Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

AMA/P ace A m erica n N a t io n a l C h ampio n s h ip H illc lim b S erie s R o u n d 7 : R u s fi lV10untain BOOcc ~ Watson was o n the gas out of th e hol e on his T roy Lee Designs/ Spec tro Oils -backed Honda CBR 54 0 , and he lined up th e plateau . D av id ba cked off to k eep the rear wheel down th en gunned it up th e relative ly flat top of the hil l. T he timers, set at 300 feet showed the new fa st ti me , 7 .550 sec onds . J ohn Hamilton, Jr. on the Be 's Rad ical Raci ng /Thor T riu m ph ripped into th e sevens with a 7.826 to cl im b to sec ond , then Strank raised th e bar o n everyo ne . Strank had th e yesa ccessories .com / Dr Bob Racing /P irate Promoti on s Kaw asak i KX500 hooked up right from the start, and he reall y sta yed low over the fi rst jump. "T he bike felt good in the midsection there and I had been debating whether to jump it or not, but to beat Watson y o u have to ho ld i t wide open , so I kept it pinned ," Strank said. " It landed beautiful and I got a little wheel ie, then it came on strong ." Strank hi t the hump and boun ced over the plateau wi thout shutting off, c locki ng a 7 .40 0 t o grab th e l ead . Jimm y Wo l f e fi n is hed o f f th e fi rs t ro und w it h a ni ne -second run . In rou nd two Sch eu erm an n ran a 7.63 4 t o t a k e f ourth for t h e d a y , ahea d of d efend ing Nat ional Ch am pi on Ted Wilkin s' 7 .698. Then Watson too k h is shot , fl ying up t o the fi rs t j um p , on ly to back off. "When I landed off th e first jump, my b ik e sta r t e d t o whee li e a n d I co uld n't m ak e up the time I lo st shutt ing off to get the fr ont whee l bac k down . Str ank watched as rider aft er r id er h ad problems with th e hi ll, STORY AN D PHOTOS BY D A VID P ATTO N J R. WEIRTON, WV, JULY 9 avid Watson continued his assault on Ut he 2000 Pa c e American AMA Nationa l Cha mpio nship H i ll c li m b Ser i es d ur ing roun d seven at Rus h Mount ain . W atson came back from a second-place run in the first round to edge T im Frazier for th e top spot, run nin g his 800cc winning streak to four. T iger Strank cl aime d his second w in in h i s first season in th e 540c c cla ss ahead of Phil Libhart, wh o edged out Watson for second . Strank took over second in the 540cc points race after Paul Pinso nnault missed the event due to a fractured heel. n 540cc Longt im e Pro hillclimber Paul Gar rety was the fi rst Pro over the top of the 3 50 ·foot hill with a 9 .722-second run . Watson Ra c in g /R RP/A n s w e r back ed Richie Sch euerm ann ec li pse d Garret y w ith a 8.008· sec ond bl ast up o ver th e h ill' s t wo j u m p s. Th e f ir st jump is onl y 60 feet off th e line, but the h ill is d om in at e d b y th e b i g pl at eau jump 10 0 feet fro m the t op . The j um p has a hu mp before it , giv ing riders th e c ho ic e of rolling th e pl at eau or hammering the hump and soa r ing over the p lateau jump . Sc heuerman chose to ju mp it , but Watson was sure what he was go ing to do. " I'm not going to jump it regard less of what the others do , I th in k rolling it will be faste r." 46 AU GUS T 2 ,2000' c ue • EO n e vv s which w as gett ing ro ug her. Am so il back ed Li bhart overc am e a me ch anic al problem on his fi rst ride to finish o n th e pod ium. When Wo lfe couldn 't crack th e t op 10, Strank had h is sec ond win. "I fig ured someone would beat m y ti m e," Strank said . "I guess I just got lu ck y today ." After Brandon K reeg er suff ered a th r o w n c ha in o n h is 8 0 0 Tr iumph Trip le an d T iger St rank's fir st run was wi p ed o ut b y a ti mer ma l functi o n , Tim F razier ro ll ed his Harley-Dav id so n Rac i n g /G er e n c e r ' s H .D / Th or ba cked XR750 into th e hole. Frazier has m an y w in s on new hill s, and he was o n li n e o ve r the first j ump . He rushed up to th e hump and sn apped the throttl e shut t o r oll ov er the plateau , breaking th e lights in 7.2 36 seconds to le ad the way in the 800cc class. "M y bik e is runn ing stro ng and th e ru n was smooth but, I shut off a littl e earl y near th e second jump," Frazier said . "It wa s a pr ett y good first rid e." Man y rid er s we nt all out to ca tch Frazier, but Mike Debu sk went too far, loop in g out the Dr. Bo b Racing/ yesac ces so r i es .c om Yam a h a R-l a t th e l 80 -foot ma rk . On ly five of the fi rst 15 riders m ade it into the seven-second br acket but two of th e hottest rid ers in the cl ass were waiti ng to ride. J ef f Thomas has rea ll y been o n th e ga s on h is Vinylcraft/ Ski n Ind ustries David Watson padded his 800cc National Championship po ints w ith an other victory in the big -bore class. Y a ma h a XS800 tw in, and he i s agg res sive on th e hill. Thomas was solid on th e bottom and never backed off o ve r th e top j ump , boun cing on th e landing. H e c o u l d n ' t c rank the th r o t tl e b ac k o n , but h e st ill h it a

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