Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/872564
IN THE WIND P38 KOESTER TAKES IT ALL AT FREEMANSBURG HILLCLIMB J ohn Koester pulled off a first in AMA Pro Hillclimb history by winning all four classes at round four of the series on the Bushkill Valley Motorcycle Club's hill at Freemansburg, Pennsylvania, September 9-10. Koester needed only one ride each in the Unlimited, Xtreme and 450 Pro classes, and he won the exhibi- tion Verticross class with a win in heat number two, followed up by a win in the final. In the Unlimited class, 2016 Champion Jay Sall- strom rode first but stopped short at 425 feet. Cory Strickler set the pace with a 15.389-second ride, Joseph Lowe bested Strickler by a tenth with a 15.246 E.T. Justin Fowler slipped into third behind Lowe with a time of 15.264 seconds. Then Koester rode and lopped off four seconds from the top time, cresting the hill in just 11.323 seconds for the lead after one run. Sallstrom tried to unseat Koester in the second half, but fell just short with a 12.225-second ride. Vinny Nuzzolilli, in 10th place after one run, posted a fast 12.028-second E.T. to take over the second step on the Unlimited class podium from Sallstrom. Koester's BIERER INJURED IN MOUNTAIN BIKE CRASH K TM's competition chief Pit Beirer was absent from the Grand Prix of San Marino after suffering the same injury as Valentino Rossi after a mountain-bike accident last week. Remarkably, the popular and successful race boss has been confined to a wheelchair after breaking his back in a motocross accident in 2003. His mountain bike is a specially made three-wheeler. Beirer crashed on the same day as Rossi, and underwent similar surgery to fix a broken tibia and fibula. CN win catapulted him to the series lead with 92 points, followed by Sallstrom and Nuzzolilli, trailing by three and five points, respectively. Jeff Whitehead UNLIMITED 1. John Koester (Hon) 2. Vinny Nuzzolilli (Hon) 3. Jay Sallstrom (Yam) EXTREME 1. John Koester (Hon) 2. Jack Mason (Hon) 3. Phil Libhart (Tri) 450 PRO 1. John Koester (Hon) 2. Phil Libhart (Yam) 3. Bryan Rusnak (KTM) VERTICROSS 1. John Loester (Hon) 2. Phil Libhart (Yam) 3. Jay Sallstrom (Yam) PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEFF WHITEHEAD John Koester swept round four of the AMA Pro Hillclimb Championship in Pennsylvania. KTM Motorsports Manager Pit Bierer suffered a broken leg in a mountain biking accident.