Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMAIPac e A m eric a n N a t ional H il lc limb Ser ies R o u n d 5 : S Ki W o r ld National Hillclimb S T O RV A ND P H O T O S BV D A VID P A TTO N , JR. NASHVILlE,IN, JUNE 24 coo te rm a nia Productions is in its third season promoting a Nation al Hill cl imb and Da v id Watson h as e njoy ed grea t results at each e vent. In 19 9 9, Wa t s o n won the 8 0 0 c c class. Last season, the event ra n la te in the ye ar a nd he clinc hed th e 540cc Ch a m p io n s h ip in t h e m ud a t S k i Wo rld . This year, Wa tson continued h is Nationa l Hilldimb winn ing streak in co n vinci ng fa sh io n , c rus hing the competition fo r two wins by over two tenths of a second - in a sport where margins of victory are usuall y mea s ured in th e hundredths of a second. Watson's sweep at Round five of the 2 0 0 1 Pace Am e rican/AMA National Championship Hillclimb Series came at the expense of Tiger St rank in the 8 0 0 c c class , and Wa tson he ld off Cha d Disbennett of Logan , Ohio , in the 540cc class. Disbennett ha d one of his be s t days a s a Pro , fin ish ing third pla ce in the 800cc class, as he chases his first win of th e yea r. S 640 I I I r The Ski Wor ld hill is o ver 500-feet lo ng , w ith a ra mp e d st a rt and an uph ill jum p at the 15 0-foot m ark . A kicker near the lights is the on ly other ob st a cl e , the b ik e s are wid e ope n longer than on any other hill on the circ u it. The hi ll fa vo rs multi -c ylin de r m a c hine s , and VanH yn ing ' s Se rice / Arkpo rt Cycles' Chris VanHyning would lose time s hifting his Honda CR500. He rod e the far-righ t s id e and wa s smoot h all t he wa y to the t imers , which were s e t at 475 -fo o t m ark . VanHyn ing st arted the day wit h a 8 . 2 4 7 -s e c o n d p a s s . T h en T ig e r Stran k p ut the Dr. Bo b Ra ci ng /Fo x ba c ke d Kawa sa ki KX50 0 on to p with a 7 .830 , bu t he would fa ll ou t of the top five by the e nd of th e da y. Watson 's m os t pe rsist ent ch alleng e r this yea r ha s be e n Phi l Lib h a rt o n t he Kreeg er Ra cing /Amso il-bac ked Triumph twin, ha ving won at Sk i Wo rld in 1999. Libhart launc hed ha rd out of the hol e , but the rear whe el spun badly. He was on-line over the ramp and h it the uphill jump straight on , but the front end ca m e up in h is face when he landed off the jump. He had to back off for just a second , but he still clocked a 7.559 tim e . Joh n Ha milto n J r. to o k the win here in 20 0 0 , bu t he coul dn 't keep the ASAP/Tho r Tr iu mph straig ht. Dep ite his problems, he fin ished in 7 .599 sec on ds. His s eco nd ri d e wa sn't as fast , but he took fifth ove ra ll for the da y. His teammate Cha d Disb ennett on the Bo's Rad ical Rac ing/Thor-backed Trium p h was rid ing h igh after a pod iu m fin is h at round four , and he was after th e win . Dis bennett lined up on the fa r-right s ide of the hill and he go t the proper ba lan ce of rpm and wheelspin that is th e key to the holeshot. He d rifted to the middl e of the hill by th e uphill jum p and nea rly went out of bound s on the left side, but he never backed off, an d was rewarded with a 7.484 -second run . Disbennett held the lead until the end of the round when Watson pulled th e number-one ma chine to the line. After watch ing the c o m pe t iti o n , Watso n lined up on the far -left side of th e hill an d rea lly h am m e red t he S p e c t ro Oils/ Fa ct ory Effex/HJC-backed Honda CBR540 off the line. "I k no w the ra m p at t he bo tto m will pro ba bly slow th ings do wn," Watson sa id, "but I'm go ing to hit it wide open an d try to ke ep the rear wheel near th e ground over the jum p." Wa tson ' s app roa ch wo rked pe rfectl y, as he crested th e hill in 7.268 seco nds a nd co uld have gone faster. "It float ed the val ves abou t tw o th ird s of the way up ," Wa ts o n sa id . "We need to gear it hig he r." The hill was rutted up an d dried out as the 540s took th eir sec on d runs and a fast time would be hard to co me by. Libhart was the first rider to improve, runni ng a 7.529 for third ove ra ll. "We geared it u p a litt le and it fe lt a lot faster ," Lib h art sai d . "Whe n I heard the time , I co uld n't be liev e it. Th e hill dr ied out an d we m ust of lost a lot of tract ion ." Disbennett came to the line with re vised g e aring and oth e r cha nges , but he ra n the ex act same tim e as his first run, a 7.4 84, to hold on to sec - ond place. J eff Thom as took his first 540cc win a t the previou s rou nd, but he nev e r re ally got t h e A RC Le ve rs /Motu l-bac ked Ho nd a CBR hooked up all day. Tho m as tried hard to ke ep th e wic ked -fas t fou r-cylinder straight o n his second ru n, a nd his 7 .560 effort wa s fourth fa stest. As soon as he gets th e s us pe nsio n a nd leng th of the new ma ch ine d ia led in, he will be a ble to use that a wesome m oto r. Watson's time hel d up for his th ird 540 win of the season. "This was one of th ose hills where you had to get your ride in on the first one bec a u s e the h ill d r ie d o u t so m uch ," Watson said. "Luckily, I got a good on e through , and it he ld up ." BOO Watson was the second ride r up in the 80 0 cc class, so he rus hed ba c k down the hill and ju m ped o n his 800. When Disbennett had to pull his Trium ph out for a m ino r problem, Watso n put his Honda in the sa me groov e in w h ic h he ra n h is 540 . He put tog ethe r another g reat sta rt , but go t cross- rutted ove r the uph ill jum p and ha d to do a m ida ir correctio n on a 12 -foot-long , 350-pound, 200 -p lus horsepower motorcy cle ru n ning as fa s t as it will go . He got it stra ight eno u g h to s ta y up r ig ht a n d in bounds , and slammed past th e timer s in 7. 040 seconds as his 8 00 flo ated the valves as we ll. "Bot h bikes neede d a little mo re g e ar, bu t the 800 wa s going pretty g o od ," Wa tson said . "I had to ba c k out of it a couple of times. The hill is actually pretty tough , you have to get thru that first bump smoothly, a nd the ruts try to knock you s ideways ." Libhart ran the next s ub-e ight-second run on the RL Smith /Engl ish Motors -backed BSA. The 800 lea pe d off the line as it ho ok ed up, but Libhart reined it in and was fly ing up tow a rd t he top , whe n it ran out of g e a r, ove r-rev ved and float ed the val ves. He s till passed th e lights in 7 .6 0 4 second s. Th a t would be h is best 800 cc time and would ea rn him fourth overa ll. Only one other rider hit a seven -seco nd run in th e first round. Strank was the last rider of the round on the Dr. Bo b Rac ing /B £, B Sales an d Se rvice- backed Ya m aha R- I , and he had the horsepowe r to challenge Watson . Strank d ropped t he clutch, a nd then had to chop the throttle to stay on the bike as it tried to spit him off. He tu rned it on , blasted over the ra m p, and scr eamed up the hill to th e lig hts for a 7.3 59 -second run . Before th e second 800 round . the p its we re a busy place , a s riders swapped sprockets try ing to find a gear ing s et u p th a t would be low e nough to e ns ure the rear tire wou ld s pin off of the line a nd be gea red high e no ugh to no t run out of steam a t the to p. Disbennett was geared a little too hig h, a s his Triumph a lmost ca ta pultcue . .. Chad Disbennett had p roblems In the first round of the 800Cc class, but pulled it togethe r t o finish third at the end of the day. ed him off over the ramp , but he held on an d ra n st ron g to th e lights to pass Libhart for third with a 7.461 effort. "We gea red it up two teeth a nd it was just a bo ut perfect," Disbe nnett said. "We are starting to get a fee l fo r the 800 now , so watc h out, Watson " "The bump s are re ally rough up nea r t he top , an d you ar e going so fa s t it 's hard t o h old o n and go s traig ht," Watson sa id. J ohn Hamilton , Jr. had a wild an d c ra zy ride on the Indian apolis South side Ha rley-Da vidson s Bue ll XR75 0 to crack the to p five with a ru n of 7.733 seconds , to edge Jeff Thom as' 7 .763. Str ank had a nother prob lem fille d st art, t he n ra n a 7 .605 to en d the day , a lth o ugh his first- round time held up for second place. "Ma n on the first run that th ing was smoking ," Stra nk sa id. "I m issed a ll the rocks, it was pu lling strong , an d I le t off fift y fe et be fo re t he lig h ts because I thought I had passed the finis h line. I tried to pull the win for Bob Iteam own er , Shre iner) for his birth day, but I fell a little short of Watson ." Watson's third -straig ht 800cc win gives him a 17-po int lead "We 're just trying to keep it going, but there ar e a lot of races left, so we will see ho w it a ll turns out," Watson concluded. eN SIdWorld National Nashville, Indiana Results: June 24, 2001 800cC: I. David Watson (Hon); 2. Tog r Stro nk e J r. (Vom ); 3 . Ch ad Dtsbenne tt (T rl); 4 . Phil Ub hort (BSA); 5 . John Ham ilton Jr. (H-D); 6 . J ell Tho mes ( Yam) ; 7 . B rando n K ree ge r (TTl); 8 . Bobby Tem pleton (H-D); 9. Robe rt Shreiner (Kow) 10. Mark Swe m (BSA) ; I I. Harry Denh am (H-D); 12. Riehle Scheuerm enn fYlSm) ; 13 . Russ Vender Veen (H· D ). 54 0CC : 1 . De v id Wat son ( Ho n) ; 2. Ch a d Dlsbennetr (T n); 3 . Phil Ubhort (Trl) ; 4 . J ell Thomos (Hon) ; S. Jo hn Hamilton Jr. {T rt) : 6. TIger Stnmk Jr . ( K8W»; 7 . TIm Freidhoff (Hon); 8 . Chris VanHying (Hon); 9 . Greg Williams (Kew); 10. Anthony DeHart ( Hon) ; 11. M ich ael Gon cal ves ( Hon ); 12 . Rich ie . Scheuerman ( Hon) ; 13 . Curt Snelling ( Hon) ; 14 . J ames Wol fe (Hon) ; 15. MicheeJ U vingston (Hon) . A M A N A TI O N AL CH A MP I ON S HI P 800Ce HIll.CL1MB SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (Round 5 of 16 ); I. David Watson (74/4 wins ); 2. Toger Strenk J r. (57); 3. J ell Thomos (54 ); 4. Phil Ubhort (54); 5 . Bobby Templeto n (5211); 6 . John Hernilton J r. (46); 7. foIork Sworn (34); 8. Rodney Sm nh (32 ); 9 . Chad D i sbenn ett (25 ) ; 10 . B ren de n Kreeger (24) ; 11. Richie Scheuermann III (24); 12. Harry Denham (23); 13. Greg Willil1ms (22 ); 14 . Rodney William s ( 12); 15. Ja mes Lorge ( II); 16 . M;ke Bebus k (11) ; 17. Bob Castledine ( 10); 18. Russell venderveee (8); 19. Greg Thompson (7); 20 . Robe rt Shre iner (7); 21. To m Reiser (6 ). AMA NA TI ONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 54 0 e C HIll.CU MB SERIES POINTS STANDINGS (Round 5 of 16 ): I. David Watson (72 /3 wins); 2. Phil Ub hert (64); 3. Chad Disbennett (53) ; 4 . Tom Fre ldholl (52); 5 . Jeff Thomas (5 1/1); 6. Ch ris VonHylng (49 ); 7 . Tiger Strenk Jr. (47) 8. John Hamilton J r. (46/1 ); 9. Gregory Thompson (27) ; 10. Mik e Li vinqston (23); It. Antho ny DeHart (23) ; 12 . Pa ul Pmeo nneult (18); 13. Greg Will iams: 14. Michael Gcncelves (13); 15. Curt Snelling (1 2) ; 16. Richie Scheuerma nn III (tl); 17. .Jernee Wol fe ( 10); 18. Kenneth Bonn em a (5) ; 19 . Paul Gerr ety (4); 20 . Pa ul Kop s (3); 21. Melvin Mea se J r. {1}. Upcoming Rounds: Weirton. West Virginia, July 8 Red Wing. Minnesota, Ju ly 15 n .. _ s • JULY 11. 2001 63

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