Now that is a huck...
New world record: 310'
"It wasn't 'if' it was 'when,' said Capes of going 310 feet 4 inches. "I just need the right place and the right time. And to everybody's surprise that all came together on Saturday."
When it's all said and done, nobody – but nobody – goes bigger than Capes. And, like the barrier-breaking athletes before him such as Dr. Roger Bannister, who broke the three minute mile barrier, Javier Sotomayor, who was the first to clear eight feet in the high jump and Sergey Bubka, who topped 20 feet in the pole vault, Capes now owns a magical record in the sport of motorcycle distance jumping that nobody will ever equal – the first to jump 300 feet.
"It hasn't really set in yet," said Capes. "I mean, the way it came about was kind of unexpected. I'd have like to have done it in Los Angeles or Vegas or something, but you gotta take these things when they come. So just being the first to jump over 300 is pretty rad. I'll always have that going for me, which is nice."
Capes' legendary jump actually came about as a bit of mistake. Having already jumped 260 feet, he was figuring on dialing it in just a bit more – a couple mph – in order to eclipse the record of 277 feet set by his buddy, Trigger Gumm. He wanted to go 280, then shut 'er down. But Capes just couldn't get the right speed wrung out of his bike that he had pinned in fourth gear. The radar detector kept saying around 75 mph, when he needed 78 mph. So Capes clicked fifth gear, nutted up, and according to those in attendance rode out a jump that could only be described as "Insane."
"From his point of take off to the leading edge of the landing area was about 270 feet," explained Monster spokesman Scott Sepkovic of Crown AMG. "When he clicked into fifth on the in-run, he was going so fast he actually backed off the gas on the way up the take-off ramp. By the time he reached the landing area – his was still 30 feet off the ground.
"Yeah, he needed wings. But when it came right down to it, sticking the Monster landing is what got him the record."
Capes was able to land his bike down the massive dirt hill landing area with only a few bike lengths to spare. Had he not backed off on the throttle on the take-off ramp, he would have for sure over shot his landing area and come down on the flat.
"Yeah, that would have sucked," said Capes of flat landing at what would have been around 330 feet. "As it was I was able to adjust on the fly and make some history. We'll ride this out for a while, then I'm coming back and doing something even bigger."
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310'
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