o r th e nint h time in a long and am azing
caree r, Travis Whitlock, a 34-year-old ou t "'.....
of Elizabeth, Colorado, won the champ ionsh ip at the Billings Great American HiIIclimb. As has happened so often in recent
years, the champion ship came down to an intense
battle betw een Whitlo ck and local favo rite Dusty
Beer, but at the end of the winner-take-a ll Championship Shootout, Whitlock had edged Beer by just
.034 of a second.
Bee r had two good runs get slowed down in the
first chute, and he got hung up briefly at the top on his
quickest ride. Beer almost came away with the best
ride on his final attempt aboard his big bike. He
cleared the bottom so fast that Whitlock began to clap
and walk toward the marshalling area, but then Bee r
bogged down just 19 feet short of the timing line.
"I was walking back to my bike," Whitlock said. "I
thought he had it, you know what I mean? But that 's
just it; yo u have to get that lucky bounce. He had a
great ride going, and that top section bit him. By all
means , my ride wasn't very clean that won it. The re
should've been a 12.5 ride in there to win that event .
But it was a rough hill . It was a tough one to put a ride
together on. "
Even w ith the tough climb, Whitlock got three
firsts on the wee kend , along with a third and a fifth.
Whitlock's three wins unofficially tie him with local
legend Merritt Chamberlain for most career w ins.
Normally the championsh ip is a "gimme" fo r the
,
big bikes, but this year the near-vertical chute near
the top of the hill developed massive, vertical o r even
inverted ledges tha t wreaked havoc with the big,
powerful and usually heavy machines. O f the six
Op en-b ike riders in the final , only Whitlock topped
the hill , and he did it on both runs.
"I hit it the same way I did all weekend," said
Whitlock, who also had the third-best time ( 14.998)
on his smaller bike. "Y hit it as fast as you can at the
ou
bottom, and load it up to clear that top section,
because it's nasty up there. It's a long ways to jump
it, and the only way you can do it is on a big bike ."
Many of his competitors give Whitlock's balance
and reflexes credit for his many wins and long career.
The 34.year-old has been a top pro in the spo rt since
he was 15. Beer claimed , "Travis is such a gifted at hlete , he could have been a champion in any motorcycle sport he pursued." And forme r AMA champ ion
Jeff Thom as said, "He' s getting beat with technology
F
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SEPTEMBER 15, 2004 • CYCLE NEW
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