Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA National C h a m p io n s h ip H illclimb S e r ie s R o und 2 : Iron H orsem en S T OR Y A N D PH O T O S B Y D AVI D L.PATTO N J R. MIDDLEBURY IN, MAY21 , he AMA National Championsh ip Hillcli m b Se ries traveled to the heart of Am ish country for ro und two - Th e Ze ke Wenger Memorial run , one o f th e to ug hest ra c e s on th e c irc uit. It ' s to ug h b e c au s e th e 15 0 -foot Go sh en hill fea tu re s a b ig d o u ble jum p right off th e starting line . Time it wrong and yo u lose too mu ch tim e in the a ir or yo u come up short, case it a nd fa ll. J eff Th oma s ha s a lways ridde n we ll on the hills with big ju m ps , a nd he go t of the ground and picked up his first Pro win in the 800cc class. In the 540cc class, Walter "Tige r" St ra nk Jr. made his first 540c c event at Go s he n a memorable one , taking his first Natior,a l win in his first full year on th e c ircuit. T (Right) Jeff T h omas launches his Yamaha to victory in the 800cc c lass at the National Hillcl imb in Ind iana. (Below) T iger Strank scored his fi rst 5 4 0 cc w in' f ; perfectly , the n he c ra nked it on thru the lights . St ra nk ' s 3.309 propelled him into th e lead. "T he 540 ran grea t," he sa id . " I don 't know how to back off the throttle at the right time, so my front end is always too high , it ' s normal for me." 540cc Jeff Thomas wh eeled his XS540 Yamaha twin to the lin e to start the d a y ' s racing . Thomas got a clean la unch bu t the soft hill led to wheel s pin a nd he bar ely cle a red the dou ble jump. Th o m as held the gas o n a nd sto ppe d th e clo cks in 3 .734 se conds . Th e 540c c National Cham pion , Ted Wilkin s , c am e u p way s hort on th e doubl e a nd cased ha rd , but he made it ove r th e top , just off the pace. Pau l Pinsonnau lt ha s scored many wins at th e Goshe n h ill, a nd he took the lead with a smooth 3.398. "It didn 't come off the line as hard as I hoped fo r, " he said. " I can go faster on m y sec ond ride ." Round -on e winner David Watson chose a fa r-right st arting spot a nd th e Kleeburg She e tmetal-backed Honda CBR540 rid er clic k e d off a 3.433 sec ond run o n the h ill he ha s had a tough time with. "I jus t wa nt to finis h in the top five today in both classes ," he sa id. Howe ' s Tri um ph/Kreeger Pro HilIc limb Team ride r Ph il Lib ha rt a lso lined up on the fa r right and he got a great launch. T h e Tr iumph tw in ' s front end leaped straight up in the ai r off th e jum p a nd he cleared the dou ble an d whe el ied up the hill to ta ke the lead with a 3 .378 time . " I got wa y t o o mu ch air and th e b ike c a rr ie d the front wheel all the way up th e hill," he said. "It whee lied down the othe r side of th e hill, too." Hea vy ra in before th e event soften ed th e land ings ove r th e doub le and m any near-crashes tu rned int o good rides. Tim Frazier also launched front e n d high for a 3.477 , r ight behind Tiger Strank's 3.443 and for mer winn er J ohn Ham ilton Jr .' s 3.439. Tim Freidhoff got up a nd over in 3 .817 to e nd the ro un d but the close times promised a n exciting second rou nd with Libhart on top. Jeff T h om a s ' sec ond r id e was de railed whe n his bars s lipped do wn a fter a hard landing over the do uble. Ted Wilkins crashed o ut a nd Pau l Pinso nna ult had bike problems a nd had to pu ll out of th e box. David Wat son wasn't able to better his first run tim e . "The 540 still ne eds a little tweaking, " h e sa id, "b ut it' s be en a good da y." Mac's Kawasa k i/ Wis e c o / Wa ts on Raci ng's Scott Mc Nee ly had a tough first ride. "We had bike prob le m s , a nd I got a little nuts an d rea lly messed up that ride ," he said. McNeely d rilled his second run th is time going up the fa r right side. He too k thi rd with a 3 .3 85 -second run . "Da vid a nd Dan Watson talked to m e a lo t between runs and got me ca lmed do wn ," Mc Nee ly said. "Th e bike got a little sid ew a ys in the air but I pulled it o ut a nd it turned ou t great. " Paul Pin sonn au lt c ould n 't get h is bike to run rig ht. "The fuel mu st be contam inated , the bike jus t wouldn 't run. " He to o k fourth. T im Fra z ier couldn 't c a tc h the le ad er e it he r, but Tiger Strank re ally had th e YES ac cess o ries .com / Pira te Promotions Kawasaki on line . Stra nk has four amat eur clas s c h a m p ionsh ips and he na iled th e s ta rt. He foug ht off a huge loopout and la nd ed 34 novvs .J U N E 7 , 2000' cue I e John Ham ilton Jr. and Terry Thompson couldn 't c ra c k the top five, then Phil Libhart pulled to the line . Libhart held second, but he was after the win. He put together a solid ride , '.04 seconds faster than his first run , bu t he c o u ld n ' t catch Tiger . McNeely , Watso n and Pinso nnault rou nd ou t the top five . "My first win, I cou ldn 't be happier," he sa id . BOOcc Re is er 's Cycl e Se rv ice -ba ck ed Harry Schrei ber Jr . led the 800s to the line and he c am e up s hort o ve r the double for a four-second run. Th e c row d didn 't h av e lo n g to wait fo r fi re wor ks a s Spe ctr o O il s /M ac ' s Kawas aki - b ack e d D a v id Wats on blitzed up the far right s ide of the hill on his Honda CBR800. He reall y got the crow d buzz in g wit h h is 3. 2 29second pass . G e r en c er ' s H-D o f Elkha rt rider Tim ' Frazie r a lso c ho se the fa r right sid e. Frazier hustled his XR750 up the hill in 3.366 se conds but his bike died as he crested th e top . Bobby Templeton hit a 3 .3 79 on his firs run, but he knew he could go faster. Thor -s pon sored Gle n Petty Jr. ha s ha d a lot of success at Gosh en and he pu t togeth er a 3 .39 7 on hi s firs t run . Ho n da rider Curt Sne lling was the las t 800cc ride r and he could n' t break int o th e three-second bracket. Ha rr y Schre ib er J r. got a better hol eshot on h is s econd ride and he land ed s moo thl y for a 3 .505 . Aft er Fr a zier had to sc ra tc h, Bobby Tem pl e ton , a 199 9 winn er a t Go s h en , too k h is shot o n th e Bob [, Donn a Ersk ine /Townsend Specia lties -ba cked Ha rley -Davidson. Templeton p ick ed a far le ft line a nd ha d a re a lly clean pass. His 3 .253 would bump Frazier to fourth . "T h e firs t run wa s okay , s o we d idn 't make any c ha nges ," Templ e ton said. "We went for it on the se c ond run but I c ame up sh ort o n th e transition ." Tho ma s Racing/Innovative Mold [, Machi ne rider Jeff Thomas ne a rly won the 1999 Fall Nat ional at Goshen and he was going for a fast ride after c rashing on his first attempt. Thomas has had his best results on hills with big j u m p s and he really c a me o n s trong o n h is Yama ha XS6 50 -based m a ch in e . T em p le t on launc he d stra ight despite the ruts on th e fac e of t h e jum p an d h e pivo te d th e front whee l in m ida ir to la nd flat a nd on th e ga s. David Wat son 's hold on top time was broken whe n Templ et on ' s 3. 194 brought the c rowd to its fee t. Glen Petty Jr. got c ross- rutted a nd crashed o n the doub le . Pe tt y 's first ro und time earned him fifth . Dan Watso n readied Da v id Wa t s o n ' s Honda as the 800cc class wo und down . Da vid chose to go last and he had another good run but his first run was faste r and Jeff Thomas had his first win. "My day started off horrible and ended great," Watson said. "I didn 't expect that but I knew I had to put a ha rd ride through to salvage a tough day . I knew the bike was fast enough out of the hole and up the first part of the hill. We wer e u p un t i l t hree o 'clock th is morning worki ng on th is b ike , Mike [Tho mas] a nd t h e g u ys we re g reat a nd it a ll pa id off. It's nic e fina lly getting o ur first win." David Watson took contro l of the po ints lead in both classes . "We had a great day ," David Watso n sa id. "All of our rides were right in th ere and we got all four runs over the top, I couldn 't ask for a better da y he re ". eN Iron Horumen Middlebury, Indiana Results: May 21, 2000 (Round 2 of 16) 800: 1. Jeff Tho m a s (Ya m ) ; 2 . Da vid Watson (Hon); 3. Bobby Templ eton (H· D): 4. Tim Frazier ( H· D): 5. Glen Petty (H· D): 6. Harry Schreiber .c lr. (H· D): 7 . TIger Strank (Kaw): 8. Harry Denham (H· D): 9. Brandon Kreeger (T ri) ; 10 . Russell Vander Veen (H· D) : 11. Curt Snellin g (Han ) : 12. Mik e Debu sk (Yam) : 13. Tom Reiser (H· D) . 540: I. TIger Strank (Kaw): 2. Phil Ubh art [Tri} : 3. Scott McN eely (Hon) ; 4 . Peul Pinsonnault (Hon); 5. David Watson (Hon); 6. Jo hn Hemilton .dr. (Tri ); 7. Ti m Frazier (BSA ); 8. Terry Th ompson (BSA); 9 . Mike Uvingston (Hon) ; 10. Chri s Van Hyning (Hon); 11. Je ff Thoma s (Yam) ; 12. TIm Freidhoff (Hon); 13. Ted Wilkins (Rc tax): 14. Brian Bowlby (Hon) ; 15. Anth ony Dehart (KX ). AMA 800cc NATIONAL HIll.CUMB C'SHIP SERIES POINT STANDINGS ( Aft er 2 of 16 rounds): I. David Watson (28); 2. TIm Frazier (25); 3. (TIE) Jeff Thom as ( 1 win ) /Bobb y Tem pl eton ( 24 ); 5 . Glen Petty (23): 6 . Harr y Sch rei be r Jr. ( 18 ): 7. (T IE) Jam es large ( 1 win)m ger Strank ( 15) ; 9 . (TIE) Mike Debusk /Brandon Kreeger (1 4) ; 11. Har ry Denham (13); 12. Russell Vander Veen (8 ); 13. Curt Snelli ng ( 6 ) : 14 . Da rr ell F ow l er ( 4) : 15 . (T I E) J ohn Hemlltcn.dr/Tcm Reiser (3) . AMA 540cc NATIONAL HIll.CUMB C'SHIP SERIES POINT ST A N DI NGS ( A fte r 2 of 16 round s) : I. David Watson (26/1 win); 2. (TIE) Tiger Strank ( 1 win) /Paul Pinsonnault (25) ; 4 . Scott McNeely (24) ; 5. T im Frazie r (23 ) ; 6 . Mik e Li ving sto n ( 15 ); 7. Phil Libha rt ( 14 ) ; 8. Chr is VanHyni ng (1 3) ; 9 . Tyrone Smoot ( 12) ; 10. J ohn Hemtlt on.J r. ( 11): 11. Terry Tho mpso n ( 10); 12. (TIE) Ted WilkinsfTim Freidhoff (9) ; 14 . Roger McNeely (4 ); 15 . Rich ie Scheurrmmn (3) . Upcom ing Rounds: Round 3 - Jefferson, PA. Jun e 4 Round 4 - Steel City, PA. June 11

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