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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128384
Illinois Hillclimb
Centro/Illinois Motorcycle Club
Bowman's One Fast
Mudder at Neoga
BY BUD NORTHRUP
NEOGA, IL, JUNE 11
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"T"he rain h~ at 3 o·c1ock. and ~ h~ hard. It didn't look like the
I Central Illinois Motorcycle Club had a chance of running their
hilklimb on June I I. But the club members went to work scraping the mud from the st3rting area. The club has two hills: the
main hill. and an "easy" one for the Youth. Quad and Stock classes. and they let the quads take free rides on the "easy" hill to dry
it out. They then added the 12Scc, 200cc and Super Senior classes to run on that hill and started the climb. The first hill proved
very climbable. but the biggest problem was getting bikes back
down the incredibly slick retum trails; however. with lots of help
from club members and other riders. the show went on.
The main hill, however, was another story. It is always a
tough hill to climb. but now it was formidable. Many very good
riders never saw the top. The IDO-foot hill features a rutted
shelf at the 70-foot level. preceded by a shale outcropping
about 20 feet in width. The riders jumping hard off the startingline jump would land on the slick shale and lose all traction - and
control - and rider after frustrated rider careened off the side of
the hill and into the woods.
However, some were able to land squarely and go over the
shelf fairly straight. Brent Bowman from Danville. Illinois. did it
the best of all. Bowman flew over the shale as if it weren't
there. jumped over the shelf. and sailed over the top in 3.38S
seconds on his KX500 on his first ride in the 600cc class - a time
.:. that would win the class and also take the Fast Time award.
Josh Denson was one of the few to actually top the hill on both
rides, his first ride of 3. 7~2 seconds being the closest to
Bowman's time. and took second place on his RevLoc IO