Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

Strank and Stanley Fly T he 2005 AMA National Championship Hillclimb Series, sponsored by Pace American, opened the season in Middlebury, Indiana, at the Zeke Wenger Memorial National Hillclimb on Sunday May 15. The Goshen Iron Horsemen Motorcycle Club hill is one of the most difficult hills on the circuit making it very exciting to watch. Chris VanHyning and Dave Watson both cracked into the 3.4-second mark right away in round one of the 540cc class, but defending National Champion Walter "Tiger" Strank Jr. put the Dr. Bob Racing Yamaha R6 on top of the leaderboard with a 3.37S-second pass. "I was glad to get this first run over with," Strank said. "I broke my wrist again over the winter. A week after I got my cast off, I broke it again, so I had a few butterflies at this hill. I don't think my time will hold up though. I jumped a little too far so I can go faster." In the second round of 540cc action, the pace got a lot quicker. VanHyning, a former winner at the hill, put in a great ride to move to the top with a 3.361-second time, but he wouldn't be able to hold the lead. John Bunner, last year's rookie of the year, put up a 3.314-second run while Strank lined up for his second run. After a great launch, Strank kept the bike low as he flew up the hill, bringing the crowd to its feet with a 3.088-second time to take the win. "This bike is faster than last year, and I just timed it all right," Strank said. The finishing order in the 540cc class was Strank, Phil Libhart, Bunner, VanHyning, Dave Watson, Chad Disbennett, James Wolfe, Ryan Thibault, Paul Kops and Chris Kabo. The 800cc class riders faced a different challenge than the S40s at Middlebury. The big bikes have no problem clearing the huge double, but trying to keep the 2oo-hp machines from going into orbit is an altogether different problem. Former 540cc Champion Jeff Thomas let off too soon trying to stay low and cased his Yamaha XS800 twin. The abundance of traction on the bottom of the hill would challenge the riders all day. Strank continued to ride well, and he put together an excellent run. He had a nice straight launch and managed to stay low to take the lead with a time of 3.238 seconds. Libhart rode his 800cc triumph twin to a 3.IH-second time after catching more air than he wanted over the long double. "I got a lot of height, but I would rather overjump it than come up short," Libhart said. "We don't have any changes to make to the bike. It was a good run." Strank was going for the two-class sweep as round two started. He kept the Yamaha RI low over the jump to cut down on air- time, barely clearing the double before whacking the thronle back on. He blasted up the top of the hill in 3.163 seconds to edge out Libhart. "I thought I was going to come up short, so I whacked the throttle on and the bike Yamaha Launches Star Brand Name Yamaha announced the creation of a new brand name for its cruiser category of motorcycles. which are henceforth to be known as Star motorcycles. The announcement was made during a media party at the John Lautner-designed Goldstein House in Beverly Hills, California, on May 12. The Star name has been associated with Yamaha's cruiser family since the introduction of the Royal Star in 1996. A decade later, Yamaha officials say that the marque has gained its own identity among Yamaha cruiser customers, and now is the right time to let it stand alone as its own brand. Yamaha hopes that the change will allow it to increase its commitment to the cruiser market by creating new business initiatrves and new strategies specifically aimed at increasing Star's impact on the cruiser category. With the announcement, several new strategies are already being put into play, including: • StarMotorcycies.com - a new website for Star motorcycle riders and fans • A special service and customer relations support program • Star motorcycle dealer training • Expanded demo and cruiser event support • An increasing number of Star custom accessories for Star motorcycles 8 MAY 25,2005 • CYCLE NEWS took off like a bat out of hell," Strank said. "The RI is just sick, it's so fast." Strank's time still stood up when Joey Stanley wheeled the Indianapolis Southside Harley-Davidson XR750 to the line. Stanley had struggled all day with the timing over the double, but he launched the big twin hard and nailed it on his last chance. After the rear wheel touched down, he was hard on the gas - 3.068 seconds later, he had the day's fastest run. "The bike just took of like a rocket about 10 feet out of the hole, and I left it on and went for it," Stanley said. "When I came back Yamaha Cruiser Timellne 1978 XS650 Special Introduced the company's first production cruiser, 1981 Virago 750 Introduced - the company's first air-cooled, V-twin (16OOcc) engine; bike becomes an Instant sales success, V Star 1100 Custom cruiser introduced. Royal Star Venture touring motorcycle Introduced, cruiser. V Star I 100 Classic Introduced - 65-cublc-lnch engine with traditional styling, 1985 V-Max 1200 Introduced - the most powerful production motorcycle at the time of introduction; the bike has remained In Yamaha's lineup for over 20 yean, 1996 First Star model, the Royal Star, debuts - features 1300cc liquld-cooled V-four; Is the first Yamaha cruiser to have an extenslve array of bolt-on accessories available when released, 1998 V Star Custom and V Star Classic cruisers expand cruiser line with

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