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HILLCLIMB AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HILLCL/MB SERIES Round 2: White Rose M.C. (left) Willie Price (left) won the 800cc class, and Rick Soter III (right) won the 540cc class at the Jefferson National Hillclimb on the White Rose M.C. Clubgrounds. (Above) Oops!: GlendalPetty's first ride of the day didn't quite go as planned. Petty wound up eighth overall in the 800cc class. By Robin Wiseman and Jay A. Herndon Photos by S.L Photo JEFFERSON, PA, JUNE 1 illie Price took the victory in the 800cc class during the second stop on the AMA National hillclimb circuit at the White Rose M.e. Clubgrounds. Price only took one ride on his Harley-Davidson to secure his second National win. Richard Soter ill retw:ned to the hill during the second round to claim first place in the 540cc class. Bumped off the .. top of the leaderboard by Paul Pinsonnault, Soter had to take his second ride to get back on top. The damp spring weather caused some concern for the hill conditions among the riders, but the day of the event dawned clear and sunny. The hill measured 260 feet from light to light, with the first kicker at 40 feet, another small kicker at 100 feet, and a big kicker located at the 21O-foot mark. Celebrating their 45th anniversary, the White Rose Motorcycle Club once again welcomed the AMA National to its wonderfully groomed grounds. 540cc 42 Harry Schreiber, aboard Bob Shreiner's BSA, got the 540cc class off to a start. Slightly. left in the starting box, Schreiber drifted left coming off the first breaker and motored back to center line before hammering over the second breaker to clock a 6.979-second pass as he shut down with a gentle lob over the top. Returning again in round two, Schreiber shot the groove. Staying on the cut-out path to the top, he used body language and throttle adjustments, but the ride proved slower, with a 7.2193, setting Schreiber up for a 10th-place finish. After a year and a half of injuries incurred while riding for the Gerencer team aboard one of their Harley-Davidsons, Schreiber has elected "to get back into racing" through the 540cc class. Mike Templeton competes with two other family members on the pro. circuit: his brother Bob Templeton, who competes in the 800cc class, and sister Cathy Templeton, who also competes in the 540cc class. Cathy is the first female professional hillclimber. Mike put together two completed rides aboard his Honda. His first effort clocked a 7.1922, and his second-round effort produced an improved time of 6.5270, which placed him in third for the day. "1 backed out of it a little early over the first breaker, but from there on in it just took off," Mike Templeton said.. "1 was able to stay in the groove and out of the rough stuff up there, and got through the lights with a decent time. (Paul Pinsonnault) set up the bike that 1 ride. I just show up and ride it." Cathy Templeton popped out of the center of the starting box and, getting onto the hill, she wheelied as the Honda settled onto the midsection of the course. She drifted far left, close to the out-of-bounds white line at the 170-foot mark. Motoring on at full throttle, she pushed her· Honda back to center line, trying to get into the groove. Then, while negotiating the second kicker, Templeton's bike bucked out to the right, upsetting her ride just short of the top. Hill workers helped extract her Honda. Returning to the box, Cathy Templeton had problems getting started and into gear. The ride started out good, but fell apart as she fought to find a straight line. Unfortunately, the second kicker upset the New Englander, as she took out the timing lights by running them over. Cathy had a distance of 235 feet on her first ride and stopped the clock - literally - at 8.0892 seconds with her second climb. She was later awarded the mangled timing-light" tripod by the hill workers and referee Harold White. Paul Pinsonnault's first ride saw him in the groove over the first kicker with a gentle lob. After getting some air, he settled down onto the .midsection of the hill and stayed centered there on the quickly forming groove. Moving to the second kicker, PinsonnauH floa ted the front wheel over the top before skying onto the top of the hill. Pinsonnault clocked a 6.836. Utilizing the one line, Pinsonnault plotted his course right through the center line on his second ride. Relying on body-weight transfer to stay straight and to find traction, he slid back on his Honda's seat. During the climb to the top, the Honda threw out a dusty roost~ er tail. He netted a second-place finish, with an improved time of 6.2617 "1 knew the hill was getting a 'little bit smoother, so 1 had to really, really get a good run in there, and it worked out pretty good," Pinsonnault said. 'The bike's still not 100 percent, but it will be for Freemansburg (Pennsylvania}." Soter left the box crisp and clean on his first attempt at the hill, jumping off the first breaker and landing straight. . Soter then cracked the nitro-burning BSA's throttle for an immediate burst of power to and through the second obstacle, as the run was finished off with an . impressive ride of 6.3801. Having his bubble popped by Pinsonnault, Soter returned in round two to regain the first position with a clean, straight run. Soter made it look easy, as he clocked an even better time of· 6.0828, less than twotenths of a second faster than Pinsonnault's best time.·Soter talked of his winning Tide with his usual indifferent smile. "It was a good holeshot. 1 got over the breaker and there was no traction, so 1 slid my butt back and found somejust took off good," Soter said. "Guys like Paul Pinsonnault make you want to go faster." 840cc Aaron Brown piloted a converted GSXR 750 and got the 800cc class started with a wild ride. Once onto the hill and over the first breaker, Brown's ride took off, getting a kick-out to the left and immediately shooting to the far right side of the track. Brown got control in time for the second kicker, only to get bounced off as the monstrous Suzuki launched far left just past the lights. Dismounting, Brown made the lights, but was ruled out of bounds at the 150-foot mark by referee Harold White. Utilizing a 10-minute time limit to return to the starting log, Brown's second ride proved just as wild as his first one. Fishtailing though the midsection, Brown managed to stay aboard and complete his climb in 8.1183 seconds, placing him 17th at day's end. Veteran Tom Reiser's apprentice, James Large of the Pro USA team, put together a clean first climb, utilizing the groove and getting some air off of each of the kickers to make a run of 8.240. Large made another clean exit out of the starting box on his second ride. Once over the kicker, the straight blast to the lights produced a 5.9803-second time, placing Large third for his effort. "I let off the gas a little soon," Large said. "1'm thinking 1've already screwed up the ride, so 1 got back on the gas, and 1 let off again. After I got over the breaker there, I just left it on (and) it went real good for me then; I'm still thinking