Photo Gallery

Here's a few photos from the 2001 AMA National Amateur Hillclimb Championships, which were held in Monson, Mass. The first set here is of yours truly on my 600, 750 and Open bike. You might notice that on the 750, I have come to a rather sudden stop - the top of the hill was very steep, and the whole thing was nothing but sand and rocks the size of your head. The sand loosened from the top of the hill collected at the bottom of the last stage, and I discovered that plowing a 750cc 2-stroke triple into a pile of nice, fluffy sand at full speed isn't necessarily the brightest thing in the world to do.

These are a few pictures of my brother Jason at the same event. You'll notice that he was the national champion on his 200 (and 750, although you can't see the number plate) from the previous year - unfortunately, he was not able to defend his titles. He also had the benefit of watching me land on my head on my 750, so managed to avoid doing so himself (somebody has to be the one to do it wrong so everybody else can learn from the mistake, right?).

	Here's a photo from the Pleasure Riders hill in Cayuga, IN, a club that my family has been a part of for many years. They also have a motocross track and occasionally host a hare scrambles. This is my Triumph open-class bike - 800cc of British fury. My brother and I are both sponsored by Sportland Motorsports in Urbana, IL.
	Once again, me on the same bike at the nasty 500 ft. hill in Dickeyville, WI. This time I discovered that plowing an 800cc four-stroke twin into a solid rock shelf at full speed isn't necessarily the brightest thing in the world to do. In case you're thinking that I must crash an awful lot, the truth is that I almost never do - but when I do, there always seems to be a camera ready. Hmmm...

	This is Dylan Brady at the 2001 National Hillclimb Championship. So, Dylan - what do you think of your 10th place finish in the 50cc class? Looks like a little bit of a snarl on his mug... Hee hee! This kid kills me! Seriously, though, 10th place is pretty good at Nationals, Dylan. I've done a lot worse in my time...
	This is Nic Burke at a climb in Neoga, IL proving that even a little 50cc bike has enough power to roost and wheelie at the same time. He needs to work on the "hanging-on" part, though. Probably has spent too much time watching my brother ride...
	Here we have the invulnerable Harold Waddell cresting "the wall" at Billings, Montana on his CR500 outfitted with the obligatory paddle-tire-with-bolts-sticking-out. Billings is the nuttiest hill I've ever seen...to make it over, you either have to be exceedingly fast, or exceptionally crazy. Fortunately, Harold is both...
	...and this is where he got it from. A vintage Gary Waddell picture, when the big bike had the Yamaha XS 1100 (well, it started as an 1100) engine in it, and with the parallelogram rear swingarm Gary created. Not sure what hill this is, but the last time I saw that bike in that configuration was 1981. One of those guys who's never gonna get old, Gary can still be seen terrorizing the hills of the Midwest on the big Suzuki that replaced the Yamaha - albeit at mortal rates of velocity.
	Not to be outdone by her dad and brother, Sara has very much inherited the Waddell racing gene. This photo is from her first ride on her KTM 200 after graduating from the 80s...nowadays she can also be found riding Gary's 500 every once in a while. I wonder when she'll start riding the big Suzook?
	Arnie Jelinek launches his KTM 540 (550?) off the top of one of the hills in Sturgis. Arnie's been a major contender in the Midwest hillclimb scene for years. He and the boys (the rest of the renegades from the Pisek, ND area) also started running their own outlaw hillclimb once a year - it's a lot of fun, with massive crowd turnouts and good payback - you should come and see it!
	...one of those renegades is Jamie Greicar, also heavily involved in the ND hillclimb. Here Jamie uses the power of his mind to levitate himself to the top.
	"Jammin" Joe McGurer's mom Lisa snapped this photo of him attacking the hill at Neoga, IL. Knees bent, elbows up, head over the triple clamps...looks like he's got the form nailed!