VCGP – MUD, SPEED, BROTHER’S DUEL AND TRAGEDY

VIRGINIA CITY (April 24) – This former mining town comes alive ever April as the hills echo with the sound of motorcycle racing. This year the 44th annual Virginia City Grand Prix featured a new location for the pits and vendor area as well as a battle between brothers in the pro ranks.

After riding as hard as he could Travis Coy scored the overall victory on Saturday, the day when the pros, Experts and Amateurs race. His winning time was 4:28:36.141, which was just ahead of his brother Justin Bonita, last year’s overall victor.

Travis Coy heads downhill on his way to winning the pro title at this year’s VCGP.

“It’s my first time here, it’s fun as everything is real flowly and kind of high speed but I like it like that,” Travis Coy said after crossing the finish line in first. “The conditions were amazing as we rode everything, mud, dust, sand and rocks. And my brother was out there, we got to ride with each other a bit and that made it fun also. And I didn’t want him to beat me that’s for sure as he’s my little brother.”

The weather added another twist to the day as unlike many years it was wet after a snowstorm and would either rain, hail or snow off and on during the day. But the riders all seemed to like it as they traveled a new course that eliminated Sutro Canyon, at least for this year.

Riders start in rows of 10 abreast with the pros taking up the first rows. After that it’s the luck of the draw in determining a riders starting place.

Ed Sellers won the auction for the 2-minute head start on Saturday.

Before each race two “head start,” positions are auctioned off and the proceeds go to a local Virginia City charity. This year Ed Seller got the two-minute head start while Brian Clugage scored the one-minute head start.

Brian Clugage bought the one-minute for Saturdays’ race.

After that each row is launched every 15 seconds. Riders then take sharp left run off the main street riders head down hill where they veer left then make a sharp left and right in a muddy section.

Except for one rider tearing out a part of temporary fencing no one fell. Then they head down hill for the new course layout.

Up front Bonita and Coy did get to race against each other for a spell until Coy finally took over the lead for good. But they were less than a minute apart for the entire race.

Justin Bonita, last year’s VCGP pro winner, chased his brother but had to settle for second place this year.

At VC, four hours after the first row is sent off the checkered waves, which usually means the leaders are still on the course and won’t arrive for up to another half hour or so.

So everyone including the leaders are going as fast as they can, making pit stops for fuel and maybe a pair of clean goggles. For some riders this means replacing a few parts or getting a flat tire fixed.

Riders heading toward the pits will ride up and along a narrow path on a hill then after going through the scoring chute decided to pit or go straight ahead where they plunge down a hill into a canyon.

Merrick Deal (408) is getting past by Austin Wilson (114) as they are about to leave the pit area and head down into a canyon.

And on the course there were two hills that created some bottlenecks as rider either waited or found a way to get through.

Finally Coy, who races professionally, arrived to be greeted by fans.

“I race motorcycle and ride for the FMF Factory KTM Team,” he said. “I grew up racing District 36 and I like those trails with technical stuff but I’m actually racing WORCS for the last five six years I’m a WORCS pro and currently third in the championship so the high speed stuff don’t bother me at all.”

He was delighted to find the winner’s purse was increased by a donation from Big Valley Honda in Reno.

About 26 seconds later his brother Justin Bonita, last year’s winner arrived at the finish.

“My brother won and hope he’ll come back as I always want to race with him and I’d like to thank everyone from VCMC,” he said. “The gap was about 28 seconds and I was thinking about trying to push a little harder on that last lap, if it was anyone else I would have but I was pretty content where I was. This is the best course I’ve ridden here and this is my fourth year. It’s by far the funnest and best conditions I’ve ridden out of the four years.”

Then Justin added he rides for Monterey Power Sports and thanked sponsors Bell Helmets, Klim Gear, IRC Tires, FMF Exhaust and Fox Shocks.

Tucker Larrieu was the highest placed rider from the area at this year’s VCGP.

Tucker Larrieu’s fifth place finish made him the highest placed rider from what is considered the local area. And veteran Josh Wilson’s 16th place earned him the 30+ Expert title.

“I can’t thank VCMC enough for the layout this year. You know I’ve ridden up here what seems like my whole life and then we get going a different direction, we’re spinning around and this year was just epic. Mother Nature coordinated with us and it couldn’t have been any better conditions,” Wilson said after finishing.

Then he thanked MX Trophies, Reno Motor Sports and the Trail Blazers for their quick pit work.

Jake Walker leads Jacqueline Stone, the only woman racing on Saturday at the VCGP. Here they are carefully riding through the mud at the start.

Jacqueline Stone from Reno was the only woman racing on Saturday. She finished 4th in Amateur 125cc class and 257 over all out of 396 entries.

Attrition is a big factor in the Grand Prix as only 283 riders were classified as finishers this year.

And there was some humor at the start as Steve Garnett’s 3-year-old daughter brought a sign to help root her father on during the race.

Michael Garnett and her mother brought a sign so she could root for her rather Steven.

Also in the field was one rider that has become a legend at the race. At 77 years young Artichoke Joe Divecchio has ridden in very one of the VCGP events. He would have ridden Sunday but injured a shoulder and had to sit out but usually he rides both days.

Now the club will review ways to improve the new pit and vendor area as they begin to prepare for next year’s event.

While there were several firsts in this event there was one that cast a cloud over everyone. Sometime during the third hour Rob Schmidt from Livermore, California crashed and suffered fatal injuries.

Despite this being such a tough race this is the first fatality in the 44 years the race has been run. And since racing is such an extended family many are mourning his loss.

But now the Comstock is quiet, people are back home but next year they’ll return called by the siren song of this event as they face the challenge of the VCGP.

We here at NVracingnews wish to extend our condolences to the Schmidt family both personal and racing.

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RESULTS*

44th Annual VCGP – Saturday, April 24

Overall: 1. Travis Coy, Cash, 2. Justin Bonita, 3. Steven Godman, 4. Vaughn Wilk, 5. Tucker Larrieu, 6. Anson      Maloney, 7. Robert Underwood, 8. Alex      Dorsey, 9. Ty Tremaine, 10. Jason Hurst, 11. Gordon Hodges, Exp.50+, 12. J.T. Baker, 13. Dan Capparelli, 14. Kale Elworthy, 15. A.J. Lehr, 16. Josh Wilson, Exp. 30+, 17. Sam Key, 18. Stephen Garnett, 19. Irving Powers, 20. Mason Stone, 21. Ryan McElfish, 22. Ross Walton, 23. Ron Day, Exp. 40+, 24.      Tanner Tremaine, 25. Shane Bell, Exp. 30+, 26. Drew Chattin, 27. Joe Shipman, Exp. 250cc, 28. Austin Tavares, Exp. 30+,  29. Ricardo Angelini, 30. Daron Rahives

Cash: 1. Travis Coy, 4:28:36:141, 2. Justin Bonita, 4:29:02:521, 3. Steven Godman, 4. Vaughn Wilk, 5. Tucker Larrieu,

Expert:

+50+: 1. Gordon Hodges, 2. Duke Lambert, 3. Ron Facciano, 4. Rick Bowser,  5. Kirk Lovejoy

+40+: 1. Ron Day, 2. Randy Wood, 3. Tom Ellis, 4. Tim Fitzpatrick, 5. Robert Fische

+ 30+: 1. Josh Wilson, 2. Shane Bell, 3. Austin Tavares, 4. Rhett Lewis, 5. J.J. Cummings

+125cc: 1. Roert Katz, 2. Sam Bird

+250cc: 1. Joe Shipman, 2. Max Parker, 3. Thomas Ramos, 4. Joey Marich, 5. Jason Garbo

+Open: 1. Zane Roberts, 2. Wyatt Brittner, 3. John W. Brian, 4. Jason Stelariede, 5. Dan Rankia

Amateur:

+50+: 1. Steve Mallock, 2. Kevin Bise, 3. Mark Tustin, 4. Tom Connor, 5.  Robert Cristando

+40+: 1. Walter Lunn, 2. James Frost, 3. Allan Pfaff, 4. Joe Smith, 5. Curt Winter

+30+: 1. Lucas Anthony, 2. Josh Steward, 3. Patrick McCarthy, 4. Philip Rhodes, 5. Ryan Gibbs

+125cc: 1. Cody Butler, 2. Danny Manning, 3. Rowdy Hulse, 4. Jacqueline Stone, 5. Jose Ruzo

+250cc: 1. Dustin Schmid, 2. Zac Fitch, 3. Reece      Dominguez, 4. Rusty Schmidt, 5. Nate Rasmussen

+Open: 1. Chris Loucks, 2. Christopher McCuan, 3. Feep Feepman, 4. Harrison  Shannon, 5. Chad Ison

* Full results can be found, along with times, at www.vcgp.com.