Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HILLCLIMB AM ATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP AN HILLCL/MBSERIES Round·3:Hornell M/C son By David L. Patton J r•. with Che ryl Sc hre iner AVOCA, NY,JUNE 21 SA-m o u n ted Terry Thom pson an d defendin g Nati onal Cha mpi• on james "jam mer" Large blasted th e co mpetition a t round th ree of the 1998 AMA National Cha m pio nship Hillclimb Series, held in Avoca , New York. Th e Hornell Motorcycl e Club' s ev en t features a fast, rocky hill that produces faster times as the day goes on, and only ' one rider in either class pu t in a top-10 ride on his first run. 540cc 32 Poi n ts lea der Ted Wilk ins came to Ho rnell with a tw o-race winning streak and he opene d th e show with a wideo p e n r id e on h is Rota x- power e d ma chin e for a tim e o f 6.97 se co n ds . Cha rley Rob erts an d Sco tt McN eel y' s fi rs t rid es failed to surpass Wil kins ' tim e. The n Da vid Wa tso n wheeled the Ma c' s Cycle Supply / KAp / AI's Cycle Sho p-backed Hond a CR500 to the lin e. jus t 6.797 seconds later, Watson had the lead after a smooth, straight ride. Watso n 's s trength is keepi ng his bike low ' over the ju mps and kicke rs, and Ho rne ll has always bee n a good hill for him. Six teen r iders too k their best shot, includ ing Terry Thompso n, whoposted a time of 7.293 despite problems near the top . "I got cr ossed up after th e seco n d jump and I had to shu t it off," Tho mpso n sa id . " I b are ly h eld on and ju st rolled over the finis h line." Th en fiv e-t im e and d ef endin g N ational Ch ampion Paul Pinsonnault pu lled his n itro-burning Honda CR500 in to the box. Pinsonnau lt came ou t of the ho le straigh t and worked his bike up to the finish line wi th an error-free ride to ta ke over the lead wi t h a ti me of 6.4660. "We we nt to the big whee l at the last event and I'm still trying to figu re ou t. th e gearing," Pinsonnault siad. "Rig h t now I'm geared wa y too low fo r th is hillclimb ." . Tw o riders lat er, joh n Ha mi lto n j r. b r ou ght hi s jo h n H am ilton Sr. /Jeff Yoder / ASAP Ra cin g- built Triu mp h tw in to the s ta rti ng lin e. H amilton cra n ke d it on a n d bla sted out of th e hole. The hill had a groove developing throu gh th e jumps, but the b ikes we re also di gging a hole arou nd the 230-foo t ' mark a nd nearly everyone had problems there . Hamilton got a little ou t of shape on his ride but he held it on and just barel y staye d in bounds to take over the lead wit h a time of 6.3957. He held on to the top spot for the rest of round one . . Wilkins was look ing for. a little more speed on his s econ d attemp t and he dropped his time to 6.555, good for sevent h overall for the da y. Scott McNeely, wi th the help of David and Dan Watson, had switched to a 21-inch rear w heel before th e h illclim b and h is firs t run was n' t fas t en o u g h be cau s e he w as geared too low . "We went up four teeth on the rear a nd it really h elped a lo t," McNeely said. "I go t good off the line and held it on thro ugh the gully." McNeely' s Mac Cycle Su pply-backed Ho nda took the lead with a run of 6.278 seco nds . Watson also dialed in his bike and he followed McNeely' s ride with a 6.3490-second time to claim third overall. "We di dn ' t change any thi ng for the second rid e," Wa tson said. "We figured the hill wo u ld come to us and it d id . I hit the groove I wa nted but I bounced a lot and wheelied at the top. That cost me a littl e tim e. I co u ld n' t h a v e ca ug h t Terry, but I might have cau ght Scott: ' Harry Schr ei b e r bro u gh t the Dr. Bob's Racing H onda CR in to 10th spot wit h a 6.9503, despite hit ting a kicke r wr on g and losing time in the air. Thom ps on cou ld n't wa it for his seco n d r ide b e cau s e Hornell rewa r d s horsep ower and the Thompson & Yoder Racing /Gene 's Machine-backed BSA is arguably th e strongest 540 ou t th ere . Tho mps on's ride was ou tstanding. "My bike screa me d ou t of the ho le," Tho m pson said.·"Then I missed the gullies before the kickers and I had a good rid e." He wheelied before the light and had to feather the th rott le a bit. Then, when he cranked it back on to go 'thro ugh the lights, he hit a bump and endoed after the fi ni sh line . Lu ckily h e o n ly g ot banged up a little. "My Pro-Acti on su s p en sion reall y pulled me through tod ay," th e win ner said af te r his 5.6866-s econd run, th e . fastest overall time of the day. Ja mes Zucco foll owed Th ompso n's ride wit h a 6.3576-second climb to take fourth overall , ma tchin g his caree r-best finish. . "Davi d Wa tson helped me get in .the right groove and th e bik e ran grea t;" said Zucco . Pinsonnault go t a better start on his second rid e but he could only ge t to a 6.414, good for sixth ov era ll. "I st ill d on 't ha v e the s us p ens ion dialed in and it kicked me into the air," Pinsonnault said . " I just ended u p on the bo ttom side of the tenth of a second that separa ted everyone but Terry." We s McCo y from Va n , West Virgin ia, clicked off a 6.575-second run to snag eighth ov era ll in his first trip to H ornell. H amilton' s Tri u mph missed throughout his second rid e, but his firstround 6.3957 wou ld earn him fifth overall. Mike Pulver fell on his first ride but . he put together a 6.923 to take n in th overa ll. Cat hy Templeton was the final 540cc rider and she just missed the top 10 w it h a 7.085-seco nd run, fin ishin g eleventh. Tho mpson's w in moves him in to a second -place tie wit h Pinsonnault, four point s behind lead er Wilkins, who ha s 39 point s. 800cc Large wheeled the number-on e-p late Harley-Davidson to the line to op en up the 800ce-action. Jammer had a min or problem and pulled off th e lin e, and tea m ow ne r T o m Rei s e r a n d his mechanic we n t to wo rk. Minutes lat er they moved up to th e li ne and La rge took off. His bike go t squirr elly right off of the line an d used up 'm ost of the hill as he was getti ng to the top. He fina lly wen t o u t of b ound s a t the 250-fo ot mark , bu t he would come on strong on his seco nd ride. Paul Za nd er also chose a less-th anstra ig h t rou te up th e hill for a time of 7.203 on his .Off Road Cycle Supply/ English Motors-backed BSA. Harley-D a vid son Ra cing Pro HiIlclimb Team member Lou Gere ncer also go t cross-ru tted a t the bottom and the . second breaker sent him far to the left and ou t of bounds at 310 feel Th e firs t sub-se ve n -second run in round o n e w en t t o Cana dia n G reg Williams on his fou r-cyli nder Honda . Williams has always had success at Ho rnell and his Cham p io n / HT Engin eering-spo nsored bik e pumps out a lot of horsep ow er, a nd he ke p t it a ll und er contro l to sto p th e clocks a t 6.365 secon ds . Steve Dresse r had to pull off the line for a mi nu te and Bob Shrein er moved his radical Kawasaki tw o-str oke triple to the line. The Dr. Bob 's Racin g machine whee lied hard off the line but he gathered it up and hit the groove for a time o f 6.809, the third -fas tes t time in th e 800cc class in round one. Dresser pulled the Parts UnIimited/ProAction-sponso red Harley-Davidson back to the line for his run . Dresser put together a 6.942-second run , but his bike was not Reigni ng 800cc champ James "J amm er" Large topped the field on the fast Hornell M/C hill . I makin g full po wer and he wo uld have to go to a backup bike for run two . Man y 800cc rid ers continued to have problems with the gully and the second kicker. Large was an interested sp ectator as round one came to a close. "A lot of p eople are bottoming out whe n they hit the jumps and it'sbouncing the bik es sideways," Large said. Willie Price was the last rid er to pu t in a six -secon d run, nettin g a 6.7488 despite the fact his bike was missing at ·high rp m. Af ter a gearing cha nge, "Ja m m er" took his secon d sho t at the hill. "T h e b ik e ca me o u t s traig h t a nd u nder control and I hit the grooves right where I wanted to," Large said. 'T his is one of m y best rid es ever." His time of 5.804 secon ds would be a difficult tar get to hit on the hot test da y of the series yet. Zander had a mu ch s traigh ter ride this time around, and a min or corr ection ea rly in the run got him into the best 'groove for a 6.4794-seco nd rid e to tak e . eigh th overall for the day. Gerencer has racked up some dra ma tic second-ro und w ins a t Horn ell, an d he was shooti ng for the wi n. Gerencer missed the groove and go t too m uch ai r over the first jump, losin g a lot of time, but luck was on his si de - th e timing equ ip me n t malfunctioned , giving him a second cha nce. He left the line hard but had to make a save that apparently cost him the win. "I wheelied before the gull y and had to shut off," Gerencer said . 'That cost me a few hundredths." He finished strongly, though, and this time the clocks worked. The 5.875-second run wou ld give him second place. . Bobby Templeton was the next top10 time. On h is fir st ri de, Temp leton went far sid ew ays off the second jump and barely saved it, but his second rid e was on the mon ey. "T hey m a d e changes to Erskine' s

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