THE

AIR TIMES

September 16, 2000

ENSLOW JUMPS 178' IN BEACH SAND

New dad gets rad

SANTA ANA RIVER BED, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - Kylie's dad, Seth Enslow, accelerated through sand to a steel framed ramp structure and jumped his Honda CR250 ramp to sand ramp to create a new ATA jumping category as the finale at the Renthal High Octane "The Dunes" Challenge in the Santa Ana River Bed behind Arrowhead Pond.

It was a beautiful day, but the birds weren't chirping. They were trying to find some shade. It was hotter than the head on a lean-jetted, base gasket blown 1973 Maico 125 at the top of Dumont Dunes' Comp Hill in August.

His crew worked hard to make everything right. He worked his way out in ramp gap until his MX-geared CR250 could go no faster on the soft sand. Then he was ready.

The crowd waited with anticipation, but they only had to wait about 2.5 seconds, because Seth was waiting for no man. As soon as the ramp corridor was cleared, he accelerated in the soft, deep beach type sand until he was wide open in 5th gear. The sand kept his speed down some, but he hit the ramp, which brought the revs down a little when the rear tire hooked up on the sand-painted plywood. The bike pulled harder when he went from wheelspin to traction, which made the bike try to spit forward out from under him. He held on tight and held the throttle wide open. He jumped the 145 foot ramp gap to a total jump distance of 178 feet. He went back and tried again, but went 174' on the second try.

He knows he can go farther, but it's a new category and it's got significant danger factors. It's good to take it slowly.

Hopefully he won't have to jump in that category again, but he is certainly capable of going far in the sand - much farther. As he works his way up in distance, he'll have to discover the nuances of jumping by accelerating on sand to a hard ramp structure, then landing on sand. Sand has to be one of the worst surfaces to work with when it comes to jumping. It's not bad for crashing, except flatlanders and piledrivers. Then it can be a life changer.

His sensible approach to attaining the distance was key to his success. Many people initially wondered about his safety. He stuck to a strict program to get prepared. His crew was plentiful and motivated to do whatever it took to do it right.

SETH GOES FATHER

That's right, father. Seth is a daddy now. He's got a beautiful three day old baby girl named Kylie.

That didn't soften him up at all, he had the throttle wide open all the way.

To visit Seth's site, go to sethenslow.com.