Saturday is when the pros, experts and amateurs race in the Comstock Classic.
VIRGINIA CITY (April 29) – The Virginia City Grand Prix (VCGP) has been held 46 out of last 47 years. Known for being a huge challenge the event brings riders from across the west to the Comstock.
This year, due to the storms in winter, the course was rougher than usual. But to the winner Ty Tremaine it didn’t matter as he put on a charge from start to finish.
Before the race started there were fund raising things to help last year’s champion Tucker Larrieu, who has been a Denver hospital due to suffering a major back injury over a month ago.
Every year two head start positions are auctioned off but this year the #1 was auctioned and those funds will go to the Larrieu family. Also present was Tucker’s father Dave and his girlfriend and they also got contributions from other sources as well.
The lucky rider getting both the #1 and 5-minute head start was Brian Clugage from Silver Springs, Nevada. Numbers 0 and 00 were also auctioned off and those riders got either a 2 minute or 1 minute head start.
Behind them 42 pros were lined up and in back of them just over 500 Expert and Amateur riders were in lines of 10 across. Each line from the Pros to the final one are released 15 seconds apart so a rider’s overall finish is basec on corrected time.
Once the race begins the checkered is waved four hours later, which usually means the leaders are somewhere on the course so won’t arrive at the finish until later.
Up front Tremain who had number 27 had to overcome an 8 minute, 45 second deficit in time. His answer was to start charging from the green.
Ty Tremaine charged from green to checkered and won Saturday’s VCGP.
“It was pretty dusty out there and I knew it was going to be a long four hours so I wanted to try and get out front as soon as I could, ” he said after finishing. “I made some quick work and put on a charge as soon as I could. Then I got into a good position and held it the whole race. I want to wish Tucker Larrieu a good recovery because I know if he had been out here it could have been different.”
He gave special thanks to FMF RPM/KTM Racing Team, and sponsors Carson Motor Sports, Klime Gear, Nature’s Bakery, Motion Pro, CD Boots, Just 1 Helmets and his family.
Before the first lap ended Termaine had an advantage of almost three minutes over second place. At the finish his overall time was 4:07:28:459 while runner up Justin Bonita’s finished with a time of 4:16:40143.
After racing in the east earlier this year and making this year’s ISDE American team it was a great day for this young Nevada racer.
Justin Bonita, who finished second overall, heads off Six Mile Canyon. One of the few paved sections of the course.
When Bonita reached the finish line he said, “Feeling good, it was a good day, the course was dusty and happy with the second place.”
Then he thanked those that were cheering him on, the VC Crew and those that put on the event. He also included sponsors IRC Tires, Bell Helmets, Klime Gear, Monterey Power Sports and of course his parents.
After getting the 5-minute head start Clucage took off but it was a mixed blessing.
“It wasn’t good as I hit about every rock on the course,” he said. “The only reason I went on to finish was for Tucker. And I need to thank my family and the Hills family for their support,” he said.
Brian Clugage heads out after winning the auction for a 5-minute head start.
His run wasn’t the best and he finished 132nd overall.
Reno rider Willy Heiss, who got the “0” number and a two-minute head start ended up 15th overall. However the “00” rider Zack Martinez, even though he got a one-minute head start wound up being listed as a DNF.
Going down the results the highest finishing expert was Austin Tavares. He finished 13th overall, which meant passing a bunch of the pros during the race.
Gabriel Akins was the highest Amateur as he ended up 27th and rides in the 250cc class. The oldest rider with the best finish was Robert Brumit from Portola and he rides in the 50+ Expert class.
All those coming in reported how rough the course was and at the end 168 riders failed to finish the race. Despite many spills thankfully only one rider earned a trip to the hospital.
Although the day started cool it soon warmed up but since its been dry for the past few weeks dust was a problem that most riders just worked their way through.
Now the Comstock is quiet but at the end of next April riders will once again arrive and accept the challenge of riding in the Virginia City Grand Prix.
REPORTER’S NOTE: There is a photo gallery at the end of this article.
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RESULTS*
Virginia City Grand Prix – April 29, 2017
Pro Overall: 1. Ty Tremaine, 2. Justin Bonita, 3. J.T. Baker, 4. Austin Sanguinetti, 5. Jesse Gore, 6. Irving Powers, 7. Brody Honea, 8. C.J. Crandall, 9. Zac Fitch, 10. Davin Hoppin.
Class Winners:
+ Cash (Pro): 1. Ty Tremaine, 2. Justin Bonita, 3. J.T. Baker, 4. Austin Sanguinetti, 5. Jesse Gore, 6. Irving Powers, 7. Brody Honea, 8. C.J. Crandall, 9. Zac Fitch, 10. Deving Hopping.
+ Expert:
– Open:1. Connor Nejedly, 2. John W. Brain, 3. Ross Clark, 4. Eric Hotaling, 5. Nick Gust, 6. Robert Meyer, 7. James Garbo, 8. Eric Loer, 9. Jeremy Coiner, 10. Jesse Cunnally.
— 250cc: 1. Austin Wilson, 2. Dustin McManus, 3. Jason Garbo, 4. Harrison Shannon, 5. James Flynn, 6. Jackson Esselman, 7. Yancy Watson, 8. James Turpin, 9. Wade Lahr, 10. Clayton Lahr.
– 125cc: 1. Kyle Townsend.
– 30+: Austin Tavares, 2. Brian Butler, 3. William Zak, 4. Steve Walkiewicz, 5. Sean Rhodes, 6. Terra Conlon, 7. Josh Klikna, 8. David Kertz, 9. Fredrick Dexter, 10. Justin Beach.
– 40+: 1. Brad Rosbach, 2. Dan Marshall, 3. Randy Wood, 4. Josh Poggi, 5. Travis Shute, 6. Leon Hannum, 7. Leonard Baca, 8. Randy Singer, 9. Chris Young, 10 Alex Lehr.
– 50+: 1. Robert Brumit, 2. Paul Van HOrsen, 3. Mike Sage, 4. Philip Carlin, 5. Kurt Ashley, 6. Jack Roberts, 7. Troy Burchby, 8. Kirk Lovejoy, 9. Mark De Bibo, 10. Michael Dixon.
+ Amateur:
– Open: 1. Jeff Wilson, 2. Weston Furia, 3. John Hoveman, 4. Tyler Thompaon, 5. Skylar Mattison, 6. Kyle Mason, 7. Justin Moyle, 8. Logan Boe, 9. Tyler Seehutter, 10. Kyle Konell.
– 250cc: 1. Gabriel Akins, 2. Taylor Ward, 3. Brandon Stoffel, 4. Colton Ascardiz, 5. Nate Rasmussen, 6. Trevor Delucchi, 7. Drew Optebek, 8. Redmon Herrera, 9. Jordan Rumsey, 10. Mikey Majors.
– 125cc: 1. Alek Simone, 2. Seven Diaz, 3. Kevin Listman, 4. Chase Rychlik, 5. Jacob Graves, 6. Jeremy Metzler, 7. Alex Carpineta.
– 30+: 1. Jeremiah Goulett, 2. Carl Williams, 3. Keith Rose, 4. Ryan McClenahan, 5. Dane Johnson, 6. Wayne Weidemaie, 7. Tom Sheard, 8. Augie Cervantes, 9. Brandon Snow, 10. Matt Malinowski.
– 40+: 1. Jason McCune, 2. Brian Jones, 3. Will Allen, 4. Thomas Lay, 5. Joseph Smith, 6. Jeff Apthorp, 7. Steven Leutz, 8. Matthew Green, 9. Jerry Dimaggio, 10. Paul Bergstrom.
-50+: 1. Steven Trinies, 2. Mike Cullen, 3. Dave Dickson, 4. Gerry Fogel, 5. Andy Webber, 6. John Helmer, 7. Ron Grove, 8. John M. Brain, 9. Rick Gresham, 10. Randy Ditullio.
* – Those wishing to see the full results need to check, www.vcgp.com.
PHOTO GALLERY:
