Young Jacob ‘Crazy Jake’ Tackitt was the fastest of the fast at the King City Dirt Riders Saturday night hillclimb on July 19 near Mt. Vernon, Il. Riding Gayle Jenkins CR500, Tackitt flew over the top of the 180 foot hill in a blistering 3.751 seconds on his first ride to win the 600cc class and also a beautiful Fast Time trophy and the $200 cash prize with it. This is no ordinary CR500, though – it has an ‘automatic’ clutch by Rev-Loc, which Jenkins has fine tuned to perfection. The bike flies out of the hole with no wheel spin and applies the power to the ground as needed. Jenkins also has sponsor support from TNT Action Sports, Jansen Machine, Precision Metal and MX-Tech Shocks. Jenkins brought the Honda back and rode it himself to the win in the Super Senior class with a very quick 4.201 second run.

Butch Fetters was Tackitt’s closest challenger in the 600cc class with a 3.841 second run, followed by Jared McKay, Andy Fortner and Jon Creek.

Tackitt’s evening wasn’t perfect however, as he had one of the most unusual crashes on his KDX 200 in anyone’s memory. Flying high over the top of the hill, he landed on a roosting wild turkey, tossing him and his bike into a painful end over end down the hill. The turkey, minus a lot of tail feathers, escaped into the woods, but the KDX could not make it back to the line for the second run.

Jason Northrup was the only double class winner of the evening. His first win came in the Open Class where he rode the Jeff Thomas built FJ1220 over the top in 4.155 seconds for the win. Jim Redpath claimed second with a good 4.263 second run on his KZ1000, and Harley riders Buzz Green, Steve Shafer and R.D. Miller filled out the top five places.

Northrup’s second win came in the Pushrod Class where he rode his 800cc Triumph for the first time, taking a 4.331 second win. The class was extremely close as Harley riders Green and Shafer finished second and third with times of 4.346 and 4.350 seconds respectively. Kaleb Northrup (now in Minnesota), Jason’s older brother, had ridden the Triumph for many years with good success but finished building his 1000cc Yamaha R1 Open Class bike, so the Triumph came back to Illinois for his father, Bud, and brother Jason to run. The bike was completely rebuilt by Sportland Yamaha, then timed and tuned by Jeff Thomas, and will be a real threat now in the Pushrod class with Jason on it.

In youth class action, Jeremiah Lyday took the win in the 50cc Automatic class with Matt Gocken in second, and ‘Jammin Joe’ McGurer took the 65cc class win with Drew Daniels second. Shane Green stretched his point lead in the Junior Mini class, again with Daniels second, while Mike Popham, the point leader in the Senior Mini Class also claimed a win, with ‘Goose’ Weaver his closest challenger.

Nationally ranked brothers–in-law Matt Peters and Butch Fetters continued their dominating seasons in the 450cc and 600CC 4-stroke classes. Peters, carrying the National #4 plate on his KTM380, extended his 450CC point lead with his tenth win of the year on a blazing 3.924 second first round ride. Fetters, the National Champion in the 600 4-Stroke class, was nearly as fast as he flew his KTM520 over the top in 3.947 seconds for his THIRTEENTH straight win.

RESULTS:

50CC Auto: 1.Jeremiah Lyday (Cob), 2.Matt Gocken (Act), 3.Garrett Holycross (KTM), 4.Logan Moody (Pol), 5.Chelsea Gill (Hon).

65CC: 1.Joe McGurer (Kaw), 2.Drew Daniels (KTM), 3.Jake Wood (Kaw), 4.Nick Green (KTM), 5.Matt Gocken (Kaw).

85CC Jr: 1.Shane Green (Yam), 2.Drew Daniels (KTM), 3.Blake Cappello (Kaw), 4.Chris Peters (Yam), 5.Joe McGurer (Kaw).

85CC Sr: 1.Mike Popham (Yam), 2.Steven Joe Weaver (Kaw), 3.Nick Burke (Kaw), 4.Richard Miller III (Hon), 5.Cody Rankin (Suz).

125CC: 1.Damon Mayo (Suz), 2.Brent Bowman (Hon), 3.Josh Mingee (Hon), 4.Nick Mayo (Suz), 5.Billy Tom Hanes (Hon).

200CC: 1.Curtis Moore (Kaw), 2.Gordon Green (Kaw), 3.Jake Tackitt (Kaw), 4.Mike Peters (Kaw), 5.Travis Sandy (Kaw).

250CC: 1.Jared McKay (Yam), 2.Jon Creek (Suz), 3.Matt Peters (Hon), 4.Butch Fetters (Hon), 5.John Michael Gocken (Yam).

450CC: 1.Matt Peters (KTM), 2.Chris Bone (Yam), 3.Greg Joy (Yam), 4.Paul Hillard (Yam), 5.Josh Denson (Yam).

600CC: 1.Jake Tackitt (Hon), 2.Butch Fetters (Kaw), 3.Jared McKay (Kaw), 4.Andy Fortner (Kaw), 5.Jon Creek (Suz).

600 4-Stk: 1.Butch Fetters (KTM), 2.Mark Peters (KTM). 3.Bud Northrup (ATK).

750CC: 1.Andy Fortner (Kaw), 2.Paul Hillard (Kaw), 3.Jason Northrup (Kaw).

OPEN: 1.Jason Northrup (Yam), 2.Jim Redpath (Kaw), 3.Buzz Green (HD), 4.Steve Shafer (HD), 5.RD Miller II (HD).

SENR: 1.Steve Shafer (Hon), 2.Mark Peters (KTM), 3.Gayle Jenkins (Hon), 4.Kevin McKay (Kaw), 5.Steve Davis (Hon).

SSNR: 1.Gayle Jenkins (Hon), 2.Bud Northrup (Tri).

PROD: 1.Jason Northrup (Tri), 2.Buzz Green (HD), 3.Steve Shafer (HD).

400 Stk: 1.John Michael Gocken (Yam), 2.R.J. Watson (Hon), 3.Gary Edmison (Suz), 4.Paul Hart (Hus), 5.Joe Ellis (Hon).

OPN STK: 1.Gary Edmison (Yam), 2.Greg Joy (Yam), 3.Chris Bone (Yam), 4.Bud Northrup (ATK).

QUAD: 1.Paul Hillard (Yam).

FAST TIME: ‘CRAZY JAKE’ TACKITT, 3.751; HONDA CR500