NEW COASTER THRILLS RIDERS SIX FLAGS' DEJA VU KEEPS 'EM COMING BACK AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA- The new roller coaster at Magic Mountain, Deja Vu, proved to be too much for 12-year-old Kenny Sharp his third time around.

He threw up when the ride pulled in and stopped. Lunch, deja vu.

The passengers remained strapped in as the cleaning crew worked, and then the conductor announced everyone would get to take another spin.

``You better give him a bag,'' cracked Sharp's friend Matt Tracey, 15, who was sitting in front of him. Sharp passed on a fourth trip, and got off the ride, his face pale.

``I don't know. It just happened,'' Sharp said, a little disoriented.

Deja Vu, a boomerang-style roller coaster that reaches speeds up to 65 mph and has a 200-foot drop at a 90-degree angle, will open to the public on Saturday.

At a preview of the ride for friends and family of park employees, hundreds of people got on the ride that is touted as the world's tallest and fastest suspended and looping boomerang roller coaster.

``I sky-dive, and this is right up there,'' David Sanders, 55, said excitedly after his fifth time on the ride. ``I'm going again.''

Right out of the station, the riders are pulled, face-down, up a tower from which they drop into a vertical, 20-story free-fall before looping around a 102-foot turn followed by a 110-foot butterfly curve. Then, riders skyrocket up a 200-foot tower on their backs - and do the entire ride again, backward.

``The first drop is crazy,'' Greg Jucksch, 14, said. ``It was sweet.''

``It was intense,'' said Eric Sakowski, 35, a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts - a roller coaster club. ``It's forceful, and it's unique because of the vertical drop - you get a full falling sensation.''

Amber VanLoon, 14, said the ride is one of her favorites at the park now.

``It's a rush. It's not like other rides because you do it backward,'' VanLoon said. ``It's not boring at all.''

The next coaster to debut at the park is X, which will make Magic Mountain - now tied for the most coasters at an amusement park - the park with the most roller coasters in the country.

And the mishap earlier in the day didn't deter Sharp from continuing to get on the coaster. After taking a one-hour rest, he was back on, riding Deja Vu all over again.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color -- ran in SAC edition only) David Saunders of Sunland and Jennie Huston of Van Nuys experience one of two free-fall segments of the new Deja Vu roller coaster.

(2 -- 3 -- ran in SAC edition only) Riders get a preview of the Deja Vu coaster at Magic Mountain, which will open the ride to the public Saturday.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer