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Hillclimb
Round 10: Goshen Iron Horsemen M.e.
AMA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HILLCLIMB SERIES
By David and Lora Patton
MIDDLEB , IN, SEPT. 19
URY
he Goshen Iron Horsemen Mot orcy cle Club features th e trickiest
hill of th e 1999 AMA ational
Championship Hillclimb Seri es, and
round 10 re ally s hook up the se ason
.
stand ings.
Aaron Brown from New Richmond ,
Indiana, took his first Pro National win
in the 540cc class, while Jam es "Jam mer"
Large took his first win in 1999, on the
one hill on which he has not experienced
much success, to improve his chances at
a third-straight 800cc title . Current 540cc
points lea d e r Paul Pinsonnault took
fourth in the 540cc class , and looks good
for a recor d sixth 540cc title .
Brow n was the first rider on the hill,
and he had proble ms w it h th e hard packed starting box .
"I lined up on the rig ht side, like I'v e
done for the 20 years I've ridden here,
and m y p addle tire didn't hook up
e n o u g h for me to clear the jumps,"
Brown said.
Brown w ould put it together on the
second pass.
Rotax -mounted Ted Wilkins has been
on a roll, with a win and a runner-up in
the last two hillclimbs, and he nailed his
fi rs t p a ss . Wilkins kept the bik e low
o ver th e d ouble and ran pa st the lights
to record a 3.598-second pa ss. Five-time
540cc Cha m pion a n d cu r ren t p oint s
lead er Pin sonn ault co u ld n' t m a tch
Wilkins' effort with his 3.888, but Tim
Fri edh o ff ran a cl ean 3 .69 4 . Rich ie
Scheuermann III ran a 3.768 on a motorcycle that wasn 't running at 100 percent,
a n d fo rme r G o sh en winn er Sco tt
McNeely go t cros sed up but m ad e it
through the lights writh a time of 3.703.
Howe' s Triumph-backed Phil Libhart
made bike changes before his first run.
"When we got here this morning, the
hill wa s like concrete so they tri ed to
w ater it, making it slick. I've seen this a
lo t in dirt tra ck racing, so we took off the
m
~ paddle tire and put the chains on."
Libhart s till h ad p robl ems ge tt ing
cD
., power to the gro und and came up sho rt .
.c Th e so me ti me Grand N a tio na l d irt
.2 tr a ck er saved it , th en ca ugh t a break
u
o w he n the tim er s malfuncti on ed , giving
him an oth er chance at his firs t rid e.
.
~
~
50
'We loosened the cha ins a lot and let
the bike cool d own, then it wo rked pretty
good," s ai d Libhart, who ended th e
rou nd a tick behind Wilkins, wi th a 3.611.
Th e bigg es t s u r p rise of the fi rs t
round w as Jo hn Hamilt on Jr .' s fall o n
the double. Hamilton took the win here
in the sea son opener, but he spun corning o u t o f th e h ol e thi s tim e a n d
co u ld n' t cl ear the li p of th e second
jump, putting his second placing in the
se ries points in jeopardy.
Brown' s ca ree r best fini sh, a third
overall, came at Goshen, and he clicked
off a great rid e on the Thom as Racing /
Dus ty Road Service Cent er-back ed
Honda CR500 in the second round,
sto pp ing the timers in 3.544 seconds to
take the lead .
" My brother C h ris took a pick a nd
bro ke up the starting area, and my bike
hooked up perfectly," Brown said . "I've
won many ama teur races here, a nd I
was looking for a cle an, straight pass,
and it all came together."
Pinsonnault took fourth overall on his
se cond ride, with a 3.668 to hold on to
the points lead with three rounds to go .
Friedhoff wasn't able to im prove on his
seco nd try , and the form er Gosh en winner would sett le for fifth . Th e points
s tandi ngs cha ng ed dramatically w he n
H amil ton cased th e secon d ju m p a nd
hi gh-sided, end ing the day ou tside the
to p 10. Libhart cou ld n' t impro ve his
first run, se ttling for third , while Wilkins
spun too much d uring his final attempt
an d posted o nly a 3.888 for seco nd .
"Second place is okay tod ay, I ga ined
two p o ints on Paul ( Pi nso n na ul t),"
Wilkins sa id .
Brown was, not surprising ly, pleased
with the wa y things turned ou l.
"What a classic da y, my first win on
my home hill, " Brown said . "I to ld my
girlfriend this morning I felt I cou ld win
if I could ge t a cl ean rid e in , and it
worked out tod ay."
Brown ' s team own er , Jeff Thoma s,
led off the 800cc class with a hard rid e,
ge tting the front end reall y high o ver the
double.
" I land ed on the rear w heel, and it
sna p ped the front end d ow n jus t right,"
Th om as sai d . "Tha t's the fastest I've ridden in a while."
Tho mas's 3.3 12 w ould pro ve to be
hard to bea I.
Two -t im e a n d d ef endin g 800cc
atio nal Champion Large took over the
po int s lead at round nine of th e series,
bu t the Gos he n hill ha s be en tough o n
him during his whole career. On his firs t
pa ss, Lar ge got the Reis er's Cycle Servic e/ F&S Harley-Davidson/KK Motorcycle Supply-sponsored Ha rley-Davidso n XR750 over the double and up the
150-foot hill in 3.363 seconds, putting in
one of hi s best-ever rid es at Gosh en .
After Bob Shreiner pu t the Dr. Bob' s
Racin g Kawasaki two-stroke triple past
th e lights with a 3.566, David Watson
rolled to th e li ne. W a ts o n , w ho h a d
worked his way to second in the points
after his w in last week in Pen nsylva nia,
got crossed u p over the double and fell
off at the 105-foot mark.
" I thought I co u ld st raighte n it o ut
when I land ed , but the ba ck end took
off," Watson said.
Bobby Templeton lost the points lead
at the previous round when he had igni tion problems, but this time his HarleyDavidson worked well, and he climbed
into th e top five with a 3.525 . HarleyDavid son Racing Pro Hillclimb Team
ca p tai n Lou Gerencer fr om n earby
Elkha rt w as one of the crowd favo rites,
and he was on the gas, looking for hi s
third w in of th e year. Ger encer's ride
end ed w ith a time of 3.479 for fourth
overall, but it cam e with a big pri ce tag.
"I w as cross ed up over the jump an d
tried to mak e up tim e at th e top of the
hill," Gerencer said . " I held it on too
lon g and wa s goi ng too fas t at th e top,
so I tried to get away from it before it
go t too high in the air."
Ger en ce r suffered a br oken leg and
sho ulder injuries, ending his 1999 season.
Right after his crash, teammate Tim Frazier case it hard and fell. Then Glen Petty
d
Jr. took his turn an d stopped the clock at
3.314, right behind Thom as' fast run. Greg
W illiams ran a 3.696 a nd Russ Van derVeen ended round one with a 3.569.
After six wins in 1998, Large was looking for his first win of 1999, and he rea lly
went for it on his second pass. He blast ed
o u t of th e h o le a nd kept hi s H arl eyDa vid s on low o v er the d oubl e . H e
backed out of it a little early near the top,
but he still too k the lead with his 3.282.
No one else in the class would get close to
that time - not eve n Thomas, who wasn't
able to improve on h is firs t run, which
w as still good eno ug h for seco nd place .
'1 got too mu ch air," Thomas said. "I
didn't get as good a holeshot as my first
ride, and I d idn 't th ink I had enough
speed to carry thejump. I left it on longer,
trying to go faster, and ended up going
slower. Jammer ou trod e me th e second
ride, but we'll be read y for them nex t
week."
Large was stoked after his win.
"Tom Reise r has put in a lot of work
this year to make th e motorcycle comforta ble for me, and I knew it was time
for me to pu t o ne together ," Large sa id .
" I' ve had so me rough rides her e, and
the second ride d idn' t seem that good,
but I' ll tak e it."
CI/I
Goshen Iron Horsemen M.e.
Middlebury, Indiana
Results: September 19, 1999
(Round 10 of 13)
S4O:: 1. Aaron Brown (Hen): 2. Ted Wilkins IRtx): 3.
Ph il l ibh art (Tril ; 4. Pau l Pinsonna ult (Ho n): 5. Tim
Fr e id ho ff (Hon ): 6. Scott McN ee1y (Han); 7. Rich
Scheue-rmann III (Hon); 8. Mike Tem pleton (Yam); 9.
Chris VanHyning (Han) ; 10. Cha d Disbennet t