Thomas Racing Service hosted the last amateur hill climb of the 2007 season for both Districts 15 and 17 near Nashville, Indiana.  As the Saturday amateur preliminary for the Sunday professional East – West shootout, the event attracted riders from all over the country.

            No one claimed more than one class win, but the Wheelwright family, from Elizabeth, Illinois, claimed two, as did the Waddell family, from Omaha, Nebraska.

Young Morgan Wheelwright rode her KX65 425 feet up the 600 foot hill for the win in the 65cc class, far ahead of her closest challenger, Cole Garriott (Attica, In) and his 171 foot effort.  Morgan then returned to take second place in the 85cc class with a 405 foot ride on her KX85, behind winner Logan Moody(Tilton, Il), who topped the hill on his Kawasaki in 20.431 seconds. 

            Morgan’s dad, Eric Wheelwright, claimed the win in the 250cc class with an outstanding 12.139 second run on his Yamaha in the first round of action.  No one in the class came really close to that time except Wheelwright himself, who delivered a nearly identical 12.182 second ride in the second round. Todd Pinsonnault came all the way from West Warren, Massachusetts to take second place with a 13.139 second run on his Honda.  Mike Popham claimed third.

            Chris Huizenga, from Muskegon, Michigan, had a good day with three ‘podium’ finishes.  He claimed the 600cc 4-Stroke class win on his Kawasaki with a very quick 11.955 second run on his first ride.  ‘Wild Wade’ Schultz came in from Lisbon, Iowa to claim second place on his Honda with a 12.462 second effort.  Jeff Cohour, from Wathena, Kansas, claimed third place.

Huzenga came close to winning the big 600cc class also.  Ross Johnson, from Fordville, North Dakota, blitzed the hill in 11.769 seconds on his first ride on his CR500 for the class win, but Huizenga was very close with a 11.821 second effort on his second run on his Kawasaki, missing the win by less than 6/100’s of a second.  Shane Green, from Georgetown, Illinois was a close third with a 11.987 second run on his KX500.

In 450cc class action, Huizenga took the first round lead with a good 12.330 second run on his Kawasaki, but fell to third place in the second round.  Mike Bender, from Indianapolis, crashed his Kawasaki at 75 feet on his first ride, but returned to sail over the top in 12.010 seconds on his second ride for the win.  Mike Popham, from Amboy, Illinois, was also fast in the second half, posting a 12.279 second time to move around Huizenga into second place.

In Veteran class action, Randy Trosper (Georgetown, Il), took the Senior (+40) class with a good run of 12.587 seconds, besting his own first round class leading run of 12.985 seconds on his Honda.  Jeff Jack drove in from Wapello, Iowa to claim second on his KX500 with a 13.170 second time on his first ride, with local rider Mike Pulver claiming third. 

People watched with great interest as Veteran climber and master bike builder Gary Waddell came to the line in the Super Senior (+50) class.  Gary didn’t disappoint us, showing his riding skills of old with a fine 14.222 second run on his Honda to take the class win.  Roger Bibbler (Saranac, Michigan) and Steve Horath (Mattoon, Il) claimed second and third place.

Waddell’s daughter, Sara, claimed the second win for the family with a 17.316 second time on her Honda to win the Women’s class.  She was the only lady to find the finish line, with Ashley Johnson, also from Omaha, taking second and Morgan Wheelwright running third.

Halftime entertainment was provided by 16 year old Rodney Riddell, grandson of legendary stunt rider Roger Riddell (Mr. Backwards).  Rodney jumped over four cars while sitting backwards on his Yamaha YZ450F.  And he didn’t crash – as his Grandpa usually did!

Most all of the amateur riders really like the Nashville hill and would really like to see an AMA Amateur National run there.  How about it, Jeff – 2009??

RESULTS:

50cc: 1.Clint Garriott, 2.Dakota Watson, 3.Reece Hutton, 4.Andrew Fortner, 5.Cline Garriott.

65cc: 1.Morgan Wheelwright, 2.Cole Garriott, 3.Dakota Watson, 4.Clint Garriott, 5.Reece Hutton.

85Jr: 1.Logan Moody, 2.Morgan Wheelwright, 3.Brett Kalaher, 4.Cole Garriott.

85Sr: 1.Logan Ensbrenner, 2.Joe McGurer, 3.Austin Ewing, 4.Dylan Brady.

110cc: 1.Brady Myers.

125cc: 1.Steve Squires, 2.Chad Altfillisch, 3.Matt Altfillisch, 4.Joe McGurer, 5.Schuyler Kalaher.

200cc: 1.Jeff Jack, 2.Roger Bibbler, 3.Sara Waddell, 4.Keith Klett.

250cc: 1.Eric Wheelwright, 2.Todd Pinsonnault, 3.Mike Popham, 4.Chad Altfillisch, 5.Shane Green.

450cc: 1.Mike Bender, 2.Mike Popham, 3.Chris Huizenga, 4.Steve Squires, 5.Shane Green.

600cc: 1.Ross Johnson, 2.Chris Huizenga, 3.Shane Green, 4.Eric Wheelwright, 5.Wade Schultz.

600 4St: 1.Chris Huizenga, 2.Wade Schultz, 3.Jeff Colhour, 4.R.D. Miller III, 5.Kyle Johnson.

750cc: 1.Andy Fortner, 2.Paul Hillard.

OPN: 1.Cody Jenner, 2.Kyle McConnaughey, 3.Nick Isotov, 4.Paul Hillard, 5.Wade Schultz.

PRD: 1.Mark Swem, 2.Nick Isotov.

40+: 1.Randy Trosper, 2.Jeff Jack, 3.Mike Pulver, 4.Scott Petty, 5.Al Hoskins.

50+ 1.Gary Waddell, 2.Roger Bibbler, 3.Steve Horath, 4.Joel Creed, 5.Kevin McConnaughey.

400 St: 1.Mike Pulver, 2.Al Petty, 3.Kyle Galloway, 4.Roger Ford, 5.Kyle Lashley.

OPN St: 1.Adam Laviolette, 2.Steven Squires, 3.Mike Bender, 4.Randy Trosner, 5.Zach Brown.

QD 2: 1.John Perry, 2.Brad Franklin, 3.Evan Zimmerman, 4.Paul Hillard, 5.David Brown.

QD 4: 1.Jeff Ramey, 2.David Brown, 3.Mark Parker, 4.Justin James, 5.Wade Garriott.

WMN: 1.Sara Waddell, 2.Ashley Johnson, 3.Morgan Wheelwright.

Alan Hoskins & Jeff Jack	"Big Al" Petty	Harold Waddell reminding his dad Gary how to do this...
Brian Klett digs in for dad Keith	Eric Wheelwright & Shane Green	The Hill