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/128238
• A MA N a t io n a l H illclimb S eries Final R o u n d : Oevil's S t a ir c a s e David Watson was the only ma n ever to w in both the 540cc and 800cc Hillclimb Championships in th e same ye ar. Now he 's the only man to d o it twice after winning the 540cc fi na le and fin ishing second in the 800cc cla ss in the final round. STOR Y AND PH OT OS BY D AV ID L. P ATTON JR . OREGONIA, OH, OCT. 12 fiii\ nce aga in Da ve Watson tr av eled \\JJl) to Oregonia , Ohio , with t h e 800cc National Cha mpionship on the lin e, and onc e again he captured the nu mber-one plate. Las t season, Watson had to co m e fro m behind on his final r id e t o bes t 2001 C h am p i o n Wa lter "T iger " Strank Jr. Th is ye ar, Watson had to hold off Stran k an d three -t ime champ James "Jamme r" Large for th e title. Th ese th ree riders ha ve dominated the series in recent years , and the y hav e all had champi- u nship -caliber seasons, b ut Watson h as been a little m ore co ns is ten t . Though Larg e picked up his fourth win of the season at th e Devil's Staircase, Watson still walked off with the ti tle. Watso n also finished off a c ha mpions hip run in the 54 0 cc class with h is eight h wi n of the ser ies to g o wi t h th ree secon d - p lac e finis hes to ea rn h is fou rth 540 c c c rown. His 5 40cc win was also th e 50th of hi s career. 540CC The D evil 's Staircase ha s b e en p lagued by bad weather the last four y ears, and the Sunday -morning forecast ca ll ed for sca ttered showers , but by 11 :3 0 a.rn . the sun was out, th e h il l was -pe rfect , and th e fans were treated to a' great fall da y . Phil Li bha rt was th e f ir st rider to c hallenge the 450- fo o t hill , which' , ,_ start ed off with a break er right off th e 50 OCTOBER 29 , 2003' c ue I e sta rti ng lin e fo llowed by the bi g ju m p that catapults the rid ers up to th e face of th e second jum p. Th e fi nal jump is at the 3 70- foo t ma rk , and the tim ers wer e p la ced on the j um p for sa fet y . Li bh art h ad a stra ight laun ch up the break er , b ut h e c au g ht a li ttl e t o o mu ch ai r and never reall y got it go ing . "We had the bi k e gear ed too high; it never reall y got in the powerba nd ," he said . Rooki e of T he Year J oseph Gerow p ulled in next on Ch ad Disbenn ett's normal ride, since Disbe nnett suffered a b ac k inj u r y at rou nd n in e. Wh en Gerow dropped th e hammer, it nearly left him beh in d as h e w ent up the b reak er. He held on to it and got it back on li ne as it ran up th e hi ll. He never back ed off as the bik e sailed int o the lead with a time of 7.857 second s. "T hat' s the first time I' ve ever rid den the bik e, and it reall y to ok off," Gero w said . St rank st ill h ad a sho t at Li bhart for second in th e seri es, and he wen t all out. He was near ly perfect ov er th e breaker, keeping the rear whe el close t o the g ro und for a good dri ve and stayed on th e right sid e of the hill , but he flew really high over the big j um p. Despit e lo si ng tim e wh ile in th e air , h e b l a st ed p ast the ti mers in 7 .77 seconds. He held th e le ad when Dave Wats on rolled to the li ne. "T he k ey here is to sta y low over the bre aker th en k e ep it st ra ight," Wat son said . "T he re i s a little bump on t h e f ace of th e fi rst jump th at I th ink I can preload off of to land sho rt for the second ju m p, so if I can land it , w e should be right up there. If I can get a clea n ride t hro ugh , I shoul d be all right." Wats on lined up on the ri gh t side nea r t h e c ent er an d s lamm ed t he t h r ott le op en as h e dropp e d t h e clutch . He wasn't as sha rp as T ig er as he crested th e br eak er , bu t he m ade up a lot of time as he laun ch ed off the highest pa rt of th e bi g j um p, then he sk ipped off t h e face o f th e seco n d jump. Wat son stunned the crowd with a pa ss of 7. 13 7 seconds . " I didn't time th e bre ak er ve ry well and c a u g ht a l i tt l e ai r," h e said. "Whe n I turn ed it ba ck on , it shot m e to th e right, and it k ept driftin g to th e righ t. Finally, after th e second j ump, I got it stra ightened out. It was n't what I had planned, but it was still a pretty fast run , I should be able to go faster if I can go straight. " ' Ubhart caugh t air ove r th e breaker in the second round, but he pivoted the b ike in th e air t o drop th e front end , and he got it ho oked up qu ickly , He blitzed the rest of the hill in 7.533 seconds to m ove into second. "l owe that run to Tom Reiser," he said. "T he bik e worked great that run." Gero w had a mechanical prob lem n D uv s