Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128223
• 20th Annual Kettle Moraine Sportriders Hillclirnb Sunburst Ski Area Best-Kept Secret It'. tINt ps-bumlng, 130-horsep_ Hulep that ~ . . . . tINt fans to the Kettle ....... Sportriders Hillclimb. Here, west IIencI Harley-Davidson'. Lou Lauten attacka tINt hlH. His teammate, Toby Mueller, _ . . . Open Pro . . . . . . tlMt-second slllllgbt yeer 8boIlrd ~ IcIentk:lII ""llChIne. STORY AND PHOTOS friendly bunch, very helpful and, most importantly, they waste little time in getting the program going. The first bike is on the hill promptly at noon. Before the day is over, some 120 entries will take a shot at the hill twice, and it's all over by about 5 p.m. Officially measured at 300 feet, the grass-laden rise is more technical than you might imagine at first glance. From the starting box, there is about a 15-foot run to the first of two steep kickers, each separated by about 20 feet. After clearing the second, the main part of the hill, or what I like to call the long chute, begins. It is here that the seemingly innocuous slope plays havoc with the riders, as the pastoral green camouflages wheel-swallowing ruts and rim-bending rocks the size of your average Thanksgiving turkey. Careful line selection is one of the keys to success - that and the split-second decision over whether or not you should pin it and make the jump over the flat grade in front oLthe second kicker in order to up your momentum as you attack the long chute. Get it right and you'll likely be rewarded with a fast run. Get it wrong and it's coconut city, baby. And if you're shy, then the Kettle Moraine Sportriders Hillclimb isn't for you. About 3000 cheesers, uh, I mean cheerers show up just to watch the carnage. That's right, 3000 spectators, and only one man takes to the hill at a time, making him the center of attention, kinda like picking your nose in public. Of course, many fans are drawn by By SCOTT ROUSSEAU WEST BEND, WI, JUNE 15 o it's about 6 a.m. on Father's Day Sunday, 2003, and I find myself in the exact same place that I was the year before, driving from St. Louis to West Bend, Wisconsin, while AMA dirt-tracker J.R. Schnabel reclines in relative comfort, zonked out against the passenger door, getting good and rested up for the fastapproaching task. It should be me. This is the second straight year that that friggin' lazy cheesehead has slept while I did most of the driving - oh, wait, make that all of the driving - so that we could make it back from the Granite City AMA Grand National Half Mile in time to be part of an event that has probably become one of my favorites anywhere, the 20th annual Kettle Moraine Sportriders Hillclimb at the Sunburst Ski Area in West Bend. Last year was actually my first year running the hill, and it met with seriously mixed results, but more on that later. If you have never been to a hillclimb, then you owe it to yourself to go. Whether it's the sheer, do-or-die terror of a Western event or the drag race-style thrill of an Eastern event, hillclimbs are a good time for both the spectator and the participant. And I can also say that the Kettle Moraine Sportriders put on a darn good one. In fact, it's probably one of the most efficiently run club events of any kind that I've seen. The Sportriders are a s 32 JULY 16, 2003' cue I e n e _ s the stretched-arm modified bikes, which are among the more unique vehicles in motorcycle racing. The Kettle Moraine club limits the number of classes to include three varieties of these machines: 250, 600 and Open. The gasoline-burning dragsters rarely fail to reach the top of the hill, and it's pretty bitchin' to watch them as they displace huge chunks of earth en route to sub-9-second runs. This year's overall winner, Toby Mueller of West Bend, held on to his 130-horse, Harley gasser just long enough to post an 8-seconds-flat run that would stand as fast time of the day and defend his 2002 Open Pro title. Eight seconds, that's a hell of a rodeo ride. The 250cc and 600cc Pro classes wound up being conquered by the same man. Kirk Mueller of La Valle was untouchable in the 250cc class, backing up his class-leading time of 8.41 with a faster 8.36 on his second run to clinch the title. It was a lot closer in the 600cc Pro because local boy Scott Schnabel, the uncle of dirt-tracker and power napper J.R., had come loaded for bear with his Kawasaki KX500. Kirk was looking good in round one, with a 9.21, before Schnabel stepped up and dipped into the eights, posting an 8.79. That time stood until late in the second round when Kirk and his Honda CR500 lined up and launched on an arrow-straight pass that netted an 8.21. Adding to the novelty of this particular event are the 250cc and 600cc stock classes, as well as the Open Stock and Antique divisions, the latter two of which are just as neat due to the whacky diversity of machinery that exists in them ... Like the guy who rode the Yamaha triple with the sissy bar moved forward so that it's a backrest - good move, partner, the last thing you want to do is get away from the bike when it starts to loop out. Genius, I tell ya ... Then there was this other guy, Lee Stoffel of Kewaskum, who was riding a clapped out but somehow strangely beautiful ironhead Sportster. At least it looked beautiful until it did a 180 halfway up and started charging toward me as I kneeled at the edge of the hill to take photos. I was pretty much resigned to the fact that Stoffel's honkin' hog was going to cut me in two as I dove into the forest that lines the course. Fortunately, Stoffel's beast came to rest before doing serious damage to man or plant. So, how'd I do? Thanks for asking; I was just coming to that part. Well, when it was my turn to take to the hill for the first time, in the 250cc Stock class, I wasn't so concerned with protecting my reputation as a Cycle News guy as I was with protecting my gonads. Last year, I was grossly derelict in that duty during my second attempt at the hill. Feeling pretty confident after topping the slope on my first attempt, I had compounded the strategic error of tackling the steeper right side of the embankment just past the second kicker by approaching it with nowhere near enough velocity to clear the face but plenty to crush the old grapes against the fuel