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/128635
AMA N a t ional H illcl im b S erie s R o und 1 5 : Whit e R a s e N a t io n a l By D A VID L. ground , then he unleashed the fuel injected, nitro-fed four -cy linder's horse power. Watson blitzed up and over the big jump near the tim ers and crested the 500-foot hill in 5.770 seconds . "When m y bik e hook s up li k e th at . it k inda p uts eve ry one back a ste p . My dad has rea lly bu ilt a fa st motorcy cl e," Watson said. B SA -mounted Jeff Th om a s p u t togeth er a 6.1 57 -second run, bu t no othe r ri de r ca me cl o se t o th e five second bracket in the first session . In th e secon d ro un d, Ham ilt on put the Bo 's Radical Racin g/ T hor/ A SA P racing -backed Triumph up to second after a 6 .0 64 , but he would end up fo urth. Scott McNeely has raced three different 540s th is year, but he had to reth ink h is g earing after ri di ng his fath er's bik e. " W e stacked mo re gear on t h i s b ik e than I h av e eve r ru n b efo re. " Ham il ton said . " I w a s a little slow over the bottom breaker , but I ca rried the fro nt wh eel up to the steep part , and the bike pulled strong ." McNeely m oved into second with a 5.962 . Defending Champion Ted Wilkins put the Wilkins' Racing/Thor/MotoRitebacked Rotax into the to p fi ve with a second run of 6.095, then Watson rolled back to the line. Wat son left no dou bt about today 's 540 winner. He was perf ect from bot to m to t op and th e clocks re wa rded h im with a 5.441 , th e day 's fastest ride. "My d ad and I have put everyth ing into this seaso n , and it' s been pretty amazing ," Watson said . P A TT O N , J R. YORK, PA OCT. 1 oh n Ham ilto n J r. sco red t h e first 800cc win of his career. But the big story of Round 15 of the 2000 Pace Am eri c an AM A N at i ona l Cham p i ons h ip Hillcl imb Serie s was D av id Watson 's h i stor i c doubl e . W atso n t o o k th e 540c c Nationa l Champ i onsh ip last week end in Ind iana, and his seco nd -place fini sh in the 80 0cc class toda y loc ke d up h i s se co n d National Ch amp ionsh ip of th e sea son . Th is was the fi rst season a ri de r co uld compete in bo th classes, and Wat son cla imed th e 8 0 0 cc and the 540cc number-one plates. j 540cc Anthony Sm o ot sta rte d the show wi th a 6. 9154 - sec ond p ass on his Kawasak i, but the day wo ul d be long to fi ve-second runs. Triumph -mount ed Ham ilt on sped to a 6 .231 run to tak e th e lead, but he felt that his bi k e was und er-g e ared . Scott McNe el y was al so under-geared on h is f irst run , coming up a tick short of Hamil ton with a 6.25 1. Watson had sev en wins in the 540cc class as well as th e cha mpionship and he was read y to dr o p t he hammer o n hi s Spectro Oils/ T ro y Lee D esigns-bac k ed CBR Ho nda . "Th is is the best I've ever seen th is h i ll . it 's re all y wi de an d smoo t h, " Wat son said . Watson wasted littl e ti me up the ram p. he chopped the thr ottl e to keep low and get the rear wheel o n t h e 36 O CTO BER 18. 2 0 0 0 ยท cue I e nuvws David Watson clinched the 800cc title at White Rose, after clinching the 540cc title last week. Howe's Triumph -backed Ph il Lib hart shoo k up t h e t o p five w ith a rewo rk ed Triumph . " T he fi r st r i de i t wo u l d n ' t go st raig ht ," Li b hart sai d . " We found a swinga rm -bushing problem and geared it down so it wouldn 't wheelie so bad." Li bha rt launch ed off th e line but he still had to fight to k eep the front end ou t of his face . He grab bed third in a battle of hundedths of a second , with a 6.038. As Scott Friedhoff closed out the 540 class , runner -up M cNee ly summed up the da y his good friend Watson had. " I co ul d have pu ll ed a li ttle m or e gear to ma ybe mak e it respecta ble , but that beast of David 's is to o fast ," McNeely said . " He beat us by over half a second. that's em barrassi ng ," as he shook his head and sm iled. BOOcc Jeff Th omas wa s th e o n ly rid er wi th a m ath em at ic al cha nc e t o beat Watson in the 800cc points race, but he knew, barring a problem for Wat son in th e next two events , that he wa sn 't go ing to tak e th e titl e from Watson. " I lost my cha nc e at wi nning the ti tle abou t 10 wee ks ago, but th is has been my best year ever, so we ' ll kee p trying to w in every hillclimb, " Thomas said . "Wat son has earned the cham p ionshi p." Ro dney Smith ran a 6.554 on his Yamah a XS 650 - based tw in , th en Watson rolled int o the p it. Watson ne ede d to bea t two riders to sew up th e ti tle and he was ready to go . "I just want to g et over the hill with a ha lfway -decent ride, then I can go for it on the second r ide. " Wa tson said. Wa t son w as smoo t h and under co ntrol on his way to a 5.97 1-second time. Ham il t on has b een rid ing Do y le Disbennett' s Trium ph this season and he has m any top -five fini shes in the 800 cl ass , but he was afte r th e win. H amilton p a s se d W ats on wi t h a 5 .907, bu t Libhart tu rne d a 5 .848 on h is BSA. Re i se r ' s C y cl e S ervice owner Tom Reiser's last National win came at White Rose in 1996, but he stil l k no w s how to turn th e throttle . Reiser had th e F &S Harle y -David son /KK Motorc ycl e Su p ply- backed XR750 wid e open all the way . "I t c arried th e front wh eel all the way up th e h ill ," Reiser said . He thrill ed the crowd wi th a tim e of 5.669 seconds. "We've been tr y ing a lot o f different th ings as we develop th i s new b ike , " Re is e r sa i d . " So me ha ve worked. som e hav en 't . bu t I d ec ided if I h it th e bottom ri ght , we 'd see if this bike can run ." Libhart was impressed . " I' ve only seen Tom ride once or twice but th at was a great ride," Libhart said. Bobby Te mpleton also pu t together a fast ru n, but he got to o mu ch air off the bott om to pass Reiser, running a 5 .6 89. T hom as needed a wi n, bu t th e York hil l ha s not b een ki n d to hi m , so a sev enth p lace run of 6.331 was a soli d start. Rodney Sm it h dan ced his Yamaha t o the t op wi th a 5 .805 to st ar t th e secon d round . Smith woul d end th e 'day in sixth. Fr esh off h is 54 0 cc wi n, Watson kicked i t up a couple of notches to sli de past Reise r into the lead with a 5.606-second run . The y l a t er discovered that t h e torque of h is big Honda was breaking the sprocket lugs off of the rear hub, le ad ing t o a c hatterin g probl em. Ham ilt on had a lot on his m ind as he prepared for his second pass. " I don ' t t hi nk I ca n b eat those guys," Ham ilt on said . " We hav e had a problem w it h t he slide s hanging up and boun cing on t h e 800 . I wou ld hold the throttl e wid e open but the slid es wou ldn't st ay up all th e way . We j u st found the problem between runs." Hamilton lined up on the far right side in a new line, and he rocketed out of the hole. "It seemed like I left th e li ne . and th en I was at th e ti mers , that was the fastes t I've eve r gone o n a hill cli m ber." Hamilto n said . Ham ilt on ' s 5 .507 mo ve d h im to the top of the timing charts . Libhart