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/128230
1IIIII I IIIIlIII I 85th Annual M iller Great Amer ic an Championsh ip H illc limb The Championship -class competitors pose before the, battle the hill and one another. attempt, and that ended hi s week end , so Shannon Chamberl ain advance d to th e shootout. Sunday 's events turned out well for India na 's Jeff Thomas . The former AMA 540cc Hillclimb Champion has been developing ancient Yamaha 650 twins for the past three years . The machines run on 100-percent nitro and sound bad to the bone. Jason Smith's fam il y and Rocket Science dev e lop th e per imeter-framed , KX500-suspended chassis. The bikes are as slim as a 250cc motocrosser, weigh j u st over 300 pounds and claim over 140 horsepower. The day started with the 700cc Un limited class (no limit on fuel or wheelbase) running a virgin path on the right side of the hill. The expected obstacle was a cliff at 250 feet. but the lower part of the hill proved so ledged out and rough that few riders even reached the cliff, and Thomas was the on ly rider over the cliff. but he still m ade on ly 271 feet . His sec- ond attempt saw the beautiful Yama ha tumble 250 feet to flat gr ound and land in two distinct p ieces with th e fron t wheel laying on top of the rear! Ed Taylor , Whitlock , Dusty B eer , Bran do n Whitlock and Nolan Ma rt in were all right in a group. In fact. sec ond through 21 st places were separated by only 19 feet! McGrath earned a solid ninth in this cl ass. Brian Osborn was a first -time winner in the Open Un limit ed cl ass with Whitlock second and Thom as' new 750cc version of h is nitro tw in in third . It has been decades since an engine that small made an im pact in the Open class of Western hillclimbing. Most of the oth er bikes in the class weigh at least 100 pounds more, and the four-cylinder machines are very wide and ground -c1earance challenged as well . The shootout returned to the 0 -600cc path. but the club graded th e start area flat. No rmally, as seen by the ti mes for the t wo tire classes , a n e vv s 5 0 0cc m oto cro ss er d oe sn' t re al ly have a c hance in th e shootout. But McGrath drew an earl y run and double -jumped a ledge in the early part of th e hi ll. All of the rid er s on 500s followed suit, but the op en bikes had to tip-toe through , and that changed th e fa c e of th e shootout. McGrath also j um ped all of th e rock ledges at th e top of the hill. After the first runs Co leman led with a banza i pass on his open bike. Wh itl o ck cop ied McGrath's lines at the bottom and top of th e hill but j um ped cl ear over a rutted turn mid h ill . McGrath then dupli cated Wh itloc k' s line but got so much air over the top of the h ill that he feared he would jump o ver the timing lightsl Whitlock stayed low , powered through the lights and was two-tenths of a second quicker. For over a de cade, Whitlock and Dusty Beer have fought ov er this cham pi onship , and that was ack nowledged by Whit lo ck, " It was great to have Mc Grath so st ro ng in this cl ass. but it al m ost doesn 't feel right without Du sty Beer in there. too ." Wi th close to 20 .000 spectators a nd a h u g e pu rse . t h e B ent on ite Nigh t ma re is a spry 85 yea rs old , Hill c limbin g offers p lenty of spec ta cle to rem ain st rong , but hopefully ha ving riders like McGra th an d W atts give it a try will generate more main strea m int erest. Mc Grath had fun and sho wed his respect for the ri de rs and especi ally t hose who hol d th e ham mer down on the Open -class monsters , but after pond er ing how close he c am e to winning , McGrath said , "May be I'll com e back' " CN Great American Hillclimb Billings. Montane Results: July 26-27 . 2003 0 ยท600 ROBBE R TIRE : 1. Trovls W hitl oc k ( 14.606): 2. M.l Kimball (15.416): 3. Harold Wadd.1I (1 5 .4 3 6) : 4 . Pete Krun ich (15.550) : 5 . .Jerem y McGroth (1 6 .1 2 1) ; 6 . J on Sm ith (1 6 . 4 6 7): 7 . Sh annon Ch emberla tn { 16 .5 2 9 }; 8 . Eric Cherry ( 16 .666) : 9. Ja y Coffe y ( 16. 692) ; 10. Dusty Beer (16.746) . OPEN ROBBER TIRE : 1. Tr av is Wh itlock ( 12. 4 16) : 2. Larry Co l.ma n (1 2. 639); 3 . Harold Wadd.1I ( 13. 2 10) ; 4 . Roble Peterson ( 14 .491 ) : 5. Dave Johnston ( 14 .606); 6. Pat Uscu m (15 .043 ): 7. Shannon Chamberlein (1 5 . 15 1) ; 8 . Kurt Koester ( 15.27 1); 9. John Cullinan (15.729 ); 10. Ed Taylor (15.769 ). 700 OIL: I. J.ff Thomas (271 ft.); 2. Ed Tay lor (256 ft.); 3. Travis Whitlock (25 7 ft .): 4 . Dusty Boor (253 ft .); 5. Brand on Whi tloc k (252 ft .) ; 6. Nolan Martin (250 ft .): 7. Jon Smith (246 1\.): 6. Shannon Chemberteln (247 ft.}; 9. .Jeremy McGrath (247 ft.); 10 . Jason Sm ith (246 ft.). OPEN OIL: I. Brien Osbom ( 13.476 ); 2. Travis Wh itlock (15.436 ) ; 3 . J.tt Th omas ( 15 .796 ); 4 . Bra ndon Whit lo ck ( 16 .3 6 0); 5 . Cha d Lorenz (1 6 .9 09) ; 6 . Sco tt Ehlers ( 17.032 ); 7 . Ed Taylor (16 .526): 6. Devin Aymond (16.992 ); 9. Scott Olson ( 19.662); 10. Nolan Manin (22.304 ). SR : 1. D ave Jo hnst on (18 .75 4 ) ; 2 . LeRoy Ebeling (376 ft .) : 3 . Ken Lon 9 (353 ft . ) ; 4. Dean Cromwell (352 ft .): 5. Doug Sherburn (34 9 ft.) . C'SHIP CL: 1. Travis Whitlock; 2. Jeremy McGrath; 3. Larry Ccle rnen .