BAR PATRONS LOVE A LITTLE THREE-WHEELIN'.

Byline: Serena Markstrom The Register-Guard

CORRECTION (ran 9/2/2005): McShane's Bar and Grill purchases all New Belgium Brewery merchandise during its weekly tricycle races. McShane's also provides the $150 in prize money for its monthly tricycle racing finals. An article in Wednesday's paper on Page D1 misrepresented the nature of New Belgium Brewery's involvement in the contests.

Claire Hutton holds two black-and-white checkered flags in front of three adults on tricycles. The racers ding their bells and pretend to false start as she explains the rules.

"Keep your feet tight because if your feet slip, you're done," she says.

Patrons at McShane's Bar and Grill, 86495 College View Road, gather around railings and peer down from a loft above the race track. They've been doing it every Tuesday since June. Some sit at tables lining the temporary racetrack, while others crane their necks from video poker stools to catch the action.

No throwing elbows or punching, Hutton says. She crosses the flags above her head, lets them drop and quickly gets out of the way.

Trike races at McShane's were supposed to be a short-lived promotion, Hutton says. When Hutton and her husband, Jackson, were in the process of buying the bar in March, old-time regulars told them that back in the 1970s tricycle races were popular and urged the couple to bring them back.

At the time, participants drank a beer each round, but the Oregon Liquor Control Commission doesn't allow games involving alcohol as a premium anymore.

That doesn't stop friends of racers from offering drinks to winners, and the OLCC can't regulate smack-talking, which is part of the draw for many who regularly attend.

"Some people are just born to ride and some people are ... well, they're not," says Josh Micheli, 29, a race finalist for the month of August. "I just picked it up real quick. I sat down on the trike and it just felt like second nature."

Micheli playfully credits the trike races for fostering a greater sense of community in the Eugene-Springfield area.

"Through trike racing I feel I have grown spiritually. Trike racing makes me want to be a better man," says Micheli, who qualified for the finals last week and says he has been on a strict diet of Wendy's cheeseburgers and Camel cigarettes since then.

His two "groupies," Sarah Bengiat, 26, and Diego Sandoval, 23, say they are proud of him.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world," Sandoval says before the races begin.

The layout of the bar, formerly The Blarney Stone, forms a natural trike racetrack - cyclists race around a hardwood floor that encircles a lowered billiards area. From the inside of the makeshift track, people gather to cheer, taunt and "ooohh" during crashes.

No one wears a helmet and everyone signs a waiver. They race in heats of three and each race is three laps and over in minutes.

Near the bar's entrance, a bulletin board displays Polaroid photos of winners and their New Belgium Brewery-sponsored prizes. New Belgium also provides the $150 in monthly prize money.

Bar owners purchased the trikes from Harbor Freight Tools for $60 and added an additional $50 or so in parts. They keep two extra "race ready" trikes in case of mechanical difficulties, says owner Jackson Hutton.

James Towne altered the bikes to be more appropriate for adults, moving the seats back and replacing plastic parts with steel.

Claire Hutton says they improvise rules each week. This week, they added barriers during the finals. If racers struck them, they were eliminated.

"I think we're all kids inside," she says. "That's kind of my goal for this bar - to have it be a fun center, play games, act like a kid."

Tuesday night, the final came down to Micheli and Bill Kelly, 51, of Springfield.

Kelly, a clear crowd favorite, wins the rock-paper-scissors contest and chooses the inside lane. He puts down his beer. Micheli spits on his hands and rubs them over his tires.

They're off. Twenty seconds later, Kelly crashes into one of the barriers and Micheli is the automatic winner. He does a victory lap.

Kelly fetches his beer and approaches Micheli.

"That's OK," he says, motioning to Micheli. "He's buying a round for everybody."

CAPTION(S):

Josh Micheli becomes the overall winner at McShane's Bar and Grill tricycle races Tuesday night. Wayne Eastburn / The Register-Guard Kim Cunningham (left) and Josh Micheli come around the first turn Tuesday night in McShane's tricycle races.