Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128628
82nd Ann u al Miller Lite Great; American Hillclimb Championship BIWNGS, MT, JULY 29-30 ing results : like 2000 champ Dusty Beer's finishing first and third in the championship since he qualified out of b oth cla sses . It d o esn ' t usually happ en , but eve n though th e BMC hil lclimb i s th e r iche st hillclimb i n t erm s of purse money with $ 3 0, 0 0 0 up for grabs , th e champ ion c o ul d con ceiva b ly win almost no m on ey , and still be cham p. That didn't happen , though. Hard rock miner Beer is conside red a local , bein g from just down the hig hway, T here have been years when it was d iffi cult to d et erm in e w h o th e ou t ri g ht w inner is at th e B ill ings Moto rc yc l e Club 's annual dispute with grav ity . Th e c on fusi on comes from the fact that the named champi on of this oldest competition event in th e U.S. need not win any of the four premi er money classes. The top six finishers in the two rubber -tire classes meet as th e event finale for two run s, for a w inner -tak e-all c ham p io nsh ip. Th is form at allows for some int erest- 26 A UGU ST 30 . 2000' cue I and the cro wd w as happy to see the e neVIl's Be lie ve it or not, Travis Wh itlock ha d a good weekend at the Great American Hillclimb Championship in Montana. North Ameri can Hillclimber's Associ ation number-one pl at e hold er mine go ld from th eir hill. Th e 2000 editi on of th e BMC hill affectionately known as th e B en to nite Nigh t mare was a c hange from previous years. The club had ra ised th e top of the hill 20 feet to in c re as e the d ifficulty , but the y also force d the r id er s t o m ake le ss sharp turns on th e hill. A s a resul t, many more riders topped the hill , and that fact was voca ll y appreciated by the m yriad (a larger cro wd tha n th e 17, 0 00 attending in 19 99) of spect ators below . B ee r u nloaded hi s now fa miliar weapons ; a 1996 KTM 55 0 Mj XC and a KX5 00 chassis wi th a 1300cc-plus Kawasaki KZ I 000 motor shoehomed i n . Th e B M C pays a large purse ($1000 to $2000 for first ) in the 06 00 cc rubber tire , Open rubber tire, 0 - 7 00 c c Un li m i t e d an d 70lcc -u p Unlim it ed classes plus smaller purses for t h e Sen i o r (over 40) Cham pi onship class, fast tim e of th e day and first rid er over in eac h cl ass. Beer fin i she d n o w or se t ha n thi rd in any cla ss . won on e class, t he c ha m pionship and set fast time of the day . In all , he co llec ted $ 4 9 0 0 o n a v ery g ood d a y. Th e r e was n o mon ey involved in th e new -for-2000 World Cup Ch allenge th at p itt ed Ameri can an d Can ad ian ride rs agai nst v isit in g French hillc li m bers, bu t the riders all put out the ir best effort. Beer nabbed th e win and set fast time fo r the day in the process . Californ ia kid Robie Peterson wa s the fast est rider over the sha le cliff at the to p of the mountain in the 70 I-up Un limit ed class. The virtual rock cliff a t th e crest of the hill deve loped nasty ruts and ledges that resembled hitting the edge of a buried flagstone, and many of the heavier bi kes were taking some insane bounces. Pet erson's tw in -CR50 0 R-engined monster, runn i ng stee l p ad d l es on the rear wheel , h it th e first bump on the cliff and jumped completely over the cliff, ski pped once in the softer dirt the cl ub co nti n ues to pil e on top o f th e cliff an d sai led over. Two good runs o n his Za be l -powe re d hy brid (a 700 c c two -s troke, sing le -cylinder sidecar m o t or from Europe) ne tted t he 24-year-old second -generatio n hillclimber $3500 for th e weekend . Former Widowmaker champion Mel Kimball na iled down a popular Open Rubber T ire wi n wi t h a c lean and fast run on his Honda CB I I OOFpowered spe cia l eamed him $2000 of his $2300 t o t a l fo r th e weeke n d . Man y at the cl im b wer e feeli ng th e absence of young J eremy Paget who d ied after a motocross m ishap two months before the event, but Kimball felt like his good friend was riding with him to his win. M ulti -ti me Cha m pionshi p wi nner and NAHA number -on e T ra vis Wh it lock was next on the cash li st, but he had a n un chara ct er is ti c weekend filled wit h a vari et y of m ishaps that included a specta cular get -off. Neverth eless , he posted one second -place and earned money in every class for a $2150 t ot al. As the BMC e ve n t has grown rapidl y in the last few y ears, more Eastern riders have ve ntured out. Of those, Harold Waddell has been th e most consistent and effec ti ve, and he