The Indianhead Motorcycle Club staged a season ending semi-pro hillclimb on their 300 foot hill in Mankato, Minnesota on October 5. Questionable weather kept a lot of riders away, but 71 of the best riders in the country competed. Five National champions were present as well as many top five national number carriers.

Todd Cipala turned the fastest time of the day on his Harley, roaring over the top of the hundred yard hill in 6.444 seconds on his first ride. The Open Class, on this day, included bikes over 600cc, which put the 750 class riders in with the bigbores. As a result, the class featured five top five national number carriers. Lloyd Mueller is the 2002 Open Class National Champion with Todd Cipala carrying the 2N plate and a past national champion. Eric O’Connor is the 750CC National Champion and brothers Kaleb and Jason Northrup carry the 2N and 4N plates. Both Cipala and Jason Northrup are past National champs also in the 750 class. All five of these riders were in this class, also with Louie Lauters who finished 8^th at the 2002 Nationals in the Open Class.

Cipala’s time was very convincing as his closest challenger was National Champ Lloyd Mueller, who carded a 6.776 second run for second place on his hot Harley. Cipala also claimed the third place cash, topping the hill on his Kawasaki Triple in 6.838 seconds, with O’Connor and Dan Lauters running 4^th and 5^th.

Ryan Peterson enjoyed a double win day, taking the 200cc and 450cc class wins. Peterson, a past National Champ himself, topped the hill in 7.474 seconds on his KTM to claim the 200cc class win. Scott Braun claimed second on a Honda and the 2002 National Champ, Dan Prebe, took the third place cash on his KTM200. James Marquardt and Jason Braun filled out the top five places.

Peterson’s second win came in the 450cc class where he stopped the clock in 7.106 seconds on his first ride for the win. Dan Prebe claimed the second place cash with a 6.959 second run, the only other 450cc class rider to get under 7 seconds. Ernie Beckwith, National #2 Bill Paider and National # 3 Chad Koopsma filled out the top five money paying spots. All the 450cc class riders were riding KTM’s.

In 250cc class action, Scott Braun rode to a 7.106 second win with National #2, Ryan Peterson, claiming second with a 7.349 second run. National Champion Jason Braun had to settle for third place with a 7.374 second time while brother Kevin claimed 4^th and Jason, riding his brother’s bike, claimed 5^th. All were riding Hondas.

Ernie Beckwith, from Plattsmouth, Nebraska, another past national champion, grabbed the 600cc class win with a 6.636 second run on his CR500. National Champion Mike Wood was his closest challenger with a 6.791 second time on his Honda, and Chad Koopsma came in from Sioux Falls, South Dakota to take the third place cash with a 6.940 second time on his Honda. Eric O’Connor also broke into the sixes for fourth place on his KX500 and Kirk Mueller claimed fifth on his Honda.

The Quads, as always, were quite entertaining. Scott Albers grabbed the Quad class win on Alex Wells’ Yamaha twin (how big is that thing?) with a 7.361 second time and Eric O’Connor rode his Yamaha to a 7.600 second time for second place. Alex Wells, Scott Albers and Tod Hintz took the next three places.

RESULTS:

200CC: Ryan Peterson (KTM), 2.Scott Braun (Hon), 3.Dan Prebe (KTM), 4.James Marquardt (KTM), 5.Jason Braun (Hon).

250CC: 1.Scott Braun (Hon), 2.Ryan Peterson (Hon), 3.Jason Braun (Hon), 4.Kevin Braun (Hon), 5.Jason Braun (Hon).

450CC: 1.Ryan Peterson (KTM), 2.Dan Prebe (KTM), 3.Ernie Beckwith (KTM), 4.Bill Paider (KTM), 5.Chad Koopsma (KTM).

600CC: 1.Ernie Beckwith (Hon), 2.Mike Wood (Hon), 3.Chad Koopsma (Hon), 4.Eric O’Connor (Kaw), 5.Kirk Mueller (Hon).

OPEN: 1.Todd Cipala (HD), 2.Lloyd Mueller (HD), 3.Todd Cipala (Kaw), 4.Eric O’Connor (Kaw), 5.Dan Lauters (HD).

QUAD: 1.Scott Abers (Yam), 2.Eric O’Connor (Yam), 3.Alex Wells (Yam), 4.Scott Albers (Yam), 5.Tod Hintz (Yam).

FAST TIME: Todd Cipala, 6.444, Harley