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HILLCLIMB AMA National Championship Hillcli.mbSeries Round 9: Bushkill Valley Motorcycle Club (Left) After a round-one get-off, Lou Gerencer Jr. returned In the second round to secure the win In the 800cc class. (Below) Rick Soter III topped the 540Cc class, narrowly defeating archrlval Paul Plnsonnault. By Jay A. Herndon FREEMANSBURG, PA, SEPT. 10 oU Gerencer Jr.. edged ever so lightly closer to the man leading the points in the 800cc class, Steve Dresser, with his round-nine victory at the Bushkill Valley Gubgrounds. Gerencer's first ballistic assault on the treacherous no-out-of-bound hill left him just short of the timing lights, the result of a dramatic dismount. But Gerencer came back in the second round and put it all together to take his thundering Harley-Davidson to his fifth victory of the eason. Dresser' lead in the championship was diminished by a single point as he finished second on the day to retain a slim two-point margin, 121-119. Rick Soter III's blast to victory in the 540cc class proved somewhat less theatrical (no dismounts), but he was nonetheless forced to return in the second round to secure his win over archrival Paul Pinsonnault. With Pinsonnault's fourth-place finish at the prior round in Massachusetts, Soter moved into a one-point championship lead, 128127, with his fourth victory of the season. The Bushkill Valley M.e., just outside Steel City, Pennsylvania, is the ninth stop of the AMA Hillclimb series and compliments the spring event held in June. The 37-year-old club always provides a challenging hill, as the 490-foot course is both the longest and steepest of the series, and fea tures three major breakers. With trees and underbrush constricting the path to the top, a no-outof-bounds rule applies, and as referee Harold White points out, "You're in the trees and underbrush before you would technically be out of bounds." L 30 Charles Roberts led off the day's event as the first rider in the 540cc class to put his machine against the log. The Pennsylvanian quickly found out that the dry summer season had left the course rough, making it difficult to hang on to his Kawasaki. Roberts cleared tl,e first two jumps but fell short of the top with his finish at the 320-foot marker. Starting off the 20-rider field in round two proved just as rough for the Kawasaki rider. Roberts managed to negotiate all iliree breakers only to dismount at the 44O-foot marker to finish a disappointing 15th. Canadian rider Ted Wilkins cut a groove into the hill. With only one win so far this season, an obviously hungry Wilkins blasted to the top clocking a 9.7455, which put him in first for the first round. Returning in round two, Wilkins pressed the limits further only to come up with a slowed time of 10.1510 which squeezed him into third place behind Soter and Pinsonnault's fast second-round efforts. "(It was) rough through the bottom and it was bouncing a bit," said the Canadian, "but it was still going nice and straight by the time I hit 200 (feet) and then just let it go. The front end just floated the last half of the hill. It was great!" Number-one plate holder Pinsonnault elected to use a paddle tire in round one, a decision that proved to be costly with a timed run of 10.3518 seconds on his first climb. The Massachusetts native's machine sported a chain on its rear tire in the second half of the day, giving Pinsonnault the bite he needed to improve his time. Styling as he used body English to stay in the groove, Pinsonnault rode straight and true, hammeririg out a 9.5694 to secure a (Below) Gerencer (left) gained one point In the 800cc-class standings on championship leader Steve Dresser. Soter (right) moved to the top of the 540cc class with his day's effort. second-place finish. "1 wish I would have run a chain the first run," said Pinsonnault. '1 would have had my gearing better on the thing for the second run." Rick Soter III put the fuel to his BSA . in a big way, pulling off a second-place position with his first climb on a run of 9.7502 seconds. Soter's second assault on the dry and dusty hill was more fruitful as Soter ripped his way to the timing lights, shaving some two-tenths off his first climb with a 9.5238. Soter reflected on the day's strategy: "On the second run Paul had top time and Ted was second and I knew I was third. I knew I had to do some'thing so I just sat at the bottom of the hill, looked it over and did it." Soter's day at the races put him on top in points, one ahead of Paul Pinsonnault, 128 to 127, with his first-place effort on the Bushkill Valley's hill. The big BOOcc class started witl1 Wallace Fowler aboard his radical GSXR Suzuki. Kicking out a monstrous rooster tail of dust and stones, Fowler screamed up the hill and brought the spectator-