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/125867
Speed counts most at the Hill-in-the-Hole fn 51 5lQI ;i!: By Ann A . Powell SUNSHINE YAMAHA ORA:-:GE. CA L.• J UN E 23 From the starting log to the first foot age marker is o nly about 20 fee l. Then it is :100 feet o f roc k face and deep dirt to t he to p o f Saddlc back's Hill-in-l he-Hol e. Getting over the top is q uite a feat, but that · isn 't e nough to make a winn er in a hillcl imb . Here, it is speed that co u nts. and speed is what we sa w t od a y . at least for a whi le. Neal Mackel , aboard a h igh ly modified 820cc T riu m p h, made the fast time of the d a y o n his fi rst run. He wa s up and over in 7.28 seconds. That was much slo we r th an his o wn record for the hill. a 7.1 2 set las t year, but it lo o ked goo d to day, being well ahead of th e sec o nd fastest tim e. 9.10 se t by ... Kerry Peterson on a s toc k 400 Maico. The time assured Mackel of a first place troph y in the Open class, and also of a spot in the run-off for top eliminator. Each ri d er has tw o tries at the hill in regular co m pe titio n . Following this, the winners of ea ch class face off for a single run for the top eliminator spot. Usuall y, this goes to the w in ner of th e Open cl ass, but the last co uple of climbs have not fo llow ed th e norm. The drag cli m b at De An za earlier this month saw Ron Saffel o n a m odi fied 65 0 T riu m p h ta ke the win , and he repeated his fea t toda y. Th e h ill had gotten pr ogressively worse as the day wore o n . The hot sun had d ried it to t he point where the re was just no traction at all. The riders were hot and tired , more prone to make mis takes by the time th e run-off got underwa y. It looked pre tty grim. In fact , eve n those wh o had gone ove r the top to ta ke th e class wins we re finding that th ey co uld n ' t m a ke it ove r during t he run-off, Fin all y. in the 4 50cc Modified clas s. the fir st rid er t o p ped the hill. Of the ten men in the o veral l co m petit ion, o n ly four m anaged to go over the to p . Everyone had j ust about co nceded the w in to Mackel when it ca me ti me for th e bi g bikes to ru n. Ron Saffel (6 5 0 modi fied Tri) m ade a surprisin g run of 9.7 8 seconds. This was well bel ow th e mark set by Mackel in his first run . but no one doubted th at the big 820 cou ld top it. Mac was the las t m an to run . li e to o k off like he was going to fly. but t he hill was deceiving . The rock face go t the big m an o ff b alan ce . his b ike ju m pi ng back and fo r th across the hill. He d idn't lose muc h speed. b ut the weaving mea nt tha t he traveled a lot fu rther. His finis hing time was a relat ivel y slow 1 1.22 seconds. Sa ffel had 5lQI ...:I g =- g grand opening 7 r0'> MX 100 A . .$ 629 MX25 0 A ..$1029 MX 360A ..$ 1079 ...... 0'> >- - Trials 80 . .. .$ 35 9 Trials 250 .. .$ 899 --' ""'""l out the door prices 10% down l st payment not due till August 19th with appro val of credit. u. u. 0 u a. d: Open Sundays 10 10 W. Chapman Orange, CA III 714 I- a: d: ~ UI I- 633-0064 III Scott Cavness won t he AMC Open Intermediate class June 21 at OCIR . Those sp e ed s look pretty slow co m pared to the record 7. 12. held b y Mack el, but th e y a re amazing when yo u lo ok a t th e hi ll an d the small size o f th e bikes. Th is hill cl imb marks the en d o f the seaso n for th e cl im bs sponsore d by the Sa d d le back lIillclimbers' Association held a t Sad dleback Park . The extreme hea t and steady winds of su mmer m ake climbing at Saddle back too difficult for su m mer co m pe t ition. The cli mbs w ill resum e next October, with pl an s to return t o th e I\latte rh o rn as we ll as p lans for a money cli m b . There will be regular co m pe t it io ns held a t De An za Park ' in Sunnymead during the summer, with th e next cl im b set fo r July 14. A t tha t tim e, lo cal climbers will be trying to to p a virgi n hill. with a special awa rd o f S 100 for the first bike over the crest d uring co mpetition. Needless to say. many will tr y. but park owner. Do ug Hall (who is posting the S I 00) is co nvinced that no one will su cceed. tak en th e t op prize . a repeat o f wh at had happened at the last drag clim b. Mo st hillclimbs are judged by w ho go es ove r the hi ll with the sh ortest ru n , or, in the case of drag climbs, who can beat th e most people over the h ill in a f a c e t o -f a c e battl e. On ly th e Hilt-in-the-Ho le is run aga in st th e clocks. The run toward the hill is short, an d there is no time to bring the bike t o peak p ower. The log is just 20 feet from the base o f th e hill , an d the clock is triggered at th at base . Ra rely do the smaller bikes m ak e i t over the to p. an d wh en they d o. the time is slo w wh en co m pared to th e spee d o f th e p ower horses. Fir st m an o ver today was a su rprise in th e I 75 class. Ca rl Co llier ( 175 Ya m)' go t ove r in 19 .06 seconds . He was followed by his you nge r broth er . Jim (Yam). in 2 0.28 sec onds. v Runyard cashes in at S.A.M. Mike Runyard cleaned up the cash at S.A.M:s Saddleback MX. By Tom Corley ORANG E, CAL.. J UN E 22 With J im Weinert and Rich Thorwald son 'being out because th ey were preparing for t he big ra ce at the Coli seum, Mike Runy ard (Suz) cleaned up and ca p tured the S .A.~1. Saddleback 250 Ex pert bu cks. His m ajor threat was th e haulin ' Wheel sm ith Maico of Morris Malone. Malone hoo ked a p ai r of seco nd s and whipped Jerry Trojnar (CZ) and J ack Phillips (Han). The m ajor go- fas t person to invade the 500 Expert rac e was the famed Bultaco ac e T o m Rapp of Buena Park. Rapp jetted away from the competition (Mike Yorba) in the first 40 minu te mota but was faced with bad luck in the final go. Rapp was wickin' it o n a d ownhill (w hich is overlooked by the Web co tower ) when his st inger/ silence r fa tigued a way fro m h is Bul's cha mber. It fe ll off o n the tr ack wh ich ruined his chances. wh en he went to p ick it up th e migh ty c harging Maico of Mik e Yorba almos t put k nobby m arks o n h is back as it fl ew past. Yorba ran a way with the wi n over Dennis Cha ndl er (Mai), who was 2-3 fo r t he d ay. an d J eff Witherell • o n a CZ . BODYfort ore essential when BELTS SUPj>Ort and eom you re raeing o r play ing hard. That·, why pm 's as well as amateurs ehoose our kidney support bett. Nylan 'beCked foam neoprene rubbet' wi th viny t outer side in 28-44 sizos,just $ 12.95 at leeding dalen nationwide. Write fOt'our catat og. F_ ' P. 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