Last Man Standing

[BSWIFT]

The Red Bull Last Man Standing race is this weekend. I talked to Guy Cooper yesterday and he is going to take on the challenge again. He'll be on an 07 250 SX. He is very serious about this race. Hope he'll get the title. Good luck Guy!

 

[slowone]

Good luck to Guy, but he should hope that David Knight or Juha don't show up. :)

 

[CR Swade]

Good luck to Guy, but he should hope that David Knight or Juha don't show up. :)

As much as I like Guy, I'd have to say this sloppy weather is all favoring Knight in a huge way

 

[Patman]

...I'd have to say this sloppy weather is all favoring Knight in a huge way

Last year was warmer and drier and he still spanked everybody. I expect more of the same this year. I suspect there will be a lot more smaller displacement bikes with trials tires on the line this year as well.

 

[Akira]

I saw the last years race on tv, and if it is rainy and crappy out this year. 10 time world enduro champ or not, it is going to be really tuff.

 

[Mully]

I saw the last years race on tv, and if it is rainy and crappy out this year. 10 time world enduro champ or not, it is going to be really tuff.

Your suppose to be in class, what are you doing posting???

Get busy !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :p

Your Father.

 

[CR Swade]

We were supposed to be on our way down today, but the ice and major snow storm up here has us all grounded in KC. Is it snowing much down there yet? The weather service had 3-5" predicted from Amarillo to Gainesville

 

[BSWIFT]

Guy said the same thing, LOL. He is also more prepared this year. The 250SX weighs 207lbs, much less than the 520 he was on last year.

 

[SpDyKen]

This storm could make for a VERY interesting event!

 

[Patman]

Guy said the same thing, LOL. He is also more prepared this year. The 250SX weighs 207lbs, much less than the 520 he was on last year.

Last year he brought a Howitzer to a gun fight :laugh:

From what I have been told Red Bull felt the course was too easy last year so expect even more insane terrain this year!

I really wish we could have gone but I have family commitments in San Antonio this weekend. So reports of what happens will be GREATLY appriciated. But I will still stick with my prediction that barring any mechanical issues Knight will once again use his exceptional skill, physical condition, and mental focus to dominate this event. He's sort of the RC of extreme endurance racing.

 

[Danman]

A few of the guys from our club are racing and a bunch are going. Since, the weather hear was so crappy the last couple of days I though I would not go watch. Last year local boy Cole Kirkpatrick finished 14th after running out of gas, taking the tram back to the pits, riding a borrowed bike a mile back to his motorcycle with a gas can, gasing it up and then finishing. He just gold metaled in the ISDE. He came home the weekend between the IDSE and the LMS to ride at the lease all weekend including the night. It was pretty cool to see the guys testing there night gear. I realy wanted to go cheer on the local boys and see what all the talk was about. Watch for that name. I think he will finish a bit higher this year due to conditioning for the ISDE and night practice.

 

[SpDyKen]

Last two men standing!!

For a more complete update, check out the VA Champ. Harescamble Championship series website at: http://vchss.net/viewtopic.php?t=34...start=30&sid=459ee3f1ca8ea965f8696e584d061002
David Knight is, indeed, THE MAN!

Oh, yeah, should I have put SPOILER! at the beginning of this thread as well?

 

[BSWIFT]

Congrats to Cooper for a 3rd. Guy is 44, not bad!

 

[DWreck]

Friday night I looked at the Stillwater weather for Saturday and saw a high of 35 and then checked Bulcher and saw that 50 degrees was forecast. Easy decision, I'm going!

I got up and headed out the door at 7:30 to icy streets and heavy fog. Not good. I took it easy and by the time I got to OKC I was out of the fog but the roads were wet/frozen almost the whole way down. I pulled in at about 11:40 thinking I had plenty of time to see the start and find out they started everyone early because of the conditions.

I headed out following the crowd having no idea where I was going and end up at Texas stadium. According to the map it is the last made for tv obstacle so I move on to Triple Threat and before long here comes David Knight on his 300xc/w in the lead. He heads down the hill and across a pasture and into Bills woods. I followed one of the team KTM guys around listening to his radio and find that they are expecting him at Triple Threat in about 30 minutes. While we are waiting Wayne Braybrook goes by on a Gas Gas and then behind him is Guy Cooper on a 250sx in 3rd.

The rules were a little different this year. Rider's couldn't receive assistance from anyone other than other riders so they often teamed up with each other. Course workers could help them drag their bikes back down the hill as long as it didn't advance them on the course. Add the snow to the equation and it makes for a much tougher event than last year.

As expected Knight is the first to Triple Threat. The first part of it consists of an uphill ravine. He came to a stop about half way up but didn't take long to make it up. Stops for a drink, talks to his crew and heads down in and back up the next uphill part of it that has a nasty rock ledge. About half way up he either ran out of traction or didn't like his line and came to a stop, surveyed the hill and then in three easy blips of the clutch and throttle popped the front wheel up and around and headed back down the hill for another try. He made it look like he was on a bicycle the way he turned it around and you could tell he used very little energy in the process. The next try he made it up. Now there was one more down hill and you are done with Triple Threat. It consisted of large ledges and huge rocks and trees. Everything was wet and covered with snow. He heads down and about halfway stops on this big flat rock covered in snow and balanced perfectly peering over the ledge and then with a little brap was off the ledge right between two trees that were not much wider than his handlebars landing on another rock covered in snow without so much as a bobble and was gone. Everyone shook their heads in disbelief looked at each other and laughed.

Wayne Baybrook was next and the two times he got stuck he made it on pure strength getting off the bike picking it up grunting and screaming until he was to the point where he could continue.

Guy was next and he had trouble in the same spots the other two had. He used more finesse than Wayne had. For someone who had a pin to win reputation as a motocrosser Guy has some unbelievable bike skills getting traction in places that it was nearly nonexistent.

I moved on to Texas Stadium in time to see Guy come through and he made it look easy, stopping once to pick a line and then he was on his way.

I headed back to the pits and found Guy's brother Chuck getting his bike ready for the night loop so I helped. Someone had Kamikazied his bike into Guy's knocking a hole in the ignition cover and it wouldn't start after his interview at the finish so Chuck stole the ignition off of his brand new 300 and the light off of his 525 along with a set of battery powered lights that he bought the day before. We put this on hacking and sawing on the number plate until it was out of the way of the add on lights. It looked like hell but got the job done and Guy had a laugh when he saw our creation.

As we were doing this I listened to him being interviewed and he admitted that he was worn out. He was told that there were only 9 going into the second lap and shrugged his shoulders and said "Well I guess I can't get worse than 9th, but really would like a top 5 because they pay out through 5th." There ended up being 10 or 11 on the start.
I watched them blast off on what they called the bomb run onto a grass track section that wound around to an Endurocross section that the riders went over at the start and finish of each lap. Knight was in first and Guy was in second as they headed off into the woods.

By now I was hungry and cold so I went and got something to eat and put on some more clothes and headed to the Joshua Tree. This was a straight up hill about 225 feet high with no run at it that did a u-turn and came right back down. To me it looked ridiculous and impossible. Knight was the first one there (of course) and made it look easy. He is so smooth with the throttle, truly amazing to watch. About 25 minutes later Braybrook showed up and went right up it no problem but didn't look as comfortable coming down the other side. Over an hour later than when Knight went by Russel Bobbit came through with Guy Cooper right behind him. They had both houred out and headed back to the pits.

I overheard a couple of guys talking about Gas Gas bikes so I went over and stuck my nose into the conversation and met one of the guys who had raced it. He was number 4 on an 06 Gas Gas. He claimed the made for tv stuff wasn't the hard part. I guess people were going everywhere when they first went into the woods (128 riders) running into each other and that there wasn't such thing as a good line if you were not one of the first few. A broken chain ended his day.

The second loop was in reverse meaning the course became more chewed up the farther you got in the second loop making all that much more impressive that Knight and Braybrook were able to finish.

 

[craig_enid]

Thanks, Dwreck,
Now all we need is the pic link!

 

[Brian]

Congrats to Cooper for a 3rd. Guy is 44, not bad!

Cooper rode a great race but did not finish. David Knight and Wayne Baybrook were the only two riders to cross the finish line.

 

[DWreck]

He still got 3rd!

Brian, I think I saw your dad's rig in the pits. Powerstroke with DRN stickers pulling a motorhome.

Hopefully I will have a link to my pictures today.

 

[DWreck]

My LMS pics

www.flickr.com/photos/22382873@N00/

 

[craig_enid]

Nice work, sorry I missed it!

 

[SpDyKen]

Thanks, DWreck, for the great write-up & photos! Keep it coming! We all can appreciate it more after hearing it from you! :cool: :yeehaw: :worship:

 

[KelvinKDX]

Will there be television coverage of this years race? If so - when?

 

[Brian]

yes the event will be televised on the Speed Channel sometime in February. Footage should be great this year as in addtion to the helicopters flying around Wade from the Factory KTM team that usually comes to Dirtweek did some helmetcam footage of the entire course. The spectator elements were not the only hard part, this should show that better than last year's illusion of an easy enduro with a few hard spots.

 

[mafols]

To say Knight won, really doesn't do it justice. What he did was insane. Riding cleanly through sections that took the other riders( everyone but him...literally) 30 mins. to an hour to get through...with help from the others. There was No assistance allowed from the coarse workers or spectators this year...only help from other riders. There were many sections where riders had to wait for another to help him lift his bike over the obstacle....Knight rode alone the entire race.On the Triple Threat section of the night race...he rode to the top of one section that had a 3-4 foot vertical rock ledge at the top. This was not flat ground,but the top of a gnarly 45 degree climb with little to no traction. After 2 attempts to climb the ledge....in front of a screaming crowd...he pops the front wheel up, calmly lays the bike over, gets on top of the ledge, grabs the front tire, and pulls his bike up.... :yikes: The crowd went nuts.

To finish the race....the guys that layed out the coarse thought it would be neat to have a 5+ foot vertical wall around a blind curve a mere 20' from the finish line. Knight stopped for a brief second to eye it up....and with about a 20' running start....climbed up and over like it was nothing.... :nod: The guy is fearless and deserves the respect of every off-road rider in the world.....end of story.

 

[BSWIFT]

I just got to watch the race on Speed. What a race. DWreck was there and his take on the race was impressive but seeing it was unreal. Cooper got a 3rd overall and I believe he was the oldest competitor. Not bad for a former World SX champion. BTW, Happy Birthday Guy, 45, I'm next in about a month.

 

[76GMC1500]

I just watched the coverage on Speed and that was some of the best coverage of any motorcycle event I have ever seen. Screw Charmichel and Stewart, David Knight is the man!