VOLUME ISSUE DECEMBER , P91
the road, it felt like you were in a
video game. Nowhere on Earth
could you get the thrill of Pikes
Peak. It was entirely unique and
very different than somewhere
like the TT Mountain Course
because the fact you were going
up a very steep mountain gave
most of the corners a fairly
pronounced positive camber, so
you could—as long as you had
the stones—absolutely throw
your bike into the corner almost
like a motocrosser does a berm.
The course was broken up
into three sections—the first,
from the start line to Glen Cove,
suited the traditional circuit
road racer, with every number
I am thus the last winner of a
motorcycle race at Pikes Peak,
but, in truth, no one won that
day. There were only losers.
You had to pinch yourself
occasionally at Pikes Peak.
This fantasy of a racetrack that
snaked up America's Moun
-
tain was normally reserved for
grandparents and their huge
motorhomes as they trudged
their way up the hill, admiring
the bighorn sheep, mountain
goats and the gophers that were
a constant hazard to the racers.
But when the weather was
good, you had some soft com
-
pound Pirellis straight off the
warmers and no one but you on
After swapping fastest times
between myself, Glöckner and
Dunne, Dunne simply rode
away from everyone in the race
proper. I qualified second fast
-
est, and my run of 9:44.963 was
probably the best I've ever rid-
den a motorcycle, but it wasn't
going to be enough to defeat
the best rider ever to grace the
mountain in Carlin Dunne.
Carlin crashed on the last of
156 corners, within sight of the
checkered flag. The record was
comfortably his, until it wasn't.
And with his death came the
end of one of the most incred
-
ible two-wheel racing events the
world had ever seen.
