Hillclimb Championship Kicks
Off In Pennsylvania
T
he AMA Pro Hillclimb se-
ries kicked off their season
at the White Rose Motorcycle
Club in Spring Grove, Pennsyl-
vania, June 6. Not only was the
weather hot, but so were the
riders who gave it their all to get
some early points in front of the
large crowd that turned out to
watch the riders race their high
horsepower machines up the hill
with the fastest time. The 300-
foot hill was prepped and ready
for the 23 riders that came from
as far away as Wisconsin to try
and earn a podium spot. Two
rounds of racing in three different
classes—450, Twins and Pre-
mier—revealed some new faces
and new machines in the sport.
Six-time AMA Pro Hillclimb
Champion Jay Sallstrom waited
until the final run of the day to
unleash his best ride which was
good enough to steal the win
away from John Koester. Sall-
strom, riding his highly modified
Yamaha R1, broke the sub seven-
second mark and came away
with the Premier-class victory
over Koester and Alex Erickson
(Yamaha).
In the newly added Twin class,
17-year-old Honda rider Bodie
O'Neil's first-round time of 7.6321
seconds held for the rest of the
day and the class victory over
brothers Luke Cipala (Buell) and
Logan Cipala (Buell).
In the 450 division, GasGas-
mounted Logan Cipala came
away with the victory over Ya-
maha YZ450F rider Philip Libhart
and O'Neil (Honda).
CN
450
1. Logan Cipala (GG)
2. Philip Libhart (Yam)
3. Bodie O'Neil (Hon)
Twins
1. Bodie O'Neil (Hon)
2. Luke Cipala (Bue)
3. Logan Cipala (Bue)
Premier
1. Jay Sallstrom (Yam)
2. John Koester (Hon)
3. Alex Erickson (Yam)
IN
THE
WIND
P60
Seventeen-year-old
Bodie O'Neil won the
new Twins class in
the AMA Pro Hillclimb
Championship opener
at the White Rose round
in Pennsylvania.
PHOTO:
TAMARA BAILEY/TNA MEDIA
