Most people I know hang onto their bikes with both hands. There’s a throttle, a brake and steering to do. The guys from Close Encounters Stunt Team make driving with no hands or sometimes feet look like the way to drive. The team made the trip down from Scranton to entertain the folks on the Holly Petro Fund Ride two Saturdays ago. Though the crowd wasn’t very large, the stunts were magnificent. After taking more than 600 photos, I still couldn’t capture how spectacular these guys are.
Jeremy Siniawa was tapped as the official spokesmen for the group. The team consists of Jeremy, Shawn Kazmierski, Tim Roberts and Bill Hollock. They showed up in their stunt team truck with Tim’s picture in large format. They took a minute out of their stunt program to tell me about their team and what freestyle stunting is all about.
I asked Jeremy how he got started doing stunts. It’s hard to imagine just pulling these tricks out of the blue.
“I bought a brand new bike and just beat it, and after a couple of scratches and bruises, here we are,” he said.
My next question was, how do people find out about you or hire you for their event?
“We have a Web site and word-of-mouth, MySpace and Timmy’s mass-marketing skills,” he said.
The Web site is www.cefreestyle.com, where you can check out the schedule and get a look at the stunt team.
So how does one get to be this great at stunts? They all agreed that it takes a lot of practice. Why they do it? Because it’s fun. You have to see them to believe just how good they are at these tricks.
This year they were lucky to gain some big sponsors. CBX Man is the main sponsor, as well as AFX, 661, United Motors and Bunz Designs. To get these sponsors, they sent videos out to people, and that got them interested, Siniawa said. He added that there was a lots of practice and ruined bikes.
When they are not doing stunts, they have regular jobs. Shawn does construction, Tim is a repo man, Jeremy is a self-professed Jack-of-all trades and Bill is a bartender and ladies man. So on top of this demanding work schedule, they practice about 15-20 hours a week, as long as it’s not dark out. In the winter they work, snowboard and snowmobile, Siniawa said. While at CBX Man, they did stunts and played with just about anything with a motor and wheels, from little Hammerhead go-carts to the big stunt bikes and quads. If it moved, they could beat it into submission and get some kind of trick out of it.
“We also do a lot of benefits and free shows,” said Jeremy. “We used to do a lot more, but it got to be too much. Usually ones that are benefits for friends or some of the big benefits.” That’s why it was so great that they came out for the Holly Petro Fund Ride. They promise to be there next year, too!
A stunt show can run anywhere from 20 minutes to however long they are needed at any given event. Personally, I could watch them all day long. They are really that good.
Apparently, just like skateboarding and rollerblading, the stunts done by these guys all have names, and each of the team has their specialty. Shawn likes to do the spirit finger, and Jeremy covers the stoppies (riding on the front wheel) and has a finale of doing a flip off the handlebars. Can’t top that, Karl Edwards. Billy puts down circles, and Tim’s specialty is pulling up Google and promoting the team.
Jeremy has been riding stunt bikes for “four years, and dirt bikes all my life.”
In addition to the stunt bikes, these guys also have “regular” bikes. Jeremy rides a Bunz G Style 2007 ZX10 Kawasaki, Timmy drives a Harley, Shawn has a GSXR 750 and Bill has an ’02 McGSXR 1000. I’m told “it looks like Ronald McDonald painted it.”
Their advice for those who want to get into stunt riding is as follows:
Don’t do it (tongue in cheek).
Always wear a helmet (smirk).
Don’t start with a brand new bike (even though that’s how Jeremy learned).
So check them out whenever you can. This is one show you don’t want to miss.
Special get well wishes are sent to Lenny Scarantino who is recovering from a motorcycle accident on Saturday. Get well soon!
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