Well for reasons i'd rather not get into, I found myself on a plane headed out for the JEEP King of the Mountan finals in Austin, Texas. Luckily, i've got family out here, so i'm visiting them....otherwise this trip would totally suck.
I'm not going to do a complete story (since i might be able to sell it & photos to a magazine), but here are some key notes from the day (since saturday was rained out....& i was still on a plane).
- EVERYONE WAS OVER RACING for 2004!!! (haha... a lot of them were cheering when they crossed the finish line...after losing!! hahaha)
- the day was HOT, MUGGY, HOT, MUGGY, & HOT. shade was sparce & nearly EVERY rider (& myself) found themselves hanging out under the HARO/Adidas EZ-up.
- A stack of riders got sick from mexican food the night before, so the heat & humidity did wonders for them
- the course sucked, as usual, small jumps, lame first corner winner (though there was "some passing".
- there weren't that many pro riders.... i think 6 women total, and about a dozen men. With all the bullsh*t, confusion, and minds changed, they opened up 2 more spots through "Open Qualifying". i think this meant that ANYONE - pro or amateur - could pop in $25 and race. I think only 6 guys showed up. Rich Houseman and a local rider snagged those two sots.
- there was about a 10 minute delay right before the small finals, and finals. which ended up clearing the crowds. not that there were tons of people there (since no one advertised the race in the local vacinity), but i think most people thought the race was over, and left.
- however, thought i don't know the exact reason, i'm pretty sure it was due to the fact that most of the riders were about to pass out from the heat & exhaustion. In fact, ERIC CARTER had a bit of a heat stroke going on.... he ended up laying down on the floor in one of the event semi's - shaking like mad and turning white (he was a bit better after a bit of a rest to cool down).
- but the show must go on (this is TV,....& there actually is prize money!!)
- about $20,000 in cash and prizes went out to the riders this weekend. $5g to the winner. hell i think the 8th place finisher got about $250! (hello??? anyone from Norba listening???)
- What's up w/ the last minute rule changes?? As most of you (who've heard of the jeep races before) know, the race is in a "Y" format. that means it goes from a DUAL SLALOM to a DUAL format. This meant that you could be anywhere on course when u crossed the finish line. Well, they ended up changing their minds and made the riders cross on the side that they stared at. Though, i believe they were notified (last minute advance notice that is), it's still not fair since THE ENTIRE SERIES SINCE IT BEGAN was not like this (plus the riders are in a MtnX/4X state of mind). it was hard for many riders to remember which side they stared on ...since you were on one lane headed for two seperate gates. LISA SHER was knocked out of a round because of this; JILL KINTNER was nearly knocked out, but she made up time difference by THROWING DOWN THE HAMMER. (damn that girl was flying...& i'm not impressed w/ that many girls). But the person who lost the most was Series leader MIKE KING. King ended up losing the series & the prize money since he finished on the wrong side during his final run.
The Series overall win went to WADE BOOTES......on a CHUMBA WUMBA!! Ok, here's the deal w/ this scinareo.... Since King & Bootes had tied in points, they had to race (2 runs) a "tie-breaker" to declare the champion. During the first run, King & Lopes tangled in the first berm, leading to a stack of spokes being ripped from Bootes' rear wheel. Since wade was running a custom through-axle rear wheel, he couldn't borrow one from anyone else..& he didn't bring a spare with him. So his only option was to borrow a bike (which was not against the rules of the Jeep race). He ended up borrowing LISA SHER's Chumba Wumba slalom bike. After swapping pedals & pumping up the shock, he was "somewhat set" for the race against King. Not too surprisingly, he lost the first run, he was a bit closer on the second run, but since King crossed the wrong gate at the finish (see above), he was docked the time (.75 sec) and lost the championship.
I'll try & get some photos on my site soon (& yes, same for Mammoth pics too), but donno when.plus i wasn't allowed on course because of the TV cameras & they had the "own" photographers....."ooooooooh my bad"....so where's the magazine coverage??? this means "limited" descent shots from me.
- Men results:
(1) Brian Schmith
(2) Eric Carter
(3) Wade Bootes
(4) Mike King
(3 & 4 could be mixed)
OVERALL: WADE BOOTES
- Women results:
(1) Jill Kintner
(2) Katrina Miller
(3) Tara Llanes
(4) Melissa Buhl
OVERALL: KATRINA MILLER
I'm not going to do a complete story (since i might be able to sell it & photos to a magazine), but here are some key notes from the day (since saturday was rained out....& i was still on a plane).
- EVERYONE WAS OVER RACING for 2004!!! (haha... a lot of them were cheering when they crossed the finish line...after losing!! hahaha)
- the day was HOT, MUGGY, HOT, MUGGY, & HOT. shade was sparce & nearly EVERY rider (& myself) found themselves hanging out under the HARO/Adidas EZ-up.
- A stack of riders got sick from mexican food the night before, so the heat & humidity did wonders for them
- the course sucked, as usual, small jumps, lame first corner winner (though there was "some passing".
- there weren't that many pro riders.... i think 6 women total, and about a dozen men. With all the bullsh*t, confusion, and minds changed, they opened up 2 more spots through "Open Qualifying". i think this meant that ANYONE - pro or amateur - could pop in $25 and race. I think only 6 guys showed up. Rich Houseman and a local rider snagged those two sots.
- there was about a 10 minute delay right before the small finals, and finals. which ended up clearing the crowds. not that there were tons of people there (since no one advertised the race in the local vacinity), but i think most people thought the race was over, and left.
- however, thought i don't know the exact reason, i'm pretty sure it was due to the fact that most of the riders were about to pass out from the heat & exhaustion. In fact, ERIC CARTER had a bit of a heat stroke going on.... he ended up laying down on the floor in one of the event semi's - shaking like mad and turning white (he was a bit better after a bit of a rest to cool down).
- but the show must go on (this is TV,....& there actually is prize money!!)
- about $20,000 in cash and prizes went out to the riders this weekend. $5g to the winner. hell i think the 8th place finisher got about $250! (hello??? anyone from Norba listening???)
- What's up w/ the last minute rule changes?? As most of you (who've heard of the jeep races before) know, the race is in a "Y" format. that means it goes from a DUAL SLALOM to a DUAL format. This meant that you could be anywhere on course when u crossed the finish line. Well, they ended up changing their minds and made the riders cross on the side that they stared at. Though, i believe they were notified (last minute advance notice that is), it's still not fair since THE ENTIRE SERIES SINCE IT BEGAN was not like this (plus the riders are in a MtnX/4X state of mind). it was hard for many riders to remember which side they stared on ...since you were on one lane headed for two seperate gates. LISA SHER was knocked out of a round because of this; JILL KINTNER was nearly knocked out, but she made up time difference by THROWING DOWN THE HAMMER. (damn that girl was flying...& i'm not impressed w/ that many girls). But the person who lost the most was Series leader MIKE KING. King ended up losing the series & the prize money since he finished on the wrong side during his final run.
The Series overall win went to WADE BOOTES......on a CHUMBA WUMBA!! Ok, here's the deal w/ this scinareo.... Since King & Bootes had tied in points, they had to race (2 runs) a "tie-breaker" to declare the champion. During the first run, King & Lopes tangled in the first berm, leading to a stack of spokes being ripped from Bootes' rear wheel. Since wade was running a custom through-axle rear wheel, he couldn't borrow one from anyone else..& he didn't bring a spare with him. So his only option was to borrow a bike (which was not against the rules of the Jeep race). He ended up borrowing LISA SHER's Chumba Wumba slalom bike. After swapping pedals & pumping up the shock, he was "somewhat set" for the race against King. Not too surprisingly, he lost the first run, he was a bit closer on the second run, but since King crossed the wrong gate at the finish (see above), he was docked the time (.75 sec) and lost the championship.
I'll try & get some photos on my site soon (& yes, same for Mammoth pics too), but donno when.plus i wasn't allowed on course because of the TV cameras & they had the "own" photographers....."ooooooooh my bad"....so where's the magazine coverage??? this means "limited" descent shots from me.
- Men results:
(1) Brian Schmith
(2) Eric Carter
(3) Wade Bootes
(4) Mike King
(3 & 4 could be mixed)
OVERALL: WADE BOOTES
- Women results:
(1) Jill Kintner
(2) Katrina Miller
(3) Tara Llanes
(4) Melissa Buhl
OVERALL: KATRINA MILLER
man I hate Vegas. it's sooo easy to lose your money on women, gambling, women, drinking, women, crooked taxi drivers, women...
