Since there isn’t any road racing going on this weekend, I’ll take a second to catch up on some other motorcycle related news. Specifically, last week’s 83rd running of the Pikes Peak International Hillclimb. This event pits racers against a 12.5 mile course laid out on the road which goes to the top of 14,110 ft Pikes Peak. The road is a mix of asphalt and dirt making it the ultimate Supermoto race. The race as been run since 1916 so its got plenty of history behind it…second only to Indy when it comes to organized motorsports competition in the US. With vehicles hurtling up through the incredible scenery its a thrilling spectator sport with all the action of rally racing but with a wider variety of vehicles involved.

While the cages (cars, trucks, SUVs, semis, buggies, etc, etc…all with four wheels. Blech!) get the top billing, there are also numerous motorcycle classes. The five classes for two-wheelers are: 750cc Pro, 500cc Pro, 250cc Pro, Supermoto and Vintage. There are also sidecar and quad classes, though I’ll leave it up to the reader to decide whether they fall into the motorcycle or car catagories. (I’d split the two saying the sidecars are motorcycles with an extra wheel and the quads are small open wheel cars…Damned cagers!)

I’m sure that sliding a bike up the Pikes Peak road is a hoot, no matter what you’re on but the ones that interested me the most were the 750cc Pro and the Supermoto classes. In particular, I thought it was cool to see that Supermoto racer Micky Dymond won the 750 class with a time of 12:12.614, the fastest of any bike during the event and a new class record. Thats averaging roughly 60 mph…pretty impressive to do when broadsliding around switchbacks with 200 ft drops for your run-off. The Supermoto class was new this year and features an actual race style start with 5 riders going up at a time rather than the single rider timed stages used in the other classes. The winner Gary Trachy put down a time of 12:18.735 which is flat out hauling for a 450cc bike that isn’t using knobbies and is dicing with four other riders. Its made all the more impressive by the fact that this time was faster than the 500cc Pro class where Davey Durelle turned in a 12:22.491. The 250cc class was topped by Nathan Conley with a time of 13:00.651. Mickey Alzola is a vintage rider, having first competed in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb in 1975. This year he was also the top vintage bike thanks to a 14:28.140 time.

Another nice thing about this year’s Hillclimb was that the purse for the motorcycle classes was increased to $12,000 spread over the five classes. Lets hope that trend continues to fly skyward as well.

[image from the Big West Racing web site.]