Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Hillclimb 80th annual Great American Hillclimb Championship (Left) Many of the Great Amer ican Hlllc limb attempts ended spectac ularly, such 8S this one. (Right) Travis Whitlock, on his FJ120opowe red Yamaha YZ, recorded his sixth championship at the GAHC. BILLINGS, MI, JULY31 Y radition runs strong at the Billings 'Motorcycle Club's (BMC's) annua l su m m er ch a m pions h ip . With 80 ye ars o f hillclimb histor y in the sa me location, the BMC ha s th e oldest a nd richest hillclimb in the Ll.S. To compliment the rich tradition , 1999'sa w traditional winners in the major classes. "Traditi ona l" since each has won at least one class at Billings in the past, and two are former cha m pio ns . Two of three cla ss w in ne rs are se co n d ge ne ra t io n hilI climbe rs as well . Travis Wh itl ock w as one of a crop of yo u ng Utah s ta rs to challenge California d omi nation of the spo rt whe n he first attem pted the hill at 12 years old. N ow 30, the forme r ch ild prodi gy has become the most consistent winner in ro ugh hil lclimbs, and has a record s ix Grea t America n ch a m p ions hips . As it ha s d on e fou r previous times, the Yamaha FJ1200 Whitlock bu ilt using YZ suspension in 1988, ca rried him over the hill fastest in the advanced class to ea rn his sixth cha mpionship and a weekend total of $3400. It seems only fittin g tha t a record number of en tries (over 300 in the Pro classes alon e) and a .,; record number of spectators were on ;;; • ha nd . This year 's even t wa s aptl y named :::> the "Mill er Great American Motorcycle :::> HilIclimb Championship," since Miller < provided the lion's share of the $25,000 34 p urse and aid ed th e club with radio '" s po ts and billb oard a dver tisi ng th at dr ew a record 25,000 spectators over the two-d ay event. Even thou gh the purse is concen tra ted in the Unlimited, or exhibition, classes, the BMC put the cha m p ionship weigh t on the tire classes. The top six finishers in th e 0-600cc rubber class and the Open rubber class a re seeded in to th e ad vanced class. At the end of the event the 12 rid ers take two last runs. Either the fast es t tim e or highest mark ea rns th e rid er th e title of G rea t Ame rica n HiIIclimb Ch am pion . Colu mbus, Montana's Du st y Beer, ano the r former cha m p io n and cons istent money winne r, posted the high mark on the hilI for the ~OOcc rubber class. Beer, a hard -rock miner, wo rks da ily w ith p ow erful ea rt h- re ndi ng m a chirierv, a n d he d oes th e same in Billings at 'the hillclimb. A po ten t KTM 550 is his 0-60Occ weapon, and he urged it to the 350-foot mark to ea rn his firs t $1000 tow ard the weekend's high est total of $3850. Despit e 106 rid ers in the class, none were ab le to gain the 370-foot top. Billings rid ers Bob Spad t (347'/ $700) and Chris Herman (341' / $550) were second and third, respectively. Californian'Robie Peterson also carded a 341-foot run, but Herman earn ed his on the first run, and Peterson's came on the second run. Two more Montanans were the fina l riders into the championship run-off from the 0-600cc ru bber class. Both Rick Stauffer an d Ron Zund el reached the 340-foo t mark. The class paid 20 places, and Pete Loomi s' CR500R/RM125 hybrid collected the fina l $75 for a 320-foot run . The money winners included riders from Californ ia, Colorado, Montana, Nevada and Alber ta, Canada. Off-ro ad legend Larry Roese ler wa s attempting his first hillclimb competition on a borr ow ed KX500, and he claimed 17th place, at 330 feet. Ty Davis finished a mere six feet:ou t of the money on a borrowed Yamah a WR500.1t was Davis' first try at a pro hillclimb , too. The final six riders. to tra nsfer to the advanced class for a shot at bein g the 1999 champio n came from the Open rubber class. Wit h a straighter sho t at the hilI and more power, all six of the transfer rides 'were over the top , so placings were d ete rm in ed o n time . Beer was again the 'w inn er and the fastest, as his p ot ent KX500-fram ed , 1350cc KZ1000 engine d machin e bli st er ed the hill in 13.005 seconds, and added $1500 to his wee kend's total. Former champ Shannon Chamb erl ain' s Su zuki GSX R1 100Rpow ered crea tion nipped over the vertical ro ck su m mit in 13.204 seconds for second place and $1000. . . In an effort to keep riders in control going over the top, rather than thr owing the bikes ove r, the BMC wisely mov ed the timi ng lig hts 30 feet back fro m the crest. The rules demand th a t the rider have "on e han d tou chi ng the bik e" as they go throu gh the ligh ts. Chamberlain wo n mon ey ano ther yea r slidi ng backwa rd th rough the light s, and it looked like he migh t try some thing else interest ing. He cres te d th e hilI croo ke d ly, attem p ted to tu rn awa y from the straw bal es gua rd ing the abyss at the side of th e h ilI , but th e fr ont w heel m erel y pl owed . Just when it looked like a dirt and straw ba th was unavoidable, Chamberl ain' s stay -o n- the-th ro tt le s tra tegy paid off - literally - with a second place 13.204 g ood for $1000. BMC member Jerry Seeley a n d brothers Travis a n d Bradon Whi tlock filled out thir d th rough fifth places. All were using the preferr ed Yamaha FJ1200 powerplant s. Ano ther pair of Utah siblings nabbed sixth and seven th place on the ide ntical Honda CBll 00F-powered hillclimbers the brothers have owned since 1984. Mel Kimball was the final rid er to enter the advanced class, wi th sixth. Pr etty go od 'considering he announced his retirement after the 1998 BMC event. "I pa cked all my stuff away," Kimball said, "b ut a friend se nt me a hilIclimb video over the win ter and by February I was digging the stu ff all back ou t. And I stilI had the bike. I' ll never sell it." , Bro ther Kenny en tered the shoo tou t the ha rd wa y with his sevent h-place finish . Minutes befo re the advanced class ran, a th ro w n chain d estroyed the. left side of Cha mberlai n's GSXR100 engine. The .class paid down to Larry Colema n's $100 for a 364-foot run. . The Sen ior class, for riders over 40 yea rs old, was the only other pro class restricted to rubber tires and a 66-inch wheelbase. Roeseler got his second shot at a pro hilI clim b, and h e improv ed s tea d ily with each run . LR had hi gh mark for much of the first round at 240', but local LeRoy Ebe ling put in a gr ea t 252-foot effort. At that point Ebeling had the high mark on the hilI for the day actua lly tw o feet high er than Beer's winning run in the 0-600cc cla ss, ea rlie r. Roeseler steepened his learning curve and poked a front wheel over the cliff for a wi nn ing 253-foot run, Su n day mornin g began w it h th e 0700cc Un limited cl a ss (" u n lim( te d" meaning almos t no ru les other than safety res trictions a nd th e d isplac emen t limit ) facing the shee r wall tha t the riders found so intimid ating in 1997. As in 1997, very few rid ers (only two this year) actually topped the hill via the face. Also in 1997, Rob ie Pet er son ' s exotic Za bel powered specia l mad e it fastest while ma ki ng it look th e eas iest. His fir s t a ttemp t was a spec tacu lar bik e launch, but after ana lyzing advice fro m Kerry, LR an d Ty Davis, Pet erson hit all his m arks a nd gracefu lly mad e it over in 20 .4 59 s econd s . O m a ha N eb raska's Harold Waddell was the only other rider over on a CRSOOR, but his run was a bit over four-se cond s slower, at 24.687 . Uta h 's Jon Smith w as the highest run that didn't go over. After Smith came Mel Kimb all, Kurt

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