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/127742
..---------------------~~ nth Annual Great American Championship Hillclimb (Left) Robbie Peterson smoked the 701cc-up Unlimited class, In the process setting fast time for the day at 13.275 seconds. (Inset) Peterson rode a CR1000. fulfilling the definition of "Unlimited" with his Honda thet puts two CR500 motors to work In tandem. (Below) Trsvls Whitlock walked away with the most cash from the $20,000 purse with a pair of firstplace finishes. a second and a fourth. By Karel KramerlDlrt Rider Photos by Kramer & Kurt Stolzenberg lit BILLINGS, MT,]ULY29-30 he Billings Motorcycle Club's 77th annual championship hillclimb proved the biggest of a long line of these historic events. Roughly 400 riders met in Montana to battle gravity, mother nature and diabolical man-made obstacles to earn their share of a $20,000 purse. And when the considerable dust cleared, 15,000 spectators had witnessed Utah's Travis Whitlock cart off the lion's share of the reward from the four offered money classes. Whitlock's worst finish was a fourth in the Open. Rubber-tire class. His best came in the 0-600cc Rubber-tire class and the 0-700cc Unlimited class with a pair of firsts on modified Honda CRSOORs, and he garnered second in the 701cc-up Unlimited class using a homebuilt Yamaha FJ1200-powered creation utilizing 1986 Yamaha YZ490 suspension. California's Robie Peterson powered his twin-eRSOOR-engined CRlooo to top the 701cc-up Unlimited class and he also collected cash for a seventh- and two 10th-place finishes in the other classes. Montana hard-rock miner Dusty Beer topped the Open Rubber-tire class on a much-modified KX with a Kawasaki four-cylinder motor. The BMC hill is only a little over 300 feet high, but the uppermost section is brutally steep with a natural IS-foot ver- tical rock face at the top. This year the club ran separate trails up the hill for the different displacement classes. The smaller classes ran a hill with several bends, including a left-hand dogleg with double vertical steps, which proved most daunting; only eight riders were actually able to top the monster. Both vertical sections of the hill were manned by club members dressed in a motley mix of motorcycle, bicycle and construction protective gear. These brave souls hang on heavy rope, armed with steel hooks tied to other ropes., their job being to "hook" the bikes in midair before they ttm;lble expensively back down the hill. Due to the number of entries, the 0600cc Rubber-tire class ran on Saturday, before a smaller number of spectators. The class, limited to bikes under 600cc running gasoline with a maximum wheelbase of 66 inches, is restricted to using standard knobby tires, but every other row of knobs can be removed. Most riders use Terraflex rear tires with the odd rows of knobs cut off. Witlock earned fast time at 17.603 seconds over Colorado's Neal Payne, only a hair slower at 17.609. BMC member Ron Zundel earned third in the class, while