Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Main Results

2004 WHPSC Wednesday Pictures and Racing Results
Words and pictures by  Dave "FLJS" Larrington.  As usual, clicking the photos will produce, as if by legerdemain, a higher resolution version of the same thing.  Isn't technology wonderful?  (No - Ed.)

Wednesday's Results

Two riders to qualify today, these being Lisa Tenello in the Varna 1 and Tom Nowak in his lightly revised Rotator Super 7.  With the Velox Solium having decided to give tonight's run a miss, there were ten machines for ten slots, hence both qualified without trouble.

Tom Amick (L) and Larry Lem help free Lisa Tenello from the Varna 1.

Alas, a combination of a misunderstanding over the start time and late-running qualifying meant that we poor hard-working volunteers were unable to get back to town in time for the scheduled trip to the top of Mount Lewis, the highest mountain in the neighbourhood, chiz chiz¹.  Instead there was a good deal of hanging around in the motel parking lot watching the teams hard at work polishing things.  And, of course, the Patent Tanya Markham Go-Faster Haircuts...

	Go-faster haircuts by Madame Tanya: Above: Gabe de Vault Below: Freddy Markham
Prototype highracer from Challenge Or is this meant to be a secret? Paul Voerman from Challengebikes notes:  "This is a prototype, but definitely not a secret. The weight of the pictured bike is 21lbs. Production generation will be 20lbs...."
	Rotator Coyote and Big Gun rest in the sun while Scott Wilson (L) and Dean Peterson discuss Matters Arising (or rather the recent Burning Man festival).
Intriguing device from Easy Racers; monoblade, monostay, hand and foot power, bottom bracket axle concentric with front wheel axle, Rohloff hub gear...  The list is almost endless.
	Hand- and foot-powered trike by Robert Barnett of Oklahoma City.  Front-drive and rear steering; can turn on the proverbial dime / sixpence2
Steve Nash attempts to sell, or at least rent, his soul...
	The Varna Diablo.  Still the Daddy...

Around 4:30 pm we start to make our way out to the course again.  The wind is still a little high as the first group of five riders make their way down the six miles of Route 305, but everyone makes it to the end in one piece.  Orin Macquarrie lost his chain in the traps, while Tom Nowak, making his debut on the full course, and having started from the 2.5 mile mark, clocked a far from bad  time considering that he only had one foot attached to the pedals for most of his run.  Your resident Filthy Lying Journalist Scum was on duty at the first ranch road today, about a mile from the start, and thus was able actually to photograph some of the machines on the move tonight.

	A unit of the Easy Racers Air Cavalry on a counter-insurgency mission.  No, really. Actually, they have shot some excellent footage from up there; hopefully it will become available to We, the Public.
Dean Peterson passes the first ranch road.
	Mackie Martin managed to keep it on the black stuff and rubber side down tonight.
Orin Macquarrie.
	Lisa Tenello makes her 305 debut in the Varna 1.

There then followed the usual break to allow the accrued traffic to clear from both ends of the course.  99.9% of the time, the other users of the route display infinite patience when confronted with a road closed for the benefit of a bunch of funny bicycles.  Tonight, however, was the exception which proves the rule, as a pair of yahoos in pickup trucks ran the Department of Transportation's road-block in order to drive through the staging area and onto the back road into town.  Moreover, Sinister Agent G told of a pair of truck drivers who were less than happy at being delayed by Things Without Engines.  Thus, when the road re-opened, they proceeded towards the catch area at about 25 mph before one apparently ran out of fuel a mile and a half from the traps.  This, we were told, would take 20-30 minutes to fix.  Five minutes later, however, the news that the event would be terminated had a miraculous effect on the fuel-free truck, which suddenly burst into life as though the Mechanical Merlin of the Marches himself had laid hands upon it.  Those with experience of fuel-free diesel engines will know that this Does Not Happen.  Bah!

Anyaway, after all this drama, we finally managed to get the second group of machine under way.  Sam Whitingham made his usual immaculate run (after, that is, a moth had been evicted from the interior of thebike), but behind him both Frank Geyer and Freddy Markham fluffed their starts, thus promoting Ellen van Vugt to second in line.  Sadly, in the gathering gloom, Ellen missed the second timing tape when on course for a possible record speed.  Freddy went through next, high on adrenaline after his earlier problems, closely followed by Hans Wessels in the WhiteHawk and Frank Geyer, last to run in the Big Gun.

	Ellen van Vugt races through the twilight.
By the time Hans Wessels came through, it was almost totally dark...

We were hoping to get this year's event over without any serious crashes but Hans went into a speed wobble about 1 km before the traps, when traveling at around 67 mph.  He was unable to keep things pointing in the right direction and slid off into the brush, cracking the bike's windscreen and suffering a certain quantity of scrapes and bruises from the impact and a flailing leg.  Fortunately Frank noticed the ambulance pulling out from its parking spot and was able to drop the anchors.  Sterling work by his chase car crew kept him upright.  There then ensued a certain amount of apparent chaos, but all was sorted, the road re-opened and a somewhat chastened gang of HPVers made their way back to town for a post-mortem BEER or several.

1 - A chiz is a swiz or swindle, as any fule kno.
2 - Delete as applicable