Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

--,EV N S ET By Jay A. Herndon of S .L. Photo JEFFERSON, PA, sm.28 ~ }I'" illie Price fir ed hi s ni tr o burni ng Ha rley-David son to the fifth Nationa l victory of the season u sin g his fir st a nd only rid e at the Whi te Rose MC hill. The sing le 'assa u lt pushed Pr ice in to fourth place in th e 800cc-d ass cha m p ions hi p points battle. The 800cc-dass points und erw ent a shuffle wi th Greg Williams placing 15th at Ind iana a nd fift h a t Je ff erson . Williams is secon d w it h 107 p oints, behind Jam es Large and his 116 points. Steve Dresser's seventh-place finish for the day find s him with 107 total po ints to put him in th ird place in the point s battle, leaving Willie Price close behind Dresser with 105 po ints . In the S40cc class , Ted Wilkin s took hi s second Na tio na l w in ab o a rd his inn o va ti ve s now mo b ile- based Rota x hillclimber. It was Wilkins' seco nd ride that secured the win for him, but the fast tim e had a pri ce - un able to shut d own, Wil kin s had to bail off th e m achine at the top of the hill . By d ay's end, 540cc rid er Paul Pin sonnault, th e cu rre nt defending champion, finis hed six th, but still lead s Soter wi th 130 points to Soter 's 129. David Watso n finis hed fifth, to add an other 11 points to hi s ta lly, bringin g him to a tot a l of 91 points, with Sco tt McNeel y fo llowing d ose behind w it h a tot al to date of90. T he 45-yea r -old Whit e Rose M C spon sored its usu al fall event, boasting two other hilldimb eve nts a yea r. The we ll-groomed gro unds set the stage for a good event on a cool, crisp, overcas t da y a s ra cers a n d s pecta to rs fill ed th e grounds jus t outside Yo rk, Pennsylvania. The hill itself, 245 feet from light to light, presented two obs tacles, the firs t being a jump off the steep approach that breaks away at the l 00-foot marker . The hill th en co n tinues up to th e se co n d I A t1 a ~ r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... 0\ ' N .... OJ .0 o ..... u o 42 .- AMA National ChampionshipH illclim bSeries, Round 10 steep jum p at the 210-foot marker, wh ere the hill has bee n bulldo zed off tu furm a large shelf, then continues to the top . 540cc Rick Soter 1IIgot off to a slow start in th e 540c( class, as his fi rs t ru n was fraugh t with di fficulties. After a good launch, Soter lobbed off the firs t jump, th en g rabbed a handfu l of thr ottle for the ru n up the res t of the hill. Unfortunately, the ni tro- burning BSA stood on end as Soter foug ht off a big wheelie, forcing him to back off a bit. Soter carded a 7.2820-second run. Soter's roundtwo ru n pro ved much faster. He had an excellent launch and aga in had to fight a wheelie to get throug h the second jump. Once throug h, the BSA kicked fro m the ri gh t sid e to th e left a nd Soter had to ma nhand le the rebellious nit ro-b urner to the ligh ts to record a 6.3631, nettin g him third on the day. "I figured I'd better do so me thing:' Sote r sa id . "T he seco nd (ri de), I go t lucky and it was half decent ." Terry Thompson sta rted on the left s ide o f th e hil l. Ju m p ing off the fi rs t obstac le , Tho m p so n' s BSA sq u irmed und er him as he lo o ked for tra ction . Back in to th e g roove, Thompso n jump ed the second obstacle wit h a hard blast to the light to clock a 6.3144 for his first ride. Tho mpson stepped it up with his second rid e, having to fig ht off a lofty front whee l th rough the midsection of th e hill. He kept it together as he wuund up the fue l-in jected BSA, goi ng thr ough the lights tu clock an awesome 6.1731. Ted Wilkins stepped off th e log in a fas t fre nzy as his machin e screamed off . th e lo g . Lo bbin g o ve r th e jum p , Wilk in s hammere d the throt tle as the st re tched Rotax squirmed . Fluating the front wheel, Ted got se t up fo r the second jum p as he sa t d own befo re it. fl ying o ver the jump a nd o ve r the top, Wilkins re co rded a 6.2520 for his firs t r id e . Wilki ns' second rid e needed to bea t Th ompson's seco nd ride for hi m tu take ove r th e lead. Flyin g of f th e seco nd jum p , Wilkins' Rot a x sq u ir m ed u nder him as he s ho t u p th e hill in a scream ing fr en zy aboa rd th e ni mble machine . Stretched ove r the back of the seat in an a ttem pt to trans fer weigh t to the rea r tire, Wilk ins got the hoo kup he n e e d ed. W it h th e s p ee d h e "h a d , Wilki ns had to bail off hi s m ach in e, followi ng it over the top as th e clock disp lay flas hed the wi nning time of 6.0361. "I tho ugh t I had to hi t it once more after the last jum p , b ut 1 probabl y shou ld n ' t have ... I hit o nce m or e and that looped m e: ' Wil kins said of hi s bail-off. 800cc Willie Price had h is fuel-inject ed, nitro -burning Ha rley-David son backed into the ho le for him as he stood look ing up the hill in last-minu te preparation for hi s assa ulj . Fired a n d re ad y , Price cracked the throt tl e a nd d ro p ped the clutc h tu pu ll a hard lau nch. On ce back on the g round after the first jump, Price p inned the th ro ttle as th e m o ns trous machine dug in hard . Staying centered, Price never let u p as he rocketed over the second jump and b lasted through the lights wit h an airy exit over the top to record a 5.7529. It was the only ru n he need ed to win the class . Jas o n Pe tty p ut together a showy first ride as he fishtailed coming off the first jump wi th the bike kicking aruun d un d er hi m . Pe tty fi nall y fou nd th e groove, whe reupon he dug in - bu t suffe red fro m a w heelie. U p ta ll , Pe tty rod e to and over th e seco nd ju m p in u nicycle fashio n . Ge tti ng a kick, th e Harl ey looped ou t from un d er Pett y . Ma king the lig hts abuard the stretched ma chin e, th e an nou ncer ba rked ove r the chee rs of the crowd tha t the tim er s ha d ma lfu nc tioned a nd that Petty would get another ride. This tim e Pe tty put in a straight-line ru n, attem pting to (Above left) Willie Price set the fast time of the day with his single run in the 800cc class . (Above right) Ted Wilkins took the win In the 540cc cl ass on his Rota x-powered h lllclimber. po p the bubble Price was s itting on. Obviously faster th an the earlie r run; Jason was happy with the 5.9572 timed ride. Pe tty's sec ond-round run pro ved slo wer, wi th another w heelie-pl agued r id e . P e tt y still ma naged a 6.233 0 aboa rd t he Gere nge r- bui lt Har ley Davidson. The first run secured Petty a third-place finis h. "La rge sn uck in th ere a nd chip ped me ou t a little bit, but he deserves it," Petty said. "He' s ru nning real well." James "Ja m me r" La rge of the Pro USA Team had his ma chin e rolled into the pit by team leader Tom Reiser, the s ponso r and build e r of La rge' s ri de. Large lobbed uff the first jump us ing the center -line attack. Looki ng for traction, th e Ha rl ey d an ced und er the poin ts lead er. Th e wheelspi n Jeft Large wi th a 6.3585-second time on his first ride. On the sec ond run, Large jammed up the left side and logged a lot of air time over the first jump . Continui ng up th e left side, Jamm er fed the nitro-burner all it wa nted as he dashed to the ligh ts to clock a fast 5.8141-second run; on ly a few hundredth s s lo we r tha n Pr ice' s pa~e-setting ride, leaving him second on th~ da y. "Once J mad e it over the little breaker there, I left it on, went clear to the top and it ca me ou t good for me," Large ~d . (~ White Rose Me Jefferson , Pennsylvan ia Results: september 28, 1997 540 : 1. Ted Wilkins (Rtx); 2. Terry Th o mpson (BSA); (BSA); 4. Kevin Zucco (Kaw); 5. David 3. Rick Soter m Watson C n). Ho 800: 1. Will.. Prioo (H. D); 2. Jd mt."!< Largl" (H·O); 3. Jd'iOn P.-tty (1-1-0); 4. Rod rwy W iI!idm<; (H-O); 5. Cft'S Willi.un... (Hon).

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