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MUELLER TOPS AT AMATEUR HILL CLIMB CHAMPIONSHIPS By: Bud Northrup - 8/18/12 & 8/19/12 - Bay City, WI |
The Valley Springs Motorcycle Club of Bay City, Wisconsin hosted the 2012 AMA Amateur Hillclimb Championships. The event was held on the Gerdes family’s Valley Springs Elk Farm close to Bay City, and featured a five hundred foot five stage hill. The hill was rough, a true challenge itself with less than half the entrants seeing the top. The club and the Gerdes family did an outstanding job of preparing the site and running the event. A record 522 entrants from 15 states competed, but thanks to the dual lane starting system introduced by the Indianhead Motorcycle Club several years ago, the regular classes were completed by 4:30 each day.
The hill record was set at 10.261 seconds by Dean Gerdes over 20 years ago, but most present thought it would be lowered this year. It was – but it took a long time and deep into the first round riding. The first 10 second time came from Mitch Koester with a 10.993 second run in the 750cc class Saturday, a time which held up for that class win. Then, in the Open Class, Logan Cipala flew his Buell over the top in a sizzling 10.249 seconds to take the Open Class lead and set a new all time hill record. Many thought that time would hold up for fast time of the event, as the hill was getting extremely dry with sections of deep dust, hindering faster times.
But an overnight rain followed by drizzles Sunday morning settled the dust, and made the hill faster, and a number of 10 second runs were delivered, mostly in the Open Class. Zach Degross took over that class lead with a fine 10.194 second run on his big Kawasaki, taking that class win and lowering the fast time and hill record. His time didn’t hold up long however, as veteran Todd Cipala blitzed the hill in 10.106 seconds on his Harley in the Senior Class (+40) to take that class win and set a new fast time and lower the record. That time held up through the rest of the ‘regular’ class action.
But everyone was looking forward to the King of the Hill class. This class, created by Kaleb Northrup, webmaster of Kingofthehill.org, is normally for the ten fastest riders of the day, regardless of class - a one ride winner take all shootout of the best of the best. Because of the major difference in difficulty between the right and left lanes, however, the top ten riders from each side competed for the ‘King’ trophy – over six feet tall. Junior Jackson made the class based on a 10.480 second time on his KTM in the Senior Class, and posted a 10.898 second time to take the early lead. The hill by this time had dried out considerably and that, combined with a badly rutted starting area, led many to predict that time would hold up. And it did very deep into the class, until Kirk Mueller, from La Valle, Wisconsin, brought his big bore Suzuki to the line. Mueller blew through the bottom ruts and kept his throttle pinned all the way to the top, flying over in an incredible 9.465 seconds, literally blowing away the new hill record and claiming both the coveted King of the Hill and Fast Time trophies.
Only two riders enjoyed double class wins. Zach Degross added the Open Stock Class win to his Open class win, and William Shaw took both the ATV Open 4 Stroke and Open ATV class wins.
2011 class champions who successfully defended their National titles included Andy Eichinger in the 125cc class, Jacob Prebe in the 450cc class, Todd Cipala in the Senior class and Zack Degross in the Open Stock class.
The AMA made three special awards. Casey Paider, from Ellsworth, Wisconsin, was named the AMA Youth Hillclimber of the year. Logan Cipala, also from Ellsworth, was named the AMA Amateur Hillclimber of the year, and William Shaw, from Hager City, Wisconsin, was named the AMA ATV Hillclimber of the Year.
The club gave two special awards. Molly Carbon from Bellingham, Massachusetts got the award for the longest travel – about 1,350 miles. Ferlin Hoschar, from Plattsmouth, Nebraska, received the ‘Last Knight of British Empire’ award for running his venerable BSA, the only British Bike at the event. I personally cherish the memories of riding my Triumph and competing against many other Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons – and even a Matchless (OK – it’s been a few years).
An analysis of the results and a comparison to 2011 reveals that Districts 16 and 23 accounted for 18 wins in the 25 classes this year, compared to 19 of 21 classes in 2011. 14 of those winners had Wisconsin addresses and 4 in Minnesota, though all of them normally carry both District 16 and 23 cards. Ellsworth, Wisconsin accounted for 5 championships, two by Zach Degross, and one each for Casey Paider and Todd and Logan Cipala.
Total entries in 2011 were 449 compared to the 522 in 2012. There were 4 more classes in 2012, but they only accounted for 20 more riders. The Mini Girls class added 8, and three of the 6 ATV classes drew only 4 riders each.
Youth Class champions were Mason Sullivan in the 50cc class, Brock Riffe in the 65cc class, Casey Paider in the 85cc Junior Mini class and Zachary Urban in the 85cc Senior Mini class. Zach Urban turned the youth fast time.
In Women’s class action, Olivia Bach won the Mini Girls class with Emily Schultz second while Jessica Prebe took the Women’s class title with Casey Wood second.
RESULTS:
50cc: 1.Mason Sullivan, 2.Brandon Hager, 3.Cael McCutcheon, 4.Bodee O’Neil, 5.Cole Donaldson, 6.Cody Paider, 7.Brodie Bennett, 8.Kyren Sunken, 9.Brenden Walker, 10.Hayley Bach.
65cc: 1.Brock Riffe, 2.Kaden Funk, 3.Braiden Henry, 4.Bodee O’Neil, 5.Andrew Fortner, 6.Graham Burchett, 7.Cotton Landwer, 7.Gage Stear, 9.Brandon Hagher, 10.Levi Peters, 10.Jarrod Slechta.
85Jr: 1.Casey Paider, 2.Braiden Henry, 3.Gage Stear, 4.Graham Burchett, 5.Levi Peters, 6.Colton Landwer, 7.Andrew Fortner, 8.Brock Riffe, 9.Brandon Hager, 10.Emily Schultz.
85Sr: 1.Zachary Urban, 2.Nathan Prebe, 3.Jason Leven, 4.Luke Cipala, 5.Marcus Koester, 6.Morgan Wheelwright, 7.Taylor O’Neil, 8.Dalton Nagel, 9.Landon Gilbertson, 10.Brady Sullivan.
Mini Girl: 1.Olivia Bach, 2.Emily Schultz, 3.Madison Welch, 4.Morgan Wheelwright, 5.Tori Daniels, 6.Hannah Schilling, 7.Morgan Sach, 8.Hayley Bach.
125cc: 1.Andy Eichinger, 2.Nathan Prebe, 3.Johnny Curry III, 4.Joseph Lowe, 5.Taylor O’Neil, 6.Casey Wood, 7.Mel Piontek, 8.Luke Cipala, 9.Bryce Werner, 10.Wade Ward.
200cc: 1.Joseph Lowe, 2.Reed Lexvold, 3.Dylan Nichols, 4.Jason Brookshaw, 5.Jessica Prebe, 6.Jeff Jack, 7.Ward Wade, 8.Bryce Werner, 9.Bradley Marking, 10.Johnny Curry III.
250cc: 1.Logan Cipala, 2.Marcus Winch, 3.Kirk Mueller, 4.Dylan Nichols, 5.Joe McGurer, 6.Andy Eichinger, 7.Steve Cain, 8.Aaron Prebe, 9.Nathan Prebe, 10.Matt Bechel.
450cc: 1.Jacob Prebe, 2.Jacob Crider, 3.Aaron Prebe, 4.Marcus Winch, 5.Mitch Koester, 6.Ryan Pierce, 7.Junior Jackson, 8.Jason Bach, 9.Eric Donaldson, 10.Jared Gitter.
600cc: 1.Dylan Nichols, 2.Eric Donaldson, 3.Nick Bronnenberg, 4.Brandon Urban, 5.Jacob Crider, 6.Mitch Koester, 7.Zach DeGross, 8.Jacob Prebe, 9.Logan Cipala, 10.Chad Jelinek.
600 4St: 1.Junior Jackson, 2.Reed Lexvold, 3.Nick Bronnenberg, 4.Luke Parmeter, 5.Jason Bach, 6.Eric Wheelwright, 7.Jon Henderson, 8.Joel Falde, 9.Travis Rolph, 10.Bradley Marking.
750cc: 1.Mitch Koester, 2.Kirk Mueller, 3.Nick Bronnenberg, 4.Kaleb Northrup, 5.Lloyd Haas, 6.Corey Danberry, 7.Luke Parmeter, 8.TC Allen, 9.Johnny Curry III, 10. Chris Senn.
OPN: 1.Zach DeGross, 2.Logan Cipala, 3.Jared Gitter, 4.Kirk Mueller, 5.Todd Cipala, 6.Mitch Koester, 7.Wade Schultz, 8.Joel Falde, 9.TC Allen, 10.Lloyd Haas.
+40: 1.Todd Cipala, 2Junior Jackson, 3.Wade Schultz, 4.Mike Wood, 5.Jason Brookshaw, 6.Dave Jelinek, 7.Eric Wheelwright, 8.Johnny Curry Jr., 9:Lloyd Haas, 10.Kaleb Northrup.
+50: 1.Brian Kinney, 2.Mark Wood, 3.Tim Cain, 4.Jeff Tucker, 5.Jay Curtis, 6.Raybern Kozak, 7.Randy Frye, 8.Jeff Jack, 9.John Steinmetz, 10.Tom Rollins.
WMN: 1.Jessica Prebe, 2.Casey Wood, 3.Nicole Bach, 4.Gabrielle Prebe, 5.Molly Carbon, 6.Morgan Wheelwright, 7.Jaclyn Gerdes, 8.Amber Fraedrich, 9.Jade Hoschar, 10.Amber Frye.
400 St: 1.Brandon Urban, 2.Jacob Prebe, 3.Randy Frye, 4.Johnny Curry Jr, 5.Jeff Jack, 6.Matt Peters, 7.Mark Schroeder, 8.Jason Northrup, 9.John Colbert, 10.Dean Steuber.
Opn St: 1.Zach DeGross, 2.Jacob Crider, 3.Junior Jackson, 4.Joe McGurer, 5.Aaron Bechel, 6.Jeff Jack, 7.Joseph Schlecta, 8.Jamie Meade, 9.Paul Hackbarth, 10.Raybern Kozak.
ATV 450-2: 1.Tyler Clark, 2.Matt Novak, 3.Zach Diercks, 4.Eric Dumm.
ATV 450-4: 1.Robby Streams, 2.Rick Prebe, 3.Tony Lexvold, 4.Mike Dosdall.
ATV OPN-2: 1.Austin Welch, 2.Tyler Clark, 3.Zack Diercks, 4.Brian Childs, 5.Josh Perry, 6.Robby Streams, 7.Joel Diercks, 8.Steve Atherton, 9.Eric Dumm, 10.Scott Buck.
ATV OPN-4:
1.William Shaw, 2.Eric Dumm, 3.Matt Novak, 4.Scott Buck, 5.Robby Streams,
6.Doug Buck, 7.Shawn Clark, 8.Rick Prebe, 9.Tyler Clark, 10.Dion Welch.
ATV Vet: 1.Dion Welch, 2.Tod Hintz, 3.Joel Diercks, 4.Rick Prebe.
OPN ATV: 1.William Shaw, 2.Tyler Clark, 3.Zach Diercks, 4.Austin Welch, 5.Eric Dumm, 6.Matt Novak, 7.Josh Perry, 8.Robby Streams, 9.Shawn Clark, 10.Scott Buck.
KOTH: 1.Kirk Mueller, 2.Junior Jackson, 3.Mike Wood, 4.Wade Schultz, 5.Dylan Nichols, 6.Todd Cipala, 7.Nick Bronnenberg, 8.Jacob Crider, 9.Brandon Urban, 10.Mitch Koester.
YOUTH FAST TIME: Zachary Urban, Williamsville, WV, 17.160, Honda
OVERALL FAST TIME: Kirk Mueller, LaValle, Wisc, 9.465, Kawasaki
FULL RESULTS BY CLASS
Facts and Figures from the 2012 AMA Hillclimb Grand Championship
New hill record set by Kirk Mueller on his King of the Hill winning ride:
9.465 seconds on his Suzuki Open class bike.
Congratulations to the 2012 AMA Hillclimbers of the Year:
Youth Hillclimber of the Year: Casey Paider
ATV Hillclimber of the Year: William Shaw
Amateur Hillclimber of the Year: Logan Cipala
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