Thomas Racing Service hosted the second Pro East-West shootout on a 600 foot ski hill near Nashville, Indiana.  The climbing course was quite unusual – really a section of motocross track laid out for a climbing ‘track’.  Starting off with a steep jump, riders would first turn right, then left then into a hairpin turn followed by a big sweeping left turn complete with a high berm, then over a couple double jumps to the top.  The hill was not particularly steep, but very loose with the ‘track’ filled with loose rocks – from tennis ball size to basketball size – they would tend to drift to the center of the ‘track’, making it very difficult to go straight and fast – ‘like riding over a bed of loose bowling balls’ one rider noted.

            39 of the best riders in the country competed, given two rides each and a 3rd to the top 10 after the second round.  Harold Waddell, of Omaha, Nebraska, wasted no time setting the time to beat on his first ride, charging his big bore Suzuki up the hill like it was an open class moto crosser, and stopping the top clock in 18.613 seconds on his first ride.  He followed with runs of 18.881 and 19.269 seconds, and posted the two fastest times of the day.

            Travis Whitlock, from Springville, Utah, ran closest behind Waddell on his KTM with times of 20.309, 19.824 and 19.156 seconds.  Jason Smith, from Farmington, Utah and riding a Jeff Thomas built Yamaha, posted a 19.503 second run on his last ride for third place.  Ryan Thibault, from Rhode Island, was the fastest from the East with a 20.641 second time on his Honda for fourth place.  James ‘Jammer’ Large was the only other Eastern rider to make it into the top ten with a 21.013 second time on his Harley to claim the sixth place money.

            It should be noted the most of the Eastern Pros were from the AMA and riding their 800cc ‘big’ bikes.  The Western Pros were primarily NAHA riders whose big class is 701cc and up –  you basically count the wheels and if you come up with two, you’re in!  Motors of up to 2500cc have been spotted in the NAHA races, with the majority in the 1300 – 1600cc areas.   

            It would be nice to add a 600cc class next year to give the AMA guys a more level playing field against the NAHA 700cc class – many of which are riding 500cc style modified moto crossers.

             My compliments go to Jeff Thomas for putting on an outstanding event – under severe pressure from worry about David Watson who was lying in a coma due to a severe injury incurred the previous weekend.  Watson was a prime player in putting the event on with Jeff and his absence was painfully felt by all the competitors.  Hopefully, by the time this article is published, Dave will be well on his way to recovery.

RESULTS:

1.Harold Waddell (W), 2.Travis Whitlock (W), 3.Jason Smith (W), 4.Ryan Thibault (E), 5.Wade Schultz (W), 6.James Large (E), 7.Austin Fox (W), 8.Brett Peterson (W), 9.Kirk Mueller (W), 10.Ryan Dicks (W), 11.Todd Cipala (W), 12.Phil Libhart (E), 13.Don Beer (W), 14.Ken Long (W). 15.Joe Stanley (E), 16.Shawn Farnsworth (E), 17.James Wolfe (E), 18.Lane Schultz (W), 19.Corey Sweat (W), 20.Chad Koopsma (W), 21.Shane Green (E), 22.Mike Ortiz (W), 23.Anthony Utley (E0, 24.Robie Peterson (W), 25.Kaleb Northrup (W).

East-West Shootout Full Results (Adobe .pdf format)

Jeff Thomas & Jason Smith

The Hill

Harold Waddell