Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

o n hi s fi n al ride, but he st il l t ook fourth - his best fi nis h thi s year. Tiger was still looking fo r the R6's fir st win , so he gea red it up for more top speed , but he was n't abl e to p ut t og et her a soli d run , t ho ugh he did run a fract io n faster at 7 .74 2. BOOCC Jack Mason launched hard out o f th e hole as the big bikes took to th e h il l. He jumped o ff the breaker an d wasn 't ab le to sta y in his lin e, but h e still cloc k e d a run of 7 .590 s ec o nd s. B obb y Te m ple t o n f oll o we d an d m ov ed to th e t op after a 7. 3 17 -second run that held up until late in the rou nd, when t h e number-on e b ik e rolled into the pit. D ave Watson needed a fourth -place finish to lo ck up th e title, but he was still go ing for the win. " I' m just go ing to try to win the hillclimb today," he said . "That seems t o work out better for me than trying to finish fourth or better. " Watson lined up on the l eft side and click ed off a sm oot h , fast run of 7.008 to take the lead. "I had a pretty cl ean ride" he said . " It felt like a better ride than the 540 , but it wasn't much faster - maybe because of th e traction or something .' Four riders later, Strank stepped in for hi s chance. He was good over the breaker, but he got crossrutted off the seco nd jump, and he lo st time getting it straight for the ru n to the last ju mp. Tiger moved into secon d with a time of 7.085. For Large to tak e the champ ions h ip, he needed to w in and for Wa tso n to finish sixth , b ut his day didn 't start off too well . " S o m et h i n g ha ppened to the damp ing ad ju st m ent on t h e re ar sh ock , and i t locked u p ,' h e sai d . "We tried to work on it , and it works a little now, but it's no t right. ' La rge li ned up on the far left side .only two feet from out of bounds for h is fi rst run . He let it loos e off t he st art, and instead of trying to ro ll ov er the breaker, he ke pt it on , jum p ing off it. The b ike sta y ed on the left sid e up to the big jump, but the ruts sent h im way t o the right , and he had to fight to stay in bou nd s. He never bac k ed off, and the Ohio native passed the timers with a 6 .813 -second tim e to take the lead. " T h a t was an excit ing r id e, ' h e said. "I never would have guessed that wa s a six . I felt li ke I was out of con t rol from the second jump on. b ut I left the gas on and had a lot of luck.' Larg e 's teamma te Ge rry Ben nett h as been one of th e most improv ed riders on th e ci rc uit this season , an d he knew he had to try to beat Tiger and Watson to h el p La rg e win the ti t le. He was t rying to o h ar d on h is first run and ma de a few small m istakes that left h im well b ac k as he closed out the round . Watson wa s going for the win as he launched up the ce nter of the hill in the second round . After a good run over th e breaker, he pinned the th rottle and le ap t o ff the b ig j u m p . He landed hard, and after he went ov er the second jum p , he had to back off for an instant to get th e bike bac k on line. Watson ripped pas t th e timer in 6 .788 seconds to move back into fi rst. Stran k geared his R1 up for hi s fi nal pa ss, and he had a fast run go ing until he lan ded off the second jum p . "I was a li tt le slow off the bottom, then I cased real hard off the second j um p and ha d to back off fo r a secon d ," h e said. " I have the best sus pension gu y I've ever ha d in Donny Li ng le, so this w inter we 'll work on the susp ension and find some more horse power.• jum p , an d the big Harl ey th un dered to t h e to p . Watson watc h e d as Large's 7.745 lit up the scor eboard. " I ha d a pretty fast run on m y sec ond ru n to nip Larg e, then he came right b ac k an d n ipped m e back by .043 ," Watson sa id . " T h a t was a n awe so me rid e he p ut in. Stil l, it ' s . been an unbeli evabl e day, our 50th w i n and to win t h e 80 0 Champ ionship, too." I:N Devir s S1

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