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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127863
HILLCLIMB A NATIONAL HILLCUMB MA CHAMPIONS HIPSERIES lound 11: Devil's Staircase (Lell) Though he only raced to 8 sixth-place finis h at the season fina le at Devil'! Staircase, James -Jammer- Large did enough to claim the A MA 800Cc National Hlllclimb Championship in his rook ie year in the class. (Above) Jason Petty set last time 01 the day en route to winn ing the BOOCc class with a time or 7.564 secon ds . (Below) Paul Plnslnnaun woand up tied In points lor the 54OCc-class tltle, He ended up taking the championship by virtue 01 his five secon d-place finishes in the series this year. Large crowned, Petty plays on the stairs By J ay A. Herndon, S.L Ph oto OREGONIA, OH, OCT. 12 ro USA Tea m rook ie James "Jammer" La rg e took the Na tiona l Championship in the 80Dec class by a s rx- p oin t margi n over Greg Will ia ms, while Jaso n Petty took the Devil's Staircase to the cleaners, winning his second AMA National Championship hillclimb when the series made its final slop at the Devil's Staircase". The 540cc-division poin ts battle ended with Rick Soter and Pau l Pinsonnault tyi ng for the championship - bUI going by the total number of wins an d second-place finishes , the championship went to Pinsonnault, who finished third overall for the d ay' s event behind the day's winner, Terry Thompso n, and second -place finisher Rick Soter. The last sto p on the professional hillclim b circu it was held in the town of Ore gonia, O hio. H eld on th e fa r m own ed by the Fritz Powell famil y, the Oregonia hillclimb was host ed by th e Dayton Motorcycle Club, which will be P I:'- 0\ 0\ ...... 0\ N ... OJ .g ... U o 34 celeb rating its 50th yea r of spo nsoring hillclimbs ne xt season. Boastin g one of the larg es t crowds a nd m ore pri ze money than any other event this year, the club presented the usual wellprepped hill. It again consisted of four jumps, the first on e cresting a t the 50fool mark, the second at 170 feet , the third at 240 feet and the fourth at the 3700foot mark, with the timin g light set at 450 feel 540CC Drawin g th e first ride on th e hill , Harry Schreiber started off the field of 29 riders in the 540cc class. Staying left, Schreiber wheelied through the light>, recording a 9.600 for his first rid e. He retu rned in round two, this time using a cen terline app roach . Getting pushed out of s ha p e off the second jump, he regained the line as he dialed the BSA on. Fighting off a light front end , Schreiber set do wn in time for the fourth ju m p . H e dialed it o n to clock an imp roved time of 9.229 - not fast enough to elevate him from 15th position. Defe nd ing champion Pin sonnault, co ming center out o f the starting box, u sed p lent y of bo dy language 10 ge t over the first jump. Staying center over the second and third jump, Pinsonnault floated the front wh eel. Setting d own, Pinsonnault launched for the lights, flying off Ihe fourth ju m p . Wheelying through the lights, he clocked an im pressi ve 8.654, but the time was not fast enough to take the lead , as Scott McNeely sa t atop the leaderboard for most of the roun d until Terry Thompson's first-round run. Round two for Pinsonnault proved faster, as he chose a centerline run up th e sta ircase. Clicking off the jumps, I'insonnault roosted all ihe way through the ligh ts, improving on his earli er ride with a n 8.532 - fa st e no ug h to beat Thompson. Thompson cam e back, howe ver, to bea t Pin s onnault o ut of first place w hile Soter pushed his way to second by da y's end. Thompson, fro m Laurelvill e, O hio, came out of j he left si de o f th e pit, pulling an excellent holeshot . He then clicked off the ju m ps, getting air and d istance from each o ne. W he el yin g through the light w ith the th rottle pinned, Thompson clocked an 8.579, fast enough to bu mp McNeely and Pinsonnault down one slot and keep ing him in firs t place unt il the second rou nd . But after Pinsonnault's second rid e knocked Thompson off the top o f th e cha r t, Th ompson was fo rce d to rid e aga in . Using a lo t of bod y language, Thompson got his fuel-injected BSA hooked up, clicked off the sta irs like he was on a pogo stick an d ripped to the top of the hill with a fast time of 8.056 to take tup h onors . It was Thompson ' s third Na tional w in this season. But the cham pionship was still on the line, and Soter was hungry for it. Using a far-right-sid e approach, Soter left the log hard, ca tching a rut and kicking out to the right, crossing up as they flew off the first jump. Quick to recover, Soter found the centerline groove as he hammered o u t th e rest o f the jumps a nd wh eelied over the top, docking a 9.630. So te r' s return tr ip to the sta ircase proved faster. Using the cen ter line, he d rifted only slig htly left as he motored th e stairs . To w in the cha m pio ns hi p , though, So ter needed to beat Pins onnault by tw o p ositi ons . C locking an 8.372, he wound up right between Thom pson's and Pinso nna ult's times to take a seco nd- place finish and tie with Pinsonnault for the championship. With both having two National wins, and Pinsonnault having five second-place finishes and Soter two, the number of secondpla ce finishes was the deciding factor sonnault the championship. that gave Pin 800CC Starting th e 800cc class aboard his BSA, Paul Zander chose the centerli ne groo ve. Launching hard, Zander logged a lot of air time off the first jump. landing with the throttle dialed on, he stayed in the cen ter off each ju mp, eac h time gaining speed a nd distance. Zand er cleared a good 60 fee t off th e fou r th