Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• AMA Nat ional H illcl im b Series R o und 1 0: Whit e R o s e Nat iona l S T O RY AND P HO T O S B Y D A VID L. P A TT O N J R. Y , PA. SEPT. 28 ORK fi1 efendi ng 540 and 800cc Nat ion al L!..J Ch amp i on Dav e Watson h as c o m p le tely d om in a t ed t he 54 0 c c cl ass in 2003 . In three of the la st four years , Watson has tr aveled to York in S ept e rn be r , h op ing to c l in ch t he number -one plate in the 540cc cla ss. In all th ree of those hillclimbs, W at son has walked away victorious. Wa t son has won sev en rac es and fin ished second three times to claim hi s fourth 540cc Natio nal Cham pio nship. In th e 800cc class, Watson has been in th e m id dl e o f a th ree -way bat tl e fo r th e title . T he 2 0 0 1 C h ampion , W a lt e r St rank Jr., and three-time Cha m pion J am es Large have had ou tstand ing years, which woul d have won them the title in just about any other sea son. Ho w ev e r , this y e a r, the y f ind themselves falling behind as Watson won his th ird 800cc rac e of the year. it alw ay s is," Strank said . "T im ing th e breaker at th e bottom of th e hill. Th e starting lin e was really sticky , and it bogged j ust a fra ction ." Str ank fann ed th e c l u t c h a n d la unc hed th e bike up the face of th e break er . He na il ed it, w i th the R6 sc ream ing up to th e ti mers in 5 .909 seconds, on ly .0 19 out of fir st p lace. Mik e Li ving st on cl osed out th e first round with a 6 .838-sec ond run o n his Honda CR. T he hill began to rut up by the sec ond round of ac ti on , esp ecia ll y in th e c e n t e r ; th e t im es for th e secon d r o und didn 't im p ro ve . W it h on ly 14 competitors in the fi eld. the Nati o na l Championship b el ong ed t o Watson after Div elb liss c o u ld n ' t beat W at son's firs t -run time. Libh ar t w as after th e w in on hi s second pa ss, but he wh eelied as he clea red the brea k er . He di d a great j ob of staying on the bik e and on th e hill, bu t he went out o f bounds a nd would end up fourth . "T he first rid e we did n 't hav e th e rear shoc k set up right ," Libhart said . " But on the second rid e m y reac tion ti me was j us t a l i ttle s low, an d I almost fli pped it : An t ho n y DeH art crac k ed th e to p fi ve, de sp ite a h ard la nding o n the br eak er. He lit up th e rest of the hi ll . never back in g off ove r the top br eak er for a 6 .5 15 -sec on d ru n . Watson watched as St ran k ra n a 5.9 57 after a co uple of little erro rs cost him va lu ab l e th o u san dt h s o f a second . liv ingston is having th e best yea r of his caree r, and he was rea dy fo r his best eve r ri de at th e hill . " We pu t on the paddle tire for this run and g eared it up a little: he said. In the past he has had proble ms with White Rose's br eak er. Th is tim e, he shut off in time and was ready for th e tran sit ion a rea th at has ca ug ht h im out in th e past . Th e CR 500 went straight up t he le ft si de wi t h on ly a m in or wh eel ie ; he ran wide ope n to th e timer s in 6 .3 6 1 seconds to t ak e third overall. "Th is hill hasn't been too good to me th is last five years, but I' m finally get ti ng it fig ured out," Liv ingston added . 540cc Heavy rains hit the hill on Saturda y , and wh en the riders arrived early Sunday morning, it was an unridabl e m ess. The Pro Hill cl imber Assoc iation 's safety committee and many of the riders grabbed shovel s and rak es and spent over two ho urs fix ing th e hill. By 1 p.m . th e hill was in great shape. Gerald D ivelbl iss got things started, covering th e 280 -foot hill in 6 .770 seconds. Round nine w inn er Phil Li bhart ran fourth and looked to be over his recent co ncussio n as he dropped th e hammer on his Triumph t w in. He c a ug ht a littl e air ove r the breaker, but he really made up time o n the rest of th e hill, jumpin g into the lead with a so li d 6.425 -s ec ond effort . Du e to st o rm da m age and th e subsequent cancellation of ro und 10 in Haydenv i ll e , O hi o , Wats o n only neede d a 13th-place fi nis h at eithe r of th e last t wo events to na il down the ti tle. How ev er , he had no pl an s o f taking it easy . "My 540 has run grea t all seaso n, so I know if I get a clean ride in, I'll do pr etty goo d," Wats o n said. Watson lin ed up on the far left sid e of th e hill an d fire d the Hon d a CBR off the line. He sla m med the throttle shu t as he c reste d th e breaker, the n th e ba ck wh eel k i ssed th e g ro u n d , and he cranke d it on . The title wa s all bu t d ecid ed wh en h is 5 .8 9 0 -seco nd time lit up th e sco reboard. "This b ik e has been aweso me all yea r: Wat son sa id. " We nev er h ad a n y pr ob l em s w i t h se t u p o r a nyth ing ." Stran k a nd h is Ya m aha R6 hav e been di aled in as of lat e, and he was loo k ing for hi s first w in o n th e fa st f ou r - c yl ind er . H e st a r te d n e ar t h e ce nte r, but th e bik e stum b le d w he n he dumped th e cl utch. " The k ey to th is hill is the same as 42 O C TO B ER 15,2003· eye I e nevus BOOcc Har ry Denha m started things off in th e 800cc class with a so lid holeshot and ti m ed the break er j ust right. He ran up th e middl e of the hill a nd sto p ped th e timers in 6.340 sec onds. D enham held the fast es t time f o r m ost of th e ro und, and then the Reis er's Cycle Serv ic e riders upped the pace. Lar ge entered th e day third in the po in t s, four b eh ind lead er Watson . Larg e st art ed on the far left sid e a nd had a good launch on t he XR 75 0 , but he overshot the br eak er and ca ught t oo much air. He pounded up the hill in 6.029 seconds to take over the lead. Ja me s Wolfe ran a 5.5-s eco nd time prior t o Larg e's teammate Gerry B enn et t roll ing in . B enn ett had an excell ent launc h and was sha rp over th e breaker, staying low and stra ight. O nce he made the trans it ion to the stee p p art o f the hill , he let it run , m oving into t he lead w ith a 6.002 seco nd time , by fa r hi s best ride ever at Yo rk . "I di d th e breaker ab out as go od as I co uld do, th en I st ayed straig ht o n the res t of th e hill : Benn ett said . Stra nk has owned th e Wh it e Rose h ill , winn ing th e l a st th r ee ra c e s the re; he need ed a w.in t o ta ke th e po in ts le a d a w a y fr om Watso n. St ran k started left of ce nte r and was very quick over the fi rst br eak er. T he Yamaha R1 ran strong to the lig hts , but Str an k co uld n't quit e ca tc h Ben nett, run ning a 6 .0 29 to tie La rge . A fter Watson 's dram at i c co me back win at round nine in Middlebu ry , India na, he was on a roll and went for i t o n his firs t pa ss. He h a d a f a st hole shot , a n d t hen he a bsol u te ly nailed the br eaker. He shut off at th e crest at the last insta nt, then the rear wheel hooked up and shot hi m up th e h ill. The c rowd 's chee rs tol d the t al e, 5 .359 seconds . " I finally got to sho w wha t the 80 0 ca n do," W atson sa id. "M y dad ha s wor k ed o n it all ye ar, and now I ca n rid e it without it tr y ing to throw m e off the back ." T he transi t io n aft er t he br eak e r was getting rutted up and was very soft fo r the fin al round of rid es. O nce ag ain th e fast ti mes wouldn 't c o me u nti l t he e n d o f th e ro un d. L ar g e pl anned o n li ning up o n the left, but he m ov ed to the far ri ght side . " Ran dy Gabriel and T om [ Rei ser] saw a line o n the righ t t h at l oo k ed pretty so lid : L arg e sai d . " I wa sn 't su re abo ut it , but Tom sa id to me, ' T h e ce nte r 's rea lly so f t, a n d y o u m igh t ge t a good ride th ere, but you won 't win the hillclimb.' So we moved ov er th ere: Larg e dropped the hammer and flew up the br eak er righ t next to the out-of-b ounds line. He h it the edge of the came l h ump b ut stayed on t he gas . He nearly ca ught Wat son with a 5 .5 54 -sec ond run to move into sec ond . Bennett als o cho se the right side; he hi t a ledge on th e left side of the hill t h at nearly highsid ed him. He wou ld settle for fourth place on th e day. Stra nk was suddenly faced with lo si n g m o re ground to Watson , and he was really fi re d up for his fina l ride . He wheelied off th e top breaker a n d launched st ra i g ht in t o th e a ir, sub sequ en t l y losin g ti me, but h is 5.794-second tim e was good enough for third pla ce . "That was am azing : Benn ett said . " I had so m u ch han gtime, and I wasn 't going to back off. I had to go all out to try to catch Jammer [Large] and Dave [Watson ]: Two riders la te r , Watson had the wi n , his first sweep at York . " It' s great to fi nall y win bo th classes here ," he sai d . " I kn ew the 540 wo uld ru n good , and it' s aweso me to win my fourth 540cc cham p io nshi p. Now I need to go to Oregonia and fry to hold onto th e 800 c c title . I k now wi th Tiger and J ammer , it' s go ing to go down to t he last rid e, but I hop e I ca n k eep my wi nn ing str eak going. I feel like I am fin all y rid in g as go od as I di d before m y accide nt [in 2001 ]." cN White Rose Nationa l Vorl!, Pennsyl va nia Res ults : September 28, 2003 (Round 10J BOO: I . Dave Watson (Hon): 2. James Large (H·D) : 3 . Wa lter Str ank Jr. (Yam ); 4 . Gerry Be nne tt (H ·D ) ; 5. Harry Denharnf f-t -D ] : 6. A nthony DeHart (Kaw) ; 7. Da v id Price ( HoD ) ; 8. Ja mes Wol fe ( Yam ); 9 . Br andon Kreeger (Tri ); 10. Rodne y Sm ith (BSA) ; 11. Pa ul Pinsonnault (Tri): 12 . Bobby Templeton (H-D); 13. Curt Snelling (Hon ) . 540: 1. Da ve Wa tson ( Hon ); 2 . Walt er Strank Jr. (Yam) ; 3 . Mik e U ving!i&On (Hon) ; 4. Phil Ubhart (Tri) ; 5. An thony Del-iert ( Ke w) ; 6. Pau l Pinson nault ( Hon ); 7. Ga ry Bauer (Ho n) ; 8 . Gerald Divelbhs s ( Kaw) ; 9. Ja m es Wolfe ( Hon); 10. Mike Tem pleton (Ka w) ; It. Ken Bo nnema ( Hon) ; 12. Paul Ge rrety ( Kll W); 13. J oseph Gerow ( Ho n) ; 14. Melvin Mease (T ri) . 800 AI'lA NATIONAL C' S HIP HILLCLlM8 SERIES I. POINTS STANDINGS (Aft er 10 of 11 rounds) : D ave Wat son (13 8 /3 w in s ) ; 2. Walt er St renk Jr. (134 /4 wins) ; 3 . J am es La rge ( 133/3 win s); 4 . Gerry Be nnett (9 8); 5. Chad Disbenn ett (8 6); 6 . Bobby Templeton (84); 7. An thony DeHa rt (69); 8. J am es Wolfe (56) ; 9. Harry Denham (52 ); 10. Phil Ubh art (5 1) ; 11. D av id Pr ic e (50 ); 12. Br and on Kr eeg er (48) ; 13. Jack Mason (4 1): 14. Jeff Thomas (38 ); 15. Rodney Smit h (24 ). 540 AMA NATI ONAL C'SHIP HILLCLIMB SERIES I. POI NTS STANDINGS (Afte r 10 of 11 rounds): Da ve Wat so n ( 14 7/7 wi ns) ; 2 . Ph il Libhart ( 117/1 win ) ; 3 . Walter Stre nk Jr. ( 1 14 ); 4 . Cha d D isbennett ( 100/ 2 wins) ; 5. M ik e U vin gston (87); 6. Gary Baue r (79) : 7. James Wolfe (68) : 8. Anth ony DeHart (67) : 9. Ken Bon nema (61 ); 10 . Michael Tem pleto n (5 1); 11. Pau l Pin sonna ult (50) ; 12. Jose ph Gerow (44) ; 13. J eff T ho mas (37) ; 14 . Chris Vll nHying (36); 15 . Paul Gerrety (29 ).

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