bombers and vintage.

At the end of his first lap Myles Friesen heads for the pits. He would finish first overall on Sunday.

Taking first overall was Myles Friesen from Gardnerville, Nevada. He charged to the front from the 40th row to claim the top prize.

Asked about the race he said, “Great, always great, every year is great and it always gets better. And I want to thank my parents, Testa Motorsports, the WSRA Club as well as all my friends that have my back.

On this day the time difference is key. With every row starting 10 seconds ahead of the next one if a rider can close the gap to the first row they can win the race even if they don’t reach the checkered flag first.

Jesse Melendy was second overall in Sunday’s race.

Friesen, who also won the Novice 250cc class, started in the 40th row and finished with a corrected time of 3:28:28.089 while second place Jesse Melendy came from the 13th row but had a slower 3:32:30:057 time. Sunday’s race places a premium on a rider’s ability and stamina to go as close to full out as they can.

The first 67 riders, out of the 434 entered did four laps while the rest did three or less laps.

Randy Wood rode his Bomber to third place on Sunday.

Third overall was Randy Wood riding a Bomber, who started in the second row.

“It was fun, fast but the course is starting to get choppy and I did four laps,” he said. “I need to thank Team Bog, Tank Slappers and my pit crew.”

Next in line was Chris Loer, who started in the first row and finished fourth overall. He won the Masters class, the 60+ age group.

“It was fun, the course started getting really rough the last lap though,” he said. “Very slippery, dusty, started out tacky and perfect. But it was a blast, I’m glad it was only four laps, one more and I don’t think I could do it.”

Then he thanked everyone that helped him and dedicated his race to his brother Mike, who can no longer ride due to medical problems.

Brandon Castro got the one minute head start on Sunday.

Once again there were two head start positions auctioned off. Brandon Castro, who finished 107th over all got the one-minute advantage.

Nichole Collins from Jackson, California actually lives in Reno and is a senior at UNR. The race was two weeks before graduation and her supporters bought her a three-minute head start.

Riding a 250cc machine she made the best of it and finished 23rd over all and won the Women’s class by less than a minute over Sammy Edwards.

Nichole Collins heads for the pits at the end of her first lap. In the auction for a head start she got the three minute jump on the field.

“One of the best VC courses ever and the head start helped a lot, I didn’t even get to hit too many lappers, which is nice but it was nice having it to myself for a little bit,” Collins said after reaching the finish. “I don’t think I could handle a 450 just because they have a lot more power but I like my 250 as it’s light enough to be able to throw it around a little bit.”

Then she thanked her Poppa, parents and all her pit crew, who allowed her to do what she did on this day. She also has two finals to take the next day.

There are many emotions and attachments to this event. Some have ridden for decades while others are new but for a few it is an emotional thing.

Last year there was a cloud over the event when Robin Schmidt lost his life during the race. This year his daughter Katie Szymkiewicz raced Sunday to honor his memory.

Starting numbers are usually assigned from early entries or when a riders signs up. However the Virginia City Motorcycle Club gave Szymkiewicz the #1 plate so she could start her race on the front row.

It was an emotional race for her but she did three laps and ended up 264th.

After the race she said, “It was awesome, a little tough and I’m really tired now but I’m really glad I did it as it was so cool. Got some tears here especially when I went past the site down there.”

Katie Szmykiewicz heads out for another lap. She rode to honor her father Robin that lost his life at the race last year.

Right after she finished her family and crew showed up and sprayed her with Champagne. It was an upbeat way to end the race.

After an emotion ride to honor her late father Katie Szymkiewicz got sprayed with champagne to celebrate her finishing the race.

For the past 44 years Bob “Motomouth,” Cavakis has been the primary announcer at the VCGP. This year a rider decided to give him a special honor, by using his name.

During the race Motomouth was a bit confused when his name kept coming up. Little did he know what was going on.

Ted Elswick, a 60-year old, rode a 1974 CR250 Husqvarna in the Vintage Class and used Moto’s name.

Ted Elswick, rode but used the name of long time announcer bob Cavakis. He was honoring “Motomouth,” who lost his mother two weeks prior to the race.

“Bob’s been here for a long time but never raced and I wanted him to have a trophy especially since he lost his mother two weeks ago,” Elswick said.

Not only did he finish the race, using the 13-mile long Vintage course, but won the Vintage class.

“There were some spots that were really super slippery so you get behind somebody and they just trash you,” he said. “They have no respect for an old bike. I’ve been racing this for 32-years and have to thank my wife, pit crew and Tom Muto who loaned me the bike.”

One rider set a record that will probably never be equaled and one he probably wished had never set.

Early in the race a crew started asking if anyone had seen David Gilchrist, a rider from Sonora, California. Well this went on until the final group of sweep riders found him broken down by the trail.

Seems his clutch lever had broken and left his bike stranded. With some wire it was rigged to work again the sweeps escorted him to the finish line.

The jury rigged clutch lever that allowed David Gilchrist to complete a lap and be classed as a finisher.

At the finish line Gilchrist said, “I don’t believe it.”

After over five hours David Gilchrist finally reached the finish line and probably set the record for the longest time to make one lap.

And his record for a single lap is five hours and 14 minutes on the 25.5 mile circuit.

In an event like this there were some riders that went down and this reporter only heard about one being transported to Reno. However I believe that rider was found to be all right and released.

Now the Comstock is quite again but next year those that will race on Sunday will again answer the siren call of the Virginia City Grand Prix and the area will echo with the sounds of racing motorcycles.

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RESULTS*

45TH Annual Virginia City Grand Prix

Sunday, May 1

+ Overall: 1. Myles Friesen, 2. Jesse Melendy, 3. Randy Wood, 4. Chris Loer, 5. Drew Seitz, 6. Robert Callahan, 7.  Jeremy Rosenbach, 8. Carl Williams, 9. John Hoveman, 10. Sterling Fernandez, 11. Nick Jergens, 12. Greg Fawcett,      13. Kenneth Benson, 14. Robert Brumit, 15. Tim Hardy, 16. Dave Herman Jr., 17. Nick Risner, 18. Sean Rhodes, 19. Kevin Mundt, 20. Dustin Burrell, 21. Jeremy Zimmerman, 22. Andrew Candia, 23. Nicole Collins, 24. Josh Day, 25. Brad Bower, 26. Sammy Edwards, 27. Tyler Sanders, 28. Craig Dieterich,  29. Ryan Findley, 30. Thomas Cline, 31. Justin Ison, 32. Patrick Moreland, 33. Andrew Robinson, 34. Trent Dietz, 35. Brandon Lewis, 36. Kole Orth, 37. Rich Gresham, 38. Todd Hook, 39. Jerry Hemley, 40. Jake Joslin, 41. William Tummers, 42. Joshua Paloma, 43. Dustin Vance, 44. Felix Osorio, 45. Michael Shoda, 46. Kevin Knutson, 47. Jimmy Dominguez, 48. Mike Molyneaux, 49. Tom    Evans, 50. Jodi Shumate.

+ Classes:

Ultra Master: 1. Bill Craig.

Masters: 1. Chris Loer, 2. Brad Clark, 3. Scott McKay, 4. “Artichoke” Joe Di Vecchio, 5. Pete Prichard, 6. Larry Cunnally, 7. Larry Willens, 8. Mark Lane, 9. Chuch Nerviani, 10. Russ Greenfield, 11. Carl Walsh, 12. John Larkins, 13. Bill Wagoner.

Bomber: 1. Randy Wood, 2. Robert Brumit, 3. Sean Rhodes, 4. Nick Palladino, 5. Bert Elworthy, 6. Frank Vasicek, 7. Craig Milligan, 8. David Walden, 9. James Duane, 10. Sean Vassar, 11. Doug Nushart, 12. Zac Fitch.

Vintage: 1. Bob Covakis, 2. Michael Dixon, 3. Scott Chapman, 4. Mitch Kabacinski.

Women: 1. Nichole Collins, 2. Sammy Edwards, 3. Jodi Shumate, 4. Katie Pond, 5. Chrystal Ponsock, 6. Brianna Vinsonhale, 7. Paisley Ornellas, 8. Cassidy Ornellas, 9. Jolene Harsch, 10. Taylor Rasmussen, 11. Christina Courtney,    12. Katherine Wriggles, 13. Katie Szymkiewicz, 14. Emily Summers, 15. Tristin Parrish, 16. Chelsea Burns, 17. Alyson Borawski, 18. Laura Montiel, 19. Suzanne Andersen, 20. Denise Schwarts.

50+ Nov.: 1. Rich Gresham, 2. Todd Hook, 3. Jerry Hernley, 4. Bill Peterson, 5. Richard Urbancic, 6. Roger Lindsey, 7. Scott Jones, 8. Brian LaBelle, 9. Donnie Bajurin, 10. Brad Moore, 11. Mike Schultz, 12. Rodney Schilling, 13. David Risner, 14. Steve McDermed, 15. Jeff Hofmann, 16. Thomas Beard, 17. David Braga, 18. Ron Rodgers, 19. George Edwards,

40+ Nov.: 1. Drew Seitz, 2. Kenneth Benson, 3. Brad Bower, 4. Patrick Moreland, 5. Kevin Knutson, 6. Jimmy Dominguez, 7. Mike Molyneux, 8. Robert Boyd, 9. Mark Pearce, 10. Ben Steele, 11. Dave Klingman, 12. Brian Johnson, 13. Nick Dragovich, 14. Joe Breed, 15. Sean Anderson, 16. Robert Callahan Jr., 17. Jason Rasmussen, 18. Richard Sommer, 19. Bruce Sanders, 20. Jared Harmon.

30+ Nov.: 1. Jesse Melendy, 2. Jeremy Rosenbach, 3. Carl Williams, 4. Dave Herman Jr., 5. Kevin Mundt, 6. Andrew Candia, 7. Josh Day, 8. Craig      Dieterich, 9. Ryan Findley, 10. Joshua Paloma, 11. Felix Osorio, 12. Isaac      Johnson, 13. Doug Evans, 14. Jason Lee, 15. John Schneck, 16. David Maynard, 17. Devin Bragg, 18. Joshua Lundquist, 19. Gerrit Henningsen, 20. Sonny Taylor.

Open Novice: 1. Robert Callahan, 2. John Hoveman, 3. Nick Jergens, 4. Tim Hardy, 5. Jeremy Zimmerman, 6. Thomas Cline, 7. Justin Ison, 8. Andrew Robinson, 9. Trent Dietz, 10. Brandon Lewis, 11. Jake Joslin, 12. William Tummers, 13. Tom Evans, 14. Colton Scudder, 15. Finn Orwig, 16. Troy Thomas, 17. Ryan Endres, 18. Robert Cantrell, 19. Bryce Hipkiss, 20. Alex Toler.

125cc Novice: 1. Kole Orth, 2. Alex Carpineta, 3. Kyle Willens, 4. Bryan Whitehead, 5. Jeffrey Baugh, 6. Nickolas Borst, 7. Jose Razo, 8. Tyson Rasmussen, 9. Michael Carpendea, 10. Josh Dufresne, 11. Austin Sanguinett, 12. Joseph Yokoi, 13. Gage Drum, 14. Nicoli Flynn, 15. Cody Flynn.

250cc Novice: 1. Myles Friesen, 2. Sterling Fernandez, 3. Greg Fawcett, 4. Nick Risner, 5. Dustin Burrell, 6. Tyler Sanders, 7. Dustin Vance, 8. Michael Shoda, 9. Nathan Hall, 10. Mason Sanchez, 11. Matthew Schmit, 12. Chris      Bairmas, 13. Kenneth Wright, 14. Shane Brumit, 15. Jonathan Tashiro, 16. Charles Jones, 17. Christopher Dixon, 18. Ricky Gresham, 19. Nick Tibma, 20. Tom Young.

* – Partial results, full results will be posted to www.vcmc.org.

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