Thomas Racing Service hosted it’s third annual Pro Hillclimb East - West Shootout on a converted ski hill near Nashville, Indiana.

            The West had dominated the past two years, but after the AMA ‘leveled the playing field’ by increasing its ‘small’ class to 700cc (750 for some bikes), and taking the upper limit off their Open class, it was expected the Eastern AMA pros to be more competitive with the Western NAHA riders.  It didn’t happen, as the NAHA riders were just as dominant as before.  Many of the expected AMA riders were conspicuous by their absence.

            Jeff Thomas did an excellent job of creating a challenging climbing hill on the 600 foot ski hill yet again.  With the start moved off the side of the main hill and routed over a steep starting line jump, the actual footage of the climb was around 700 feet.  The weather was great and spectator turnout high.

The newly created AMA 450cc class ran first, with Austin Fox, from Redding, California, taking the early lead on his KTM with a 20.605 second run.  That time held up for the lead through the first round with KTM riding Californians Travis Whitlock (21.405) and Robie Peterson (21.582) holding down second and third places.  Utah’s Jason Smith found himself in sixth place with a 23 second run on his Yamaha at intermission, but really turned it on in the second round, flying over the wall at the 600 foot level and on over the top in a blistering 20.123 seconds to take the class win.  Fox crashed hard at 450 feet trying to overtake Smith, but his first round time held up for third place.  Robie Peterson was faster on his second run also, delivering an excellent 20.448 second time to move around Fox into second place.  Travis Whitlock (21.043) and Bret Peterson (21.506) rode their KTMs to the 4^th and 5^th place spots.  Chris Huizenga, an amateur rider from Twin Lake, Michigan, was the highest placing Eastern rider with a 21.870 second ride on his Honda in the first round to claim sixth place..

Then the Nitro burners came up!

Harold Waddell, from Omaha, Nebraska, blitzed the hill on his Suzuki in a blazing 17.343 seconds on his first ride to take the first round lead in the 700cc class.  Ross Johnson (17.770), Jason Smith (17.803) and Thierry Toussant (17.946) filled in the next three spots in the first round action with good 17 second runs.

Robie Peterson, with a 21 second run on his first ride didn’t even make it into the top ten in the first round, but unleashed a near perfect ride on his KTM to sail over the top in a blazing 17.127 seconds on his second ride, setting a time that would hold up for the class win.  Waddell couldn’t improve on his first ride, and had to settle for second place, with Johnson, Smith and Toussant doing the same and filling out the top five places.  Toussant came all the way from France to ride one of the Jeff Thomas Yamaha twins, and was the only Eastern rider to claim a top five finish all day.  Thomas was close behind him in 6th place on his Yamaha.

Harold Waddell didn’t waste any time in the Open class as he posted the fastest time of the day on his first ride, an incredible 17.040  run on his firebreathing big bore Suzuki.  No one could match that time the rest of the day. Jason Smith, riding a Thomas Yamaha twin was Waddell’s closest challenger, posting a 17.431 second time on his first ride which would hold up for second place.  Travis Whitlock joined Waddell and Smith on the podium as he improved his 4^th place standing first 18 second run with a 17.651 second time on his KTM, overtaking Robie Peterson who had been in third place on his KTM with a 17.899 second time.  Peterson was faster also in the second round, but his 17.695 time just solidified a fourth place finish.  Bret Peterson posted a 18.904 second time on his first ride on his KTM, then crashed at 600 feet on his second in a full throttle effort to catch the leaders.  His first round time held up for the fifth place money, however.  Kirk Mueller, an amateur from LaValle, Wisconsin, was the highest placing Eastern rider with a 19.537 second time on his Suzuki good enough for sixth place.

Halftime entertainment was provided by Rodney Riddell, a 16 year old stunt rider from Indiana, and the grandson of the legendary ‘Mr Backwards’, Roger Riddell.  Rodney successfully jumped five cars while sitting backwards on his Yamaha YZ450F.  He came off the landing ramp early on the side, however and slid his bike into the onlookers, who were way too close to the action.  A couple spectators were injured with one lady being transported with what apparently was a broken leg.  We hope she recovers quickly. Young Riddell wasn’t injured, but visibly shaken by the accident – not something he wanted to happen at all.

RESULTS:

450CC: 1.Jason Smith (W), 2.Robie Peterson (W), 3.Austin Fox (W), 4.Travis Whitlock (W), 5.Bret Peterson (W), 6.Chris Huizenga (E), 7.Ryan Osterman (E), 8.Harold Waddell (W), 9.Brian Peterson (W), 10.Eric Wheelwright (E).

 700CC: 1.Robie Peterson (W), 2.Harold Waddell (W), 3.Ross Johnson (W), 4.Jason Smith (W), 5.Thierry Tousant (E), 6.Jeff Thomas (E), 7.Travis Whitlock (W), 8.Bret Peterson (W), 9.Brian Peterson (W), 10.Luke Bonner (W).

OPEN: 1.Harold Waddell (W), 2.Jason Smith (W), 3.Travis Whitlock (W), 4.Robie Peterson (W), 5.Bret Peterson (W), 6.Kirk Mueller (E), 7.Guy Colin (W), 8.Brandon Whitlock (W), 9.Josh Mueller (W), 10.Brian Osborn (W).

FAST TIME: Harold Waddell, 17.040, Suzuki, Omaha, Nebraska

Jason Smith	Jeff Thomas	The Hill
Rodney Riddell lands his backwards jump		Hi girls!