KOESTER, WADDELL FAST AT BIG TIME QUALIFIER

By: Bud Northrup - Fort Benton, MT -  May 28, 2005 

            MONTANA!  A state with incredible scenery, big skies, Big Sky Beer and the Halter Motorsports Ranch.  John and Mindy Halter hosted their ‘Big Time Hillclimb’ on the Memorial Day weekend, and did an outstanding job.  The hills were set up well and watered (important).  The grounds and facilities were exceptionally well prepared, and the vendors were great – everything from kettle corn to Indian Tacos – and sooo good!

            The format of the race is to place the top 30 NAHA pros (based on their finishes at the previous NAHA event) automatically in a 70 bike field on Sunday to compete in the high cash payout pro race in each of the 700cc and Open Exhibition classes.  The remaining 40 slots had to be earned by finishing in the top 40 positions in the Saturday qualifying climbs.

            Minnesota’s Kurt Koester was the most impressive rider in the qualifiers, winning the 700cc class, and placing second in the Open class competition.  He had to come from behind to claim the 700cc class win, as his 14.462 second first round ride on the 500 foot hill had him in 11^th place.  Ross Johnson had set the first round time to beat at 13.443 seconds, and Todd Cipala, Garret Seek and Collin Guy had all posted times in the 13 second range.  But in the second round, Koester kept the throttle pinned on his KX500 and cleared the first two stages of the rough hill, made the right turn and flew through the breakers and over the top of the third stage in a blistering 13.200 seconds to take the class win.  Ed Taylor rebounded from a rough first ride (18.655 seconds) to move in to second place and Scott Olson bettered his 14.439 second round first run to take third with a 13.337 second run.

            In Open Class action, Nebraska’s Harold Waddell didn’t waste any time jumping into the lead as he flew his massive Suzuki over the top in 12.422 seconds on his first ride, overtaking none other than Kurt Koester, who had delivered a 13.127 second run on his big bore Kawasaki to set the early time to beat.  Koester turned in another good run on his second ride, but couldn’t improve on his first ride and settled for second place.  Waddell, taking a ‘free’ ride, turned in another gem on his second ride, a 12.995 second run.  The next best rider behind Koester was nearly a half second slower, Chuck Dubell with a 13.618 second effort.  Scott Olson added a fourth place in the class to go with his third place in the 700cc qualifier.

            In addition to the qualifiers,  Halter ran a Pro Shootout (the “Happy Hour”) on the qualifier hill, to give the top 30 pros who came early a chance to show their bikes and skills (and win a few bucks), and give the crowd a taste of what to expect on Sunday.  Collin Guy started the shootout action with a fine 12.868 second run, just to see Travis Whitlock blow that time away with a sizzling 12.345 second run right after him.   That time would hold up for the class win, with Dusty Beer his closest challenger with a good 12.495 second run.  Guy’s first round ride held up for third place with Jeff Thomas and Robie Peterson coming in 4^th and 5^th.

            There was also lots of action on the trophy hill.  Scott Olson was the best of the ‘Old Timers’, winning both the 700cc and Open Old Timers classes. Russell Darlington grabbed the Super Senior class win, Chad Wickum won the 250cc class, Jeff Thill was the 550cc class winner and Nick Beer was the best in the 4-Stroke class.   And the Halters didn’t forget the ladies (Mindy competes in the pro classes as well), offering a “Fearless Females” class.  Sara Waddell (Harold’s sister) took that class win with a 235 foot effort on her KTM, well ahead of runner up Dani Hamann and her 155 foot second place effort.

BEER TIME AT THE BIG TIME

By: Bud Northrup - Fort Benton, MT -  May 29, 2005 

            We’re at the incredible Halter Motorsports Ranch near Fort Benton, Montana where John and Mindy Halter are hosting the ‘Big Time Hill Climb’.  The 30 top NAHA pros were automatically placed in the 700cc and Open classes to run for a share of a $15,000 purse. Then the top 40 riders in each class from Saturday (non pre-qualified pros and amateurs) were added to the Sunday pro races. Not all the pre-qualified pros and Saturday qualifiers rode,  but 65 riders competed in the 700cc class and 45 ran in the Open class.

             The Pro hill wasn’t as long as the qualifier hill – ‘only’ 300 feet.  But it was a steep and extremely challenging 300 feet!  Only 13 riders managed to top the hill in the 700cc class, while 18 were able to post times in the Open class.  Nearly all the successful riders were running nitro or alcohol burning fire breathers – the amateurs on gasoline burning bikes did not do so well.

            The hill started with about 150 feet of steep, low traction climbing, then featured a breaker of hard stuff at the 180 foot level that the riders needed to jump off of onto a nearly vertical hard pack face of 50 feet, then pogo over the ridge and motor the last fifty feet to the timing lights.  Things didn’t look too promising as the first 14 riders in the 700cc class failed to top the ridge, most running less than 170 feet up the nasty hill.

            Bret Petersen, the 15^th rider in the 700cc class, was the first to top the hill, and did it in a very respectable 8.686 seconds.  That time held up for a time, with no more riders topping the hill until the 22d  rider, Jason Smith,  literally blasted out of the hole on his fire breathing, nitro burning 700cc Yamaha twin built be Jeff Thomas.  Smith flew over the soft stuff and high in the air over the breaker at 180 feet, landed on the top face and shot over the top in an astounding 7.784 seconds.  Many thought that would be the winning ride, and it nearly was.

            Dusty Beer was riding just two spots behind  Smith, and was a prime candidate for one rider who could beat Smith’s time, but he crashed at 243 feet on his first ride.  On his second ride, however, he was picture perfect, blasting over the top in 7.750 seconds to snatch the class win by only 34/100’s of a second.  The only other riders to top the hill in the first round were Jeff Thomas (9.664), Don Beer (11.906) and Dave Watson (8.854).  Eleven riders managed to top the hill in the second round, with Ryan Dick moving in to the third spot with a 7.796 second run, pushing Watson, who had improved his first round time with an 8.541 second time, to fourth., and Petersen to fifth.

            The Open class riders didn’t take long to conquer the hill, with the third rider, Travis Whitlock, topping it in 7.561 seconds on his first ride, only to see Jeff Thomas fly his 800cc nitro burning Yamaha over in 7.152 seconds on the very next ride.  The Thomas time, surely, would hold up for the class win, thought most observers.

            But it didn’t  - and it was Dusty Beer again who burst the bubble – but doing it on his first ride this time.  Beer unleashed another perfect ride and sailed high over the rim, stopping the clocks in an incredible 6.873 seconds.  Thomas crashed at 262 feet on his second run, and no one else was able to break in to the sixes all day.  So Beer claimed his second class win, with Thomas second and Jason Smith (on a Thomas built Yamaha) in third with a 7.263 second time.  Dave Watson carded a 7.553 second first round ride, but crashed at 230 feet on his second run to claim the fourth place cash, while Whitlock went down at 243 feet on his second run, and settled for the fifth place money based on his first ride.

            During the intermission between the pro races, the Halters ran a Youth climb on the trophy hill.  Mitchell Koester was the only rider in the 55cc class to top the hill, doing it on both his rides, the best of which stopped the clock in 13.611 seconds. Blake Preeshl managed 115 feet for second place and Loran Cipala climbed 108 feet for third.  Tyler Lee and Ryal Briese claimed the 4^th and 5^th place spots.  In the 85cc class, 8 riders successfully topped the hill, with Weston Downs claiming the win with a 8.208 second ride and Kristoffer Beer in second.    Colby Peck, John Beer and Logan Cipala filled out the top five places.

            It is interesting to note how many of the youth names are the same as top pro and amateur riders – the next generation is coming!

            The Halters also awarded a special ‘Crash and Burn’ award to the rider with the most spectacular crash.  The award consisted of a trophy and $500 cash – not bad.  But they couldn’t decide between Kenny ‘Mad Dog’ Long and Justin Frady, both of whom thrilled the crowd with spectacular crashes at the top resulting in end over end trips back down the hill for both bikes and riders.  So the pair split the cash, and Frady received the trophy by winning a coin flip.

            My compliments go to the Halters for running an outstanding event.  The hills and grounds were extremely well prepared, vendors excellent, and the event very well organized and run.  They’ll do it all again the last weekend in August for their Rattlesnake Ridge event – I highly recommend it!

0-700cc Exhibition Pro Qualifier

Open Exhibition Pro Qualifier

"Happy Hour" Pro Shootout

0-700cc Exhibition Main Event

Open Exhibition Main Event

Super Senior Class

Old Timers 0-700cc

Old Timers Open Class

"Fearless Females"

Four-Stroke Class

55cc Class

85cc Class

250cc Class

550cc Class

PLACE	RIDER NAME	NUMBER	1ST RIDE	2ND RIDE	BEST RIDE
1	Jeff Thill	2	215 FEET	9.397	9.397
2	Wes Harwood	66	9.864	9.645	9.645
3	Tyler Jansma	98	248 FEET	10.153	10.153
4	John Curry	69	141 FEET	122 FEET	141 FEET
5	Brandon Martin	451	152 FEET	158 FEET	158 FEET
6	Steve Jansma		212 FEET	152 FEET	212 FEET
7	Logan Todd	88	236 FEET	255 FEET	255 FEET
8	Jerry Williams	442	259 FEET	232 FEET	259 FEET

 

The Pro hill, with irrigation pipe down the middle	Dusty Beer	Jeff Thomas & Jason Smith	Dave Watson & Jeff Thomas
Jason Smith	The Team Peterson Stable	Pete Loomis	Jeff Thomas
Nick Last	Paul Stoffers	Travis Whitlock	The view from the top