Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HILLCLIMB A N TIO A MA A N LCHAMPIONSHIP HILLCLIMB SERIES Round 2: White Rose WC . By David L. Patton Jr. with Cheryl Shreiner . File photos by David L Patton Y , PA, JUNE7 ORK he last four even ts at White Rose M o to r cycl e Club h a v e h ad o ne thing in common: the 800cc winner, Will ie Pric e. Price won his first Pro Hillclimb eve r in 1996 and he has a total of six National wins since then - four of them, includi ng this one, at Whi te Rose. Defend in g 800cc Na tional Ch ampion James "Jamme r" Large took the runnerup s po t a hea d of Bobby Templet on ' s best p ro rid e so far, making it a n allHarl ey-David son podium. In th e 540cc cl a ss, T ed Wilk in s ba cked up h is season-o pening w in a t . Middlebury, Indiana, with his wi n a t round two of the AMA National Championship Hillclimb Series. Wilk ins su ffered his onl y serio us hHiclimbing injury last fall at York, breaking his back going over the top of the hill , but he entered this yea r's event with the points lead for the first time in his car eer and he wasn 't going to back off. Five-time and defendin g Na tio na l Cha m pio n Paul Pinson nault from Brook field , Massachussetts, put togeth er two solid rides to take second overall , a head o f BSA-m ou n ted Terry Thompson . 1TI 540cc 46 The Pennsylvania area had been d ry of late, bu t a sho rt but violent sto rm hit the club grounds about an hour before th e sta r t, ripping canopies loose and putting so m e needed mois tu re on the hill. When referee Harold White finally waved the first rider to the starting line, the hill was in the best cond ition of the day. Lon gt ime hillcl imb competitor Leon Eve rett worked his Tri u m ph over th e top to open the racing. Harry Schre iber of Dr. Bob's Racing put in a good run to take the earlv lead with a time of 6.765, but Phil Libhart on the Kreeger Pro Hillclimb Team Triumph pick ed u p a time of 6.598, good enough for seve nth ove rall by the end of the da y. Pin son nau lt has run th e same basic setu p for yea rs and part of his consistency has been due to his logbook ofgearing, etc., for each hill . Pinsonnault will have to start a new logbook now. "Wa lter H errick helped me build a new aluminum rear swingarm and we pu t a tall er rear wheel on it," Pin son nault said . "I had to figure gearin g on . pa p er a n d I' m not su re h ow it ' s a ll going to work. I have all of the old stu ff wi th me so I can switch if I have to for my second ride." Pi nsonna u lt d id n 't have to worry , thou gh, a s he ripped o ff the se co ndfastes t 540cc ru n of the day, a 6.3152-second blast. "I hit the firs t kicker jus t right but I got a little air over the camel hump and. los t a li tt le lime ," s a id th e r e ig n in g cham pio n afterward . ASA P Racin g (Lanny Zengusr/ Cet High Racew ear-backed John Hamilton Jr. followed Pinsonnault's ride wit h his best rid e as a profess ion a l. Hi s fu el injected Trium ph flew off the bott om of the hill, bu t he could n't snap the throttle all th e way open until after the ca mel hump . Hamilt on fou ght o ff a hu g e wheelie over the second ju mp and mad e it through the ligh ts. His 6.4730 would be hi s best rid e, earnin g h im fo u r th overall. "I lost a lot of time at the top of the hill, but it feels great having a bike that 's fast eno ug h to win. My dad has put a lot into my bike and Jeff Yoder has help ed a lot wi th th e fu el in jection. I'm rea lly lookin g forward to Freemansburg." Tim Frazier was the next rid er in the sub-se ve n-second bracket with a 6.942, bu t he ran ou t of gear earl y in his run. Honda-m ounted David Wa tson also rod e straight and smooth for a tim e of 6.752. Aft er Chad Disb ennet powered h is Triu m p h to a 6 .559-seco n d run , Wilkins ca me to ' th e lin e . Th e humid wea the r a ffe cted Wil kin s' m ethanolfueled Rotax and they had to pull out to cha nge plugs. His bro ther Bill go t Ted back in before his 10 minutes w ere u p and the 540cc points lead er tried to ge t focused for his rid e. "At this hill yo u ha ve to s tay low .. ov er the firs t breaker to go fast, a nd I got nervous wa tching all these gu ys hitting it just right," Wilkins said . He respond ed well to the pressure, though , hooking up off the line an d han dling the came l hump and second jum p w it ho u t any problem a nd sto pped the clocks wi th a time of 6.1292, faster than all but two of the 800cc bikes, and nearly tw o-tenths of a second fast er than the second-fastest 540cc time. "The rain helped the traction and the hill was nice and smooth and my bik e ran grea t," said the winner afterward . Mac's Cycle Supply-sponsored Scott McN eely worked h is way into the top five with a rid e of 6.4861; he wo uld end up fifth. Jim Zu cco's first hillclimb of the year we nt well wit h a 6.925-second rid e on his first a ttem pt. Thom pso n wa s the last 540cc rid er in round one .and he put himself solidly in third wi th a lim e of 6.3157, despite problems. "The bike d idn' t come ou t of the hole as hard as it sho uld have," said Thompso n. "Then I go t too mu ch ai r ov er the last ju mp." St ill , th e Thompson-Yod er Raci n g BSA go t third, demon strating the bike's potential. . The 540cc riders faced a mu ch d ifferent hill for their second attem pt. Despite another ' sho rt blast of rain, the hill wa s very d ry a nd sil ty a nd th e ru ts w ere baked concrete-ha rd . Sch reiber was the fi rs t to p- 10 rid er to b et t er h is ti me . Schreiber had a solid rid e for a 6.633 to take eigh th overall. Libhart and Pinson nault were a little slower as they strug gled to ge t ho ok ed up, and Ha millon lost his rid e at the bott om when he got cross -ru tted and rode in the weeds for a while. Frazier put on all the tallest gears he had and ran a 6.720 to snag 10th . Disbennet imp rov ed by .0112 to han g on to sixt h . Wil ki ns watched a nd waited as rid er after rid er took their turn. "When I saw Willie's time, I thought so meone would bea t my tim e, but the hill reall y got tou gh," Wilkin s sai d as th e co n te n ders fa iled to close on hi s ' 6.129. McNeely cou ld n' t gai n any ground , though Zu cco put in a 6.673 to take the ninth spot. Then Thomps o n ca m e to the li n e. After a good start, Th ompson go t in to trou ble in the ruts and sa iled over the camel hump. His firs t rid e was faster, so he stayed in third, beh ind Pinsonnault. Wil ki ns , mea nwhile, ha d ano the r win on his' cen trifuga l-clu tch snowmo bileengi ne-po we red hillclimber. "My bro the r Bill really has my bike wor ki ng g re a t, " Wilki ns sa id. "All I have to do is ride , not think abo u t what needs (to be ) adj us ted o r changed o r any thing ." Pin sonnault' s seco n d -p lace ri de mov ed him up to second in the stand ings and Libhart heads Thom pso n for third . Watson , Frazier, and McNeely are all tied for fifth as everyone tries to kee p Wilkins in sig ht. 800cc Ru s s Va n d e rVe e n put in th e fi rs t 800cc rid e of the day on his Indi anapolis So u ths ide H -D /Buell-backe d XR750 . VanderVeen, coming off a career-best second at roun d o ne of the series, worked his way over the kickers to set the early pace wi th a time of 6.822. The hill claimed a group o f rid ers including 199 5 ati onal Cha m pion Steve Dresser, who fell near the top . "The last jump kicked me sid eways into the timing lights," he said. Dresser would put it together on his second rid e. "Hot" Rod Williams blas ted his Triumph up the hill in a 6.5597-second ru n that wo uld stand up for seventh overall by the en d of the da y. Mike DeBusk pu t his Kawasaki two-st ro ke triple into the sixes with a 6.838, but he was jus t getling started . . Bobby Tem p leto n's firs t ride on the Ersk ine's PMS for Moto rcycles-ba cked Harley-Da vid son at Middlebury wasn't a grea t suc cess , bu t he reall y showed w ha t he can d o wi th a fast bike at York. "I wa s really pumped up before my ride becau se the bike is a roc ket, so I decided to take it easy and ge t a good , smoo th rid e in," Tem pleton said . He got off the li n e hard a nd s tra igh t a nd he reall y got the cro wd fired u p with his 6.389 pa ss, as well as tak ing over first p lace. " I knew if I could get thr ou gh the bo ttom of the hill clean , the bike wou ld do the rest." . Glen Petty put toget her the next topfive rid e , th o u gh he wa s n 't entirely happy with it. "I shu t off too soo n on the first kicker bu t th e top o f th e hill wen t perfect," Pet ty said. His 6.3992-second rid e had him close to the leaders. Bob Shrein er pu t the Dr. Bob' s Racing Kawasaki tri ple in to the sub-sevensecond bracket wi th a 6.914-second ru n bu t, just as w ith his son-in-law, DeBusk, there were changes to be made for more speed in round two. Then Large wheeled the number-onepl ate Harley-David son to th e line . The Rei ser' s C y cle Se rv ice-s po nso re d machine came off the line straight as a missile; then Jamm er mad e a sma ll erro r. "I shu t off just a littl e early over the first br eaker, bu t the bike was running excellent, so I had a grea t ride," Lar ge said . His time was 6.1162 seconds - good eno ugh for the lead for a while. Poi n ts leader Pa u l Za nd er has not h ad g ood lu ck a t White Ro se wh e r p oin ts w ere o n th e lin e, bu t h is BSA pulled him into the top 10 with a 6.7255second time. Then Price came to the line. Price ha: own ed the White Rose Hillclimb, win ning all thr ee even ts held there in 1997 and he was ready forwi n number fou o n th e Gary Mill er Lo g g in g /M ac ' : " Cycle Supply /Thompson- Yod er Racin j Harley-Davidson. "You have to be pa lient here becaus the firs t ju m p is the key to going fast; he sai d . Then Price walked the walk , blastin! out of the hole and up to the first jump shu tting off at the last second to ge t thr rear wheel down fast. "After I got across the first one, I jus opened it all the way up and everything jus t fell in to place," said Price, w ho se tim e of 5.8052 got every one 's at ten tior and boosted him into the lead at the end of the first ride. . I The probl ems the 540cc rid ers had in ro u nd tw o were nothing com pare d to the 800cc rid ers' woes. Dresser wa s the fifth rider on the hill in round tw o and lie was the first to make it to the top . "My ride wen t pretty straigh t but it was hard because of the ruts," Dresser said . Eve n though he fell, unhurt, it was af te r th e lights a nd he kn ock ed ou t a

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