IN
THE
WIND
P50
RECORDS TUMBLE AT PIKES PEAK
F
ormer AMA Pro Superbike racer and Pikes Peak
rookie Chris Fillmore (KTM 1290 Super Duke R)
made history at the 2017 Pikes Peak International Hill
Climb, shattering the outright lap record to take vic-
tory in the 95th running of the Race to The Clouds.
The KTM Factory rider completed the 12.42-mile
course in 9:49.265, blitzing the previous mark held
by Carlin Dunne of 9:52.819. Second place went to
Cycle News' Road Test Editor Rennie Scaysbrook
(KTM 1290 Super Duke R), who completed his run
in 9:57.712 in his second attempt at the mountain to
make it a one-two for the KTM factory.
"I set out with the goal of trying to break the record
this year and I wanted to do it as a rookie, so to
achieve this is something really special," a beaming
Chris Fillmore said. "The bike ran perfectly, but I had
a scary moment on the fast entry to 19 Mile corner,
when the bike went sideways at 120 mph on the side
of the cliff! I was able to keep it under control but
it's certainly something I don't want to go through
again!"
For Scaysbrook, the 2017 race marked his first
podium in the event and was a big turnaround in
form from last year, when the Australian was in con-
tention of the win only to crash at Elk Park.
"This year I just wanted to have a clean run and
get the finish, whatever happened after that wasn't
really up to me," Scaysbrook said. "I knew Chris
would be extremely fast and I threw down as hard
as I could when the time came, but it wasn't enough
and I'm very pleased to see Chris take the victory for
KTM. I wanted to break the nine-minute barrier and
to get the third-fastest motorcycle time ever up the
mountain in something to be happy about."
Third place went to 2016 champion Bruno Lan-
glois (Kawasaki Z900). The Frenchman completed
his run in 10:12.317 to take another podium to add to
his growing list of accomplishments on the mountain
that includes two victories.
Codie Vahsholtz (Husqvarna 701) took a popular
victory in the middleweight division, beating Brazilian
Rafael Paschoalin (Yamaha FZ-07) and Joe Clark
(KTM 690 Duke).
Travis Newbold (Bottpower XR1R) took the honors
in the Exhibition Powersport category, Davey Durelle
(Aprilia SXV450) claimed the Lightweight win and
Robert Barber (Buckeye Current RW-3x) finished
first in the Electric category.
Stay tuned to Cycle News for an exclusive feature
from Rennie Scaysbrook on this year's event and the
upcoming film on the Cycle News YouTube page.
Rennie Scaysbrook
Chris Fillmore crosses
the line to take victory
and a new outright lap
record as a rookie at
Pikes Peak.
PHOTOGRAPHY
BY
LARRY
CHEN
