Racing

PPIHC: Motorcycles Shatter 10 Minute Barrier at Pikes Peak

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With the road to the summit of Pikes Peak fully-paved now, riders not only had to contend with learning the 156 corners that comprise the race to the clouds, but they also had to learn the new asphalt sections that were paved after last year’s race. Getting three days of practice and sunshine on the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb course, on Saturday the weather hit the reset button, bringing rain down on the mountain, which made the road very green for racing the next day.

The sun returned for Sunday’s set of races though, with the motorcycles leading the charge up Pikes Peak. As with the previous years, the talk of class records falling was again high on the discussion list, which is unsurprising since Pikes Peak has added new pavement sections each year to the course. Though, with the asphalt now going all the way to the summit, the big question this year was by what margin the records would fall, and in the motorcycle category, whether a new class of motorcycle would dominate the mountain.

With most of the field still comprised of supermoto bikes and a handful of flat trackers, the 1205cc class showed the most diversity in entries, with BMW, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, and KTM all represented. The PPIHC crew isn’t keen on full-fledged sport bikes racing on the mountain, relegating those entries that did show up into the exhibition class. Though many thought the sport bikers would dominate this year, it was the adventure-touring bikes in 1205cc class that would lay siege to Pikes Peak, in more than impressive style.

Shattering the 10 minute lap barrier to the summit, Carlin Dunne made a repeat victory and course record with his 9’52.819 run on the Ducati Multistrada 1200 S Pikes Peak race bike. With Dunne’s transponder failing to check in a final time at the finish, the entire paddock had to sit and wait for his result before a winner could be declared, since Greg Tracy also put in an astounding sub-10 minute run as well, with a 9’58.262 lap to the top — doing so with a vertebrae that he fractured the previous Sunday, shooting a commercial for Ducati & Audi.

With the motorcycles getting fairly good weather on the mountain, the rest of the classes were not as fortunate. With rain, hail, and snow reported at the summit, the car classes had to contend with the changing conditions, and a bevy of red flags, before they could get all their races completed. One of the longest hill climbs in duration ever at Pikes Peak, the day saw Rhys Millen set an outright course record of 9’46.164 in the Time Attack class on his Hyundai drift car.

Of course, the real feat is Dunne and Tracy’s times, which were the third and fourth fastest overall for the day, respectively — on fairly stock adventure-touring machines, no less.

2012 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Race Results:

Pos. PIC Name Lap Time Speed Hometown Chassis
1205cc Motorcycle Class
3 1 Carlin Dunne 9:52.819 72.872 Santa Barbara CA Ducati
4 2 Greg Tracy 9:58.262 72.209 Long Beach CO Ducati
16 3 Bruno Langlois 11:05.342 64.929 Ajaccio France Ducati
34 4 Eddie Tafoya 11:38.545 61.843 Chino Hills CA Ducati
40 5 Michael Henao 11:41.686 61.566 Boulder CO Harley Davidson
50 6 Jiri Heinik 11:51.967 60.677 Czech Republic KTM
115 7 Norman Meyer 13:38.408 52.785 Conifer CO BMW
135 8 Weston Orloff –.— 0.000 Mukwonago WI Harley Davidson
750cc Motorcycle Class
10 1 Gary Trachy 10:40.753 67.421 Orange CA TM
15 2 Jeff Grace 11:02.472 65.210 Colorado Springs CO KTM
28 3 James McKay 11:31.423 62.480 Dayton NV Husaberg
31 4 Joseph Toner 11:35.449 62.118 Scotland Kawasaki
42 5 Marco Belli 11:43.715 61.388 Varese Italy Ouroboros
44 6 Mattia Riva 11:44.397 61.329 Maslianicocomo Italy Husaberg
48 7 Ryan Oosterman 11:49.827 60.860 New Ipswich NH KTM
59 8 Joseph Connor Toner 12:00.457 59.962 Scotland Aprilia
74 9 Pierpaolo Vivaldi 12:16.133 58.685 Trevenzuolo Italy SMR
78 10 Dan Harmon 12:20.855 58.311 Florissant CO KTM
108 11 Lee Summers 13:14.639 54.364 Midland TX KTM
450cc Motorcycle Class
17 1 Travis Newbold 11:06.618 64.805 Montrose CO Honda
19 2 Greg Chicoine 11:12.312 64.256 Jefferson SD Kawasaki
20 3 Daniel Berendes 11:12.970 Monument CO Honda
21 4 Craig Gleason 11:13.782 64.116 San Marcos TX Yamaha
24 5 Geoff Cesmat 11:20.195 63.511 Boulder CO Yamaha
25 6 Jeff Delio 11:23.479 63.206 Littleton CO Yamaha
26 7 Chase Guthrie 11:28.056 62.786 Mentone IND Kawasaki
29 8 Darryl Lujan 11:33.566 62.287 Brighton CO Honda
33 9 Teague Sawyer 11:38.399 61.856 Thornton CO Honda
37 10 Cal Collins 11:40.749 61.648 Chandler AZ Honda
46 11 Tom McCarthy 11:44.807 61.293 Des Moines IA Honda
47 12 Donnie Bales 11:47.241 61.082 Murrieta CA Honda
49 13 Greg Nichols 11:50.951 60.764 Boulder CO Yamaha
56 14 Mark Niemi 11:59.234 60.064 Denison TX Honda
60 15 Timothy Buhler 12:01.197 59.900 Pine CO Yamaha
62 16 Eric Monus 12:01.823 59.848 Houston TX Yamaha
67 17 Mark Woodward 12:06.625 59.453 Longmont CO Kawasaki
68 18 Jim Cole 12:06.688 59.448 Parker CO Yamaha
71 19 Justin Flater 12:10.889 59.106 Colorado Springs CO Honda
72 20 Thomas Specht 12:13.906 58.863 Woodland Park CO Honda
73 21 Doug Chestnutt 12:14.890 58.784 Littleton CO Yamaha
79 22 Michael Kassebaum 12:22.869 58.153 Lawrence NE Honda
83 23 Brandon Rader 12:29.197 57.662 Lees Summit MO Honda
87 24 Ryan Radar 12:37.969 56.994 Lees Summit MO KTM
90 25 Charles Ford 12:39.450 56.883 Colorado Springs CO Honda
93 26 Donnie Burns 12:42.642 56.645 Colorado Springs CO Honda
104 27 William Kitchens 12:56.462 55.637 Houston TX Aprilia
110 28 Chris Carr 13:15.360 54.315 Atlanta GA KTM

Source: PPIHC; Photo: © 2012 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0

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