Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

HILLCLIMB AMA NATIONAL C HAMPIONSHIP HILLCUMB SERIES By David L Patton Jr. LAURELVILLE, OH, AUG.23 efend ing SOOcc National Champion Jam es "Jammer" Large pulled off a n o th er come-from-b ehind vi ctory ' in th e AMA N ation al Championship Hillclimb Series . Large led after every o ne had his first run up the hill , but Steve Dresser eclipsed his ti me on the first ride of the seco n d round. Lar ge was th e last competitor on the hill and once aga in he rose to the occasion, taking his thi rd stra ight win to increase his points lead. Bobby Templeton fini shed in third a head of M ike DeBusk and Bob Shreiner . In th e 540 cc cla ss, TNT Productions Inc . co-founder Terry Th ompson took the win in his own back ya rd -Titera lly. > Phil Libhart and Ted Wilkins took se cond and third, and points leader Da vid Watson snagged fou rt h ah ead of rookie Tim Fr iedh off. Th e .G ru m p y Va li ey event also shoo k up the points standi ngs a s fiv e-time and d ef end in g Na tional Champion Paul Pinsonnault strugg led with mech anical problems , fini shing 11th overall. 38 540ee Cl a ss rookie Kenney Reif was th e . first rider to cha llenge the 365-foot hill. The hill is th e flatt est on the pro circui t but it offered four major obs tacles to the rider s . Right a fte r th e start is a shor t, s tee p r amp th at throws the b ik es straight up in the air. Rid er s need to clear a little ditch before the critical, long . double jump at the 140-foot mark. Aft er the double wa s a straight stre tch tha t led up to the cha sm, a 25-foot lon g, 10-foot deep gully right before the ligh ts. Rei f go t h is front end h igh off th e ramp and it caused him to case the do uble, tho ugh he held on for a 7.5S1-second run to ge t things sta rted . N e xt up wa s H o w e ll Triumphbacked Libhart. Li b ha rt h as h ad a n excellent season and he wa s looking for his seco nd win of the yea r. H e really dropped th e hammer o n the Kr eeger Pro Hillclimb Triumph and he flew way past th e downsid e of th e double, then also overju mped the chasm, losin g va luable tim e in the air. A tim e of 6.374 was fast enou gh for fourth a t th e end of the first seri es of rides. sho rt of th e ditch. While he did manage to save it, he wa s ou t of bounds before th e d ouble. "I tried mixing the fuel differently so it w ould n' t lean out but it didn't wo rk out today, " Pinsonnault said. Thompson had his second Ohio win of the season and fourth overall d espite a se ve rely sp rained ankle from Dansville. '1 just wanted to make a conservative rid e because 1 didn't know how my leg' wa s going to ho ld up over the jumps," Thompson sa id. "I came out of the hol e nice and got over the jumps in good shape. Before the last jump, 1 backed out of it because 1 didn't want to land too hard and have my leg give out. It wa s jus t a nice, smooth ride that happened to be fast enoug h to wi n today. It's bee n an all-around good da y ." (Above) J ames Large cranked out another win in the 800cc class, his third In a row. (Right) Terry Thompson took the win In the 540cc class, setting fast time of the day in the process. David Wat son 'w as making his first rid e eve r as the 540cc points leader, and the Ma c' s Cycle Supply / KAP -ba cked H onda rid er put in a g rea t ride. Davi d got sid ewa ys off th e ramp but he co rrected quickly and kep t his nitro-bu rning CR low over the dou ble an d held it on th ro ugh the lights and flew over the top of the hill . "M v rid e was abo ut as fast as I could go," Watson said. "I clicked it up a gear in the air and it pulled stro ng." Terry Thompson brought his Thompson Racin g BSA to the line. After three wi ns this se ason already , Tho mpson k nows how to s ha ve secon ds a nd he proved it right off th e sta rt, timing the ramp p er fectl y and ge tt ing his bi ke d o wn fas t to li ne up the d o u b le . H is 5.990 w ould be the day' s fastest ru n . As the class wound d own, two of the fa stest rid ers w ere wa it ing fo r th eir sho ts. Rotax-powered Ted Wilkins was try ing to regain his winning form fro m . early in the season and he put in a flawless first a ttem pt, as his paddle-tired machine left a rooster ta il every time it was on th e ground. Wilkins' 6.216 was third fastes t in round o ne. Pi nsonnault had a problem getting his number-one-plat ed Hond a fired and he had to go on the clock before his firs t rid e. After ge tt ing it back in before his 10 minutes w ere up, it w as obv ious during his run that his bike was way down on power . He foug ht hard to get his bik e ove r the jumps and thro ugh the lights at 7.10S seconds. "I think the ignition side sea l blew," Pinsonnault sa id. " It's way too lean , and this happened on ce before: ' . Libhart stepped it up in round tw o, keeping his Triumph twin low ove r th e ju mps a n d h ooked up for a time of 6.002, the fastest secon d-ro u nd ru n in eit he r class. The run netted him second overa ll and propelled him int o second in the 540cc po ints cha se. "My firs t ride w as kind o fro ug h," Lib hart said . " I land ed hard af ter th e double but we d idn't change any thi ng. We ca me back and got a clean run in , jus t a littl e off Thompson's time: ' Wa tso n elected to scra tch his second rid e as he concentrates on winning his first Na tional Championship. Tim Friedhoff put in a smoo th, fast ride o n his second attempt to stop th e clocks at 6.162 for fifth overall, ahead of Toby Th ompson 's second rid e of 6.373. Friedhoff's bike seem ed to ha ve a sticking thro ttl e on his fir st run but it w as ac tually a jetting problem. "Th is is th e fir st time we ' ve run methanol and it w as wa y too lean on my first ride," Friedhoff said . "I had so m e h elp from m y br oth er a n d th e M cN eel ys, a n d th e s econd ride w ent rea lly we ll:' As the con tenders came up short , the last tw o riders waited for thei r cha nce. Wilkins go t his fro nt end high over the ramp bu t he nailed the rest of the hill to put in a 6.091-seco nd sho t fo r third overall. " I w ish 1 hadn' t messed up the start," Wil kin s sa id . "I mi ght have been able to ge t th ose guys tod ay. Th e d ay turned out okay ." Pinsonnault needed to pu t in a great ride to beat Th ompson but his m otorcycle wasn' t working w ell eno ugh; he co u ld n' t ge t e n o u g h s peed over the ramp and he landed on his front wheel, 800ee Thompson Racing /Pro-Action /Parts Unlimited-Thor rid er Dresser se t the early pa ce in the SOOcc class. Though he got really sidew a ys off the ramp and th en had to fig ht off a major cross-up over the double, Dresser go t everything straightened out by the 240-foot mark to power o ve r the chasm for a tim e of 6.659. N ext up wa s Glen Pe tty [r ., wh o has ridden well a t every hillclimb this se aso n. But today was not his da y. " I und erjumped th e d ouble," said P etty after g e t ti ng s idew ays off th e ramp and cross-rutting the d oubl e. Petty had to sit ou t his seco nd rid e because of broken bo nes in his had, though the 230foo t run gave him 10th on tlie d ay. Wallace Fowler on the Casto Cycle' s GSX-R Suzuki su ffered the same result as Petty on the first run, but he w ould better hi s 220-foot ride o n hi s second pass. Th e SOOs were lea vin g th e line so . hard that the rid ers just cou ld n' t keep it on lin e for the double, so many rider s rolled the bottom and the d ouble just to g e t in a tim e o n the fir s t ride. Bo b S h reine r , o n th e Dr. Bob's Racing Kawasak i triple, ro lled th e bottom and th en reall y go t o n it o n the last part of th e hill. Shrei ner's S.650-seco nd run w as good for fifth overa ll but it ca me a t a pri ce, as he flew over th e top of the hill. "When 1 hit af ter th e last ju m p, my hand came off the throttle so 1 coul d n't blip the th rot tle to get the front end up an d I cra s he d o n the backside of the hill," Shreiner sai d. The next good run came from Bobby Templ et on . Templeton rolled up th e ramp and then cranked on the Ersk ine's PM S for Mot orcycles H arley-Davidson to easil y clear the double and set up for the run over the cha sm. His time of 7.077 seco nd s was strong but he really

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