Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.H L LIM IL C B. . A National Championship H MA illclimb Series Round 3: Bushkill Valley M.C. • (Left) Lou Gerencer flies his Harley up the Bushkill Valley M.e. hili on the way to his second win In three events this season. (Right) This cr oss-up on his second run cost Steve Dresser too much time for him to take victo ry In the BOOcc clas s. Dresser finished second. (Below) 540cc-c lass rider David Wats on scored his fi rst win of the season wit h a bli stering 9.339second run . By David L. Patto n Jr. FREEMANSBURG. PA. JUNE 9 s the AMA Nation al Cham pionship hillclimb ser ies closed the books on ro un d th ree at the Bushkill Valle y ' Mot orcycle clu bg ro unds, the 540cc class showcased its third w inner of the season as KAP-sponsored David Watson ski pped his high school gradua tion to rack up the second Na tional win .of his career. In do ing so, the youngster edged three-ti me defending Natio nal Cha mpion Pau l Pinsonn au lt, who put togeth er a second-place ride that edged ou t BSA-mounted Mike DeBusk for the second race in a row. The SOOcc class featured a showdown betw een 1995' s tw o top ri d ers. Steve Dr es s er, th e Natio nal Champio n, bou nced ba ck fro m h is seventh- a n d fourth-place season-opening finis hes to lead m ost o f th e d ay. Curre n t p oints lead er Lou Gerencer then put in a fast an d furi ous ride, flirting with disaster all the way up the hill to take the win. Dre s ser h eld on to second a head o f Occ SO new comer Willie Price's first podium finish. The Bushkill Valley Motor cycle Club pro vided a well -g r oo me d, 50 0-foo t, three-jump monster of a hill . The Free- I 38 , mansburg. Pennsylv ania, area ha s had a fair ly wet summer thus far, lendi ng the hill more traction than usual. And so it turned ou t to be a tou gh day for many co m petitors as the ir m ach in es woul d h oo k up su d d e n ly and t h ro w t h e m down. Kawasaki-mounted Kevin Zucc o was the first to try the hill and he ran out of m omentum a t th e to p . BSA rid e r DeBusk continued his challenge to the tw o-stro kes wi th a 9.71-second run to set the early pace . Terry Thompson, also" on a BSA, had a fast rid e going until the th ird ju mp, but th e back en d kicked Thompson and he fell off a few feet from the ligh ts. Though his bike m ade it past the lights, th e rules say th e rider must ha ve one hand on the ha ndlebars for a legitim ate run. Scott McN eely, cu rren tly second in th e points s tandings, had a go od rid e going but th e ti mer m a lfun ct ion ed. McNeely was the only rider to have th is p roblem and it cost him; he wasn't ab le to dupli cate that pe rformance on either of his next two rid es. This brought up th ree-tim e defending N ati onal Ch ampion Pa u l Pinsonnau it. The H onda rider got a little offline ov er the first jump and nearly we nt off the side of the hill. Pinsonnault held fast to h is KAP-backed nitro-burning Hond a an d made it to the lights for a 9.75-second run. Perenn ial fro nt-runne r Ted Wilkins near ly went over the bars after a jump an d was not able to catch the lead ers on h is run, th ough h is 10.56 w oul d still give him fifth overall for the day. The last tw o 540cc rid ers of the first round were David W at son and Sco tt McNeely. Watson has h ad an average start to his 1996 cam paig n but th a t all changed o n h is fi rst r u n . Watson lau n ch ed h is H ond a off th e lin e a nd challenged the hill to beat him. His 9.33secon d run would h a v e pl a ce d him third in the SOOcc class. The pressure w as on for roun d tw o as ev eryone knew they had to have an incredible ride to beat Watson thi s d ay. DeBusk had plans of his own but the hill got him down at the 400-foot marker. "I w heelied a little on th e fi rs t r u n ," DeBu sk sai d . "The second ru n, everything w ent wrong." Mc Nee ly's seco n d run w a s fas t enough for a fourth-place finish than ks to .the Watsons, who helped him with his sho ck. "I think the run I didn't get a t im e for was m y be st ri de, " sai d McN eel y. Still, th e Yam aha rider held on to second in the points going into round fou r. Pinsonnault was able to improve on his secon d ride but he couldn' t get near Watson 's tim e. Wilkins had a great run goi ng until he flew h alfw ay off th e bike. "I we nt over the jump and m y knee hit the petcock, closing it, .so m y bike barely had eno ugh fuel to make it to the top ," said Wil kins, who se bad lu ck th is season continues to ha unt him. Wh en asked abou t hi s gradua tion, Watson replied: "I wo uld ra ther be racing th an si tt ing th ere for gra d ua tion. Besi des, th ey' ll m a il m e m y d iploma . Won 't they?" Tri u mph-mounted Jason Pe tt y led the SODcc class to the hill and turned in h is best p rofession al ride ever. "I am ge tti ng u sed to the bike now (and) I'm learning h ow to ride it," sai d Pet ty after his 9.61-second, fou rth-p lace run. Former 540cc champion Tim Frazier continues to impro ve on the Kawasak i tripl e h e borrows fro m Bob Shre iner, and thou gh he cou ldn't hook up at the bottom of the hill, he still ran 10.04 for his first run. Then Pro USA Hillcl imb Team member and nation al champion Steve Dresser turned h is H arley-Davidson loose. Dresser had a nearly perfect ride as he

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