By Dean Adams
RED WING, MN, AUG. 15
llsworth; Wiscon sin, native Tod d
Cip ala spends his days as an elev a to r r e p ai rma n. H e g e ts to
wa tch people and th e ir it em s go up
eve ry day, all day . But the tables we re
turned in Red Win g, Minn esota , when a
st rong cro wd of specta to rs and riders
wa tched Cipa la go up.
O ut of 430 rid ers, Cipa la
wa s th e b ig w in ner a t the
AM A Am ate ur H ill cl im b
Cha mpionship s. "Mr. Elevator Rep airman " set fast time
of the day and won the 500,
750 and 800cc-multi classes.
Th e hill th a t Cipala and
his breth ren atta ck ed is a
lOOO-f o ot cl im b form erl y
u s e d as a n Olympi c-styl e
ski-jum pin the early 1900s,
on e which h a d d ynami te
thrown at it in the late 1940s
to ca rve o u t a mo tor cycl e
hillcl imb. The hill fea tures
two larg e ju m ps, and th e
so il is a sa n d y loa m th a t
kicks up fist-sized rocks if a
d e cent p addl e- ti r e find s
so me traction . For 50 years
the local Indi an Head Cycle
Club has been holding hillclimbs at what w as once a
steep hill out sid e of downtown Red Wing, but is now
a very steep cli mb right in
the middle of a resid ential
a rea. Neigh bo rs say th ey
prefer the motorcycle crowd
~
en
en
en
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38
over th e', " ro w dy" ama te u r b a se ba ll
lea gu e th at p er forms at th e b allpa rk
located just ou tside the gates to the hill.
Cipala set fast time of the day on his
Ka wa saki KX500, burni ng an arrowstraight trench up the hill in just 5.7 second s. Altho ugh the hill has been seen in
severa l di fferent configura tions over the
past 50'yea rs - so me say it is now slig ht-
(Above) Todd
Clpala shows off
his bevy of
trophies from the
Red Wing Amateur
Champ ionships In
Minnesota. Clpala
won the 500, 750
and BOOcc
classes.
(Above) Clpala launches his Kawasak i H-2 750-poweri!d hlllclimber, on
. track for yet another win.
(Left) The hili at Red Wing is quite form idable - it was once an
Olympic-style ski-jump. The hili record remains unbroken.
