The fourth round of the Illinois/Indiana King of the Hill series was played out at the King City Dirt Riders hillclimb on August 10 at their clubgrounds near Mt Vernon, Illinois.  Jared McKay, a teenaged ‘Young Gun’ from Neoga, Illinois, took the win on his KX500 with a 3.590 second time on the 160 foot hill.  The ten fastest  riders of the entire day, regardless of the class, are invited to run in the special one run shootout for a special trophy and points toward an overall 2003 King of the Hill award for Districts 15 and 17.  This was McKay’s second win in the series sponsored by Kaleb Northrup’s Kingofthehill.org website, and he is now the guy to beat for the overall title. Matt Peters was second in the runoff on his KTM380 with a 3.620 second time with Jason Northrup third with a 3.646 second time on his Kawasaki Triple. 

            “Fast Andy” Fortner lived up to his name again by taking the Fast Time award – a 5’8” tall trophy and $200 – with a blazing 3.584 second time on his CR500 to win the 600cc class.    He posted the time on his first ride, and young McKay was his closest challenger in the class, with a 3.628 second time for second place, closely followed by “Crazy Jake” Tackitt who delivered a 3.636 second time on Gayle Jenkins’ automatic Honda.

            Fortner’s closest challenge for the Fast Time award, however, came from Jason Northrup who screamed his Kawasaki triple over the top in 3.590 seconds to win the 750 class – only 6/1,000’s off Fortners’ $200 ride!  Northrup enjoyed a double win day as he also claimed the Open Class win with a 3.699 second run on his Jeff Thomas built “YZ1220F” Yamaha.  Randy “Buzz” Green, riding his Dales Harley, was close on that time with a 3.759 second run for second place, with Josh Denson carding a 3.801 second time on Steve Shafer’s Harley for third.

            John Michael Gocken enjoyed his second straight double win day on his stock length YZ250, his first coming in the 250CC class where his second round 3.739 second ride overtook Matt Peters and Butch Fetters for the win.  Peters claimed second with a 3.748 second time on his CR250 with Fetters carding a 3.773 second run on his Honda for third.

            Gocken also came from behind to win the 400cc Stock class, as Peters had set the time to beat at 3.785 seconds on his YZ400F in the first round, and Paul Hart was in second with a 3.844 second time on his Husky.  Gocken was in third place with a 3.967 second first round effort, but ripped off a sizzling 3.725 second ride to take the class win and even qualify for the King of the Hill shootout, where he finished fifth – pretty impressive for a stock length 250!

            In Youth action, the district point leaders all stretched their leads with wins.  Logan Moody won the 50cc class, “Joltin’ Jake Wood took the 65cc Class win, Shane Green was the 85CC Junior Mini winner and Mike Poham took the Senior Mini win.

            In other amateur class action, Brent Bowman stretched his point lead by winning the 125cc class.  Gordon Green moved closer to Jake Tackitt in the 200cc class in District 17, and took over the point lead in District 15 with his second win of the weekend.  Matt Peters took the win in the 450cc class while his brother in law, Butch Fetters, claimed the 600cc 4-Stroke win.  Scott Petty and and Gayle Jenkins stretched their point leads with wins in the Senior and Super Senior classes, while Buzz Green grabbed the Pushrod win.   Greg Joy was the best of the Open Stock riders while Paul Hillard claimed yet another win in the Quad class.

            The halftime entertainment included a hilldrag between 8 year old “Jammin’ Joe” McGurer and 61 year old Bud Northrup.  “Old Bud” got the holeshot on his YZ250, but Jammin’ Joe passed him on his powerful KX65 to take the win.  There may be a rematch on this one!  Bud claims Joe had the horsepower to weight ratio advantage, and wants a rematch using Jason’s Triple.

RESULTS:

50CC: 1.Logan Moody (Pol), 2.Jeremiah Lyday (Cob), 3.Garrett Holycross (KTM),4.Kaylee Cox (Hus), 5.Samantha Brown (KTM).

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

85CC Jr: 1.Shane Green (Yam), 2.Drew Daniels (KTM), 3.Caleb Emory (Kaw), 4.Chris Peters (Yam), 5.Jake Wood (Kaw).

85CC Sr: 1.Mike Popham (Yam), 2.Cody Rankin (Suz), 3.Goose Weaver (Kaw), 4.Nick Burke (Kaw), 5.Kevin Dean Bond (Kaw).

125CC: 1.Brent Bowman (Hon), 2.Paul Hart (Hus), 3.Justin Trent (Hon), 4.Nick Mayo (Suz), 5.Billy Hanes (Hon).

200CC: 1.Gordon Green (Kaw), 2.Jake Tackitt (Kaw), 3.Mike Peters (Kaw).

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

450CC: 1.Matt Peters (KTM), 2.Greg Joy (Yam), 3.Paul Hillard (Yam), 4.Mike Peters (Yam), 5.Rob Ellis (Can).

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

600 4-Stk: 1.Butch Fetters (KTM), 2.Josh Denson (Yam), 3.Mark peters (KTM), 4.Curt Randall (Yam), 5.Bud Northrup (Hon).

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

OPEN: Jason Northrup (Yam), 2.Randy “Buzz” Green (HD), 3.Josh Denson (HD), 4.Jim Redpath (Kaw), 5.Richard Miller II (HD).

SENR: 1.Scott Petty (Hon), 2.Mark Peters (KTM), 3.Darrell Trent (Hon), 4.Kevin McKay (Kaw), Gayle Jenkins (Hon).

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

PROD: 1.Randy “Buzz” Green (HD), 2.Scott Petty (HD).

400 STK: 1.John Michael Gocken (Yam), 2.Matt Peters (Yam), 3.Paul Hart (Hus), 4.R.J. Watson (Hon), 5.Andy Fortner (Hon).

OPN STK: 1.Greg Joy (Yam), 2.Jared McKay (Hon), 3.Mike Bacon (Mai), 4.Jammie Brown (Hon), 5.Bud Northrup (Hon).

QUAD: 1.Paul Hillard (Yam), 2.Jason Cappello (Hon), 3.Jeremiah Lyday (Pol).

KOTH: 1.Jared McKay (Kaw), 2.Matt Peters (KTM), 3.Jason Northrup (Kaw), Andy Fortner (Hon), 5.John Michael Gocken (Yam).

FAST TIME: “FAST ANDY” FORTNER, 3.584; HONDA CR500