Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127956
HILLCLIMB AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HILLCLIMB SER IES NORTON SHORES, MI, AUG. 2 very two years the AMA Na tiona l C ha m p io ns h ip H illc limb Se ries tra vels to Mount Garfield for the All -Sta r C ha llenge, h ost ed b y th e Mu skegon Motorcycle Clu b and Snell's Harley -Davidson . Thi s ye ar th e Challen g e wa s eve n m orc imp ort ant, as points would be awarded after a series of "qua lifiers" and cham pionship hop es could be da shed with on e problem or a poor run. If a rid er wa s elimina ted, he wo u ld be award ed no points. Thompson Racing's Terry Thompson took h is fir st N a tio na l w in tw o years ago at Mount Garfield and was coming off his first win at Hayden ville the week before, but he was concerned about his bike befor e the hillclimb. "It's only running on one cylinder, and that cylinde r is smoking," Thompson sa id . '''1 may be rid in g th e backup bike ." Thompson's father, Jim, a w inner at Nor ton Shores in the 70s, wo uld ge t the problems fixed in time for Terry's ride, and Tho m pso n no t only ended up with the win, he also set th e fas test time of the da y for either class. In the 800cc class, Glen Petty Jr. and d ef ending Na tio na l Champion James Large ar e locked in a tigh t battl e for the 1998 plate. Both rid ers were con cerned about the possibility of losing points. "If yo u get knocked ou t in eithe r of the elimina tion rounds, you' ve lost 15 points ," Larg e said . "I don't really. ca re for this system bu t eve ryo ne has to ride with it today." Petty, ahead by one point , was hoping to continue his excellent season. "It's golng to be a fas t hill bu t if I can s tay consis ten t th rou gh the day, I'll be all right," Pe tty sai d . Petty' s stri ng of finishing eve ry hillclimb in 1998 in the to p five woul d con tin ue a t d ay's end , but i.t was Lar ge wit h the victory . 540cc 00 0\ 0\ ,...... 0\' ,...... ..... r:Jl ::l eo ::l ~ 32 John Hamilton Jr. 'p ulled his ASAP Rac ing /Lanny Zengu s /G et High Racewear-backed Triumph to the line to start the eliminatio n rounds. Aft er the first round all but the top 15 would be ou t; five more wo u ld fall in round two, and round three wo u ld determine th e top 10 and award the points. Hamilton blasted his Tr iumph up the hill wit h a smoo th , fas t ride but th e timers malfu nctioned , forcing him to run again in round one . Hamilton's second ride also end ed w it hout a tim e, so the d ecisio n was made to advance th e top 15 a nd Hamilton to the second round . The un usual format eliminated many outstanding racers by the end of round two. In the 540cc class, Tob y Th ompson had the fifth-fastest tim e of round one bu t his bike blew up as th ey tri ed to sta r t i t for th e s e cond r ound . Sco tt McNeely and Mike Pulv er also ran int o p roblem s on th eir s eco n d ri d es a n d would n' t advance to the third round . .In the final, Hamilt on was read y to (Left) Terry Thomps on was the man in the 540cc class at the All-Star Challenge hillclimb. Thompson set fast time of the day in taking his se co nd s traight win. (Above) James "Jammer" Large took the win in the 800cc class on his HarleyDavidson. fie rs, th en le t it a ll hang ou t w h en it cou n ted," Th om p son sa id . "It worke d out for us today." BOOcc put togeth er another good rid e after setti ng the fas test time in t h e s e co n d round, but as he left the start line after dropping the clu tch, his bike hook ed up a little too well and he had to roll ou t of th e throttle to kee p fro m lo op in g out. His da y ended on top of the first breake r, b u t hi s l Oth- place p oints w o u ld move him past McN eely in the se ries stand ings. . Ted Wilkins pulled his Rotax tw in to' the line w it h a chance to put in a fas t tim e to ' put th e pr es sure o n the oth er riders. Wilkins had a flawl ess rid e go ing up to the second break er whe n his bike w heelied and he had to back off for jus t an ins tant. "My bike was ru nning way too lean todav. I worked on it all last week bu t I neve r go t th e je tt in g rig ht ," Wilkins said . Even so, his 5.684-second ru n was his bes t rid e of the day and earned him fifth place. Dr. Bob' s Racing tea m member Harr y Schreiber Jr. also saved his best ride for last. "W e stru gg led a little early on but we kept workin g on it and p ut in our best rid e at the end, " said Schreiber, w hose 5.730 wa s fast enough for sixt h. Ge re ncers Harley-D a vid son /Parts Unlimited -Th or / Bowlby' s Cy cle-spo ns ore d Tim Fr azi er wh eel ed hi s fu e linjected BSA to the line, looking for his first win at Mount Garfield . Frazie r had gotte n faster w ith each trip up the hill and he really ripped up the hill on this fina l run, keeping his bike straight and low ov er the breakers. The result was a 5.00l -second run tha t gave him the lead . There was a cos t, thou gh , as he had to crash to miss the d efunct ski-lift buil d ing at the top of the hill. "My w ife, Lisa , a nd my mom and dad have helped me so mu ch," Fraz ier said. "Dad , Earl Bo wl b y a n d Mark Swem built this bike in two weeks and Jeff Yoder added the fuel inject ion and it' s rea lly wo rke d ou t today." Fra zie r's time held up for one rid e when Thompson stepped up big. A run of 5.048 in round one - the fastest .time for bo th classes in that rou nd - se t the stage a nd everyo ne kn ew he cou ld go fas ter. Tho m pson laun ched his Wh ite Brothers / Pro-Action-bac ked BSA off the line and never backed off. Just 4.842 seconds later, Thompson had his third win of 1998 and fast time of the day for bot h classes. . "J can' t thank my dad an d our spon sors eno ug h," Thompson said . "They've given mean unbeli evabl y fast motorcycle." Mac's Cycle Supply rid er Dav id Watso n followed Thompson 's run wi th his best ride of the day, turni ng in a 5.452 time for fou rth overall despit e havin g to sna p off the throttle after the first br eaker to keep from flip ping. "J was tryi ng to kee p th e fron t end down bu t we jus t couldn' t ge t the bike len gth r ight, " Wat s on s ai d. " It w a s eit he r too lon g to go fas t or too short and wou ld wheelie.' Then came five-time and d efending Nationa l Cha m pio n Pau l Pinsonnault. Pa ul had ex pe rim en ted wit h different lines up the hill and thou ght he had his best choice lined up. Paul did a good job at the bottom but lost his chance at the win in bet w een th e fir s t and second breakers . Paul ' s ni tro-Fu eled Honda CR500 w heelied as soon as he lan ded ov er the first br eaker and he wheelied all the way up the hill. "Well, I didn't mess up and I qua lified . I think I needed abou t a half-inch mo re len gth on th e sw inga rm and it w oul d have kept the front end down," said Pins onnault. Pau l's 5.21-second run was his best effort of th e day, leaving h im in th ird a n d ad d ing to hi s 1998 po in ts lead . The rest of the class had their go at the hill bu t n on e co u ld better the fas t time and Tho mpson had his win . "We just tried to play it nice and easy an d no t do anything stupid in the quali- Th ere were so me su rp r ises in the fina l 800cc-class round as Will ie Price, Wallace Fow ler, Russ VanderVeen and . "Beese Wendt were all elimina ted in the second qualifier. Rodney Smith on the Action Mo torsports / Answer-backed Ya maha tw in was rea lly pumped u p after his 5.345 ru n in round two and he pu t together another fast pass . Smith wen t straight as a n arrow until he hit the las t kicker. His bike really swapped but he held it on to set the early pace with a 5.249 run. "I had a good time today, everything clicke d , a n d eve r yo ne work ed we ll togeth er," Smith said. "We had a good group of gu ys ove r from PA and most of us mad e it int o the poin ts." Harry Denham and Rodney Willia ms bo th h ad ti mer p r obl em s a nd wou ld have to ma ke another ride. Then Glen Pe tty Jr . lit up the Sto u gh to n's Cycle XR750 Harley-Davidson, tu ned by Jeff Yoder. Glen had a perf ect rid e go ing un til the 180-foo t ma rk. His fron t end jum ped skyward and he had to shut it d ow n for a fraction of a second before gu nning it th rou gh the light s. Still, he pulled in a time of 5.107 to take over the lead . Dr. Bob's Racing's Mike DeBusk was looking for another top- three finish but his Kawasaki triple two-str oke go t awa y from him ove r the first breaker, sendi ng h im to th e fa r left sid e of th e h ill. Though he was able to stay in bounds, his 6.8 was onlv 10th fastest. Rodn ey Williams to ok hi s second ride and pu t in a 6.09 effort on his Tri- . umph for ni nt h , ri gh t behind Bob Shreiner. Shreiner's Kawa saki tripl e cou ld not keep the front wh eel near the grou nd and he had to shu t off the gas three times to clear the lights. Even with all the trouble, Shreiner still took eig hth with a 6.057-second run. Harry Denham 's Ind ianapolis Southsi d e H arley-Da vid son /Bu ell -backed XR750 had an electrical problem all d ay, cau sing the bike to miss on top en d, but he pu t toge ther a straight, smooth 6.036second rid e for seventh overall, his best finish as a pro. "Russ Vand erVeen and Bob Scheleti hel ped work on the bike all day to get it to run better and our finish toda y was a real team effort," Denham said. Dobby Templeton ' s Er sk ine' s PMS fo r M ot orcycl es H arle y-Da vid son leaped off the line and wa s reall y moving ov er the se co n d breaker w h en it hooked up and the fro nt wheel leaped up into h is fac e . Tho ugh h e said he ; didn' t wa nt to back off, he had to so his;