The 89th Annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is well underway this weekend, as the three days of practices sessions have now concluded, and teams are preparing for the race on Sunday. With the paddock abuzz that 2011 will be the last year that the hill climb will have a dirt section, things were shook up even further in the 1200cc motorcycle class as PPIHC rookie rider Carlin Dunne from the Santa Barbara Ducati team took the pole position with a qualifying time of 5:35.937 (each classes qualifies on only a single section of the race course, with motorcycles qualifying on the lower section this year). Vying for the top spot on the time sheet, Dunne had stiff competition in the 1200c race class, namely from Spider Grips Ducati riders Gregg Tracy, who crashed during the qualifying session.
Battling with Dunne, Tracy’s off occurred due to the cold tarmac conditions, thus losing valuable time. Tracy’s practice times from earlier in the day were favorable though, posting a 5:48.798 in traffic earlier in the morning. Dunne’s rookie pole debut is a rarity on The Peak, though traditionally it predicts a top-step finish for the rider (no pressure, right?). In order for that to happen, the Santa Barbara native will have to keep Tracy and his teammate Alexander Smith at bay, along with a very fast Mark Cernicky (who writes about motorcycle occasionally). Also in the hunt is Glenn Cox on his KTM SuperDuke R, though Joe Kopp’s Triumph Speed Triple has been relegated to an exhibition class, as it falls outside the 1200cc & 7500cc class rules (the 1200cc class is for v-twins only…draw your conclusions on that as you will).
“It’s pretty overwhelming at first — there’s a lot of information to process,” said Dunne while explaining his first time racing Pikes Peak to Asphalt & Rubber. “Your first ride you really question why, for me at least, what am I doing? Why am I here? There’s 156 turns and each one is different. Some are decreasing radius, some are increasing radius, and a lot of them are blind.”
“I actually had to take a step-back, slowdown, quit trying to go fast, and start going slower and learning,” continued Dunne who will ride a modestly modified Ducati Multistrada 1200. “When I started doing that, things started really to come together, but it was pretty overwhelming at first.”
An accomplished road and dirt bike racer, Dunne was quick to point out the obvious challenge that Pikes Peak presents to riders. “There’s literally no guardrails on some of these big sweepers, and going over 100 mph we’re get loose, real loose, and as soon as you start to think about that, you’re definitely slowing down.”
“But, it’s a calculated risk,” Dunne immediately added. “You know you could go faster, but you also know that you’re on your limit of adhesion, so you’ve got to walk the line, much more so than any closed-circuit race track. There’s no second chance, there’s no run-off, so you have to respect it, and that’s the most important part.”
When asked about how felt about his pole-position qualifying, Dunne simply stated: “I can definitely feel the target on my back getting bigger, but really I’m not letting it get to me. No one expected me to do much, and for me it’s just about riding my race. I’m not worried about racing anyone else, I’m just focused on putting 156 turns together as flawlessly as possible…and keeping it on two wheels while I’m at it.”
Select Qualifying Results for the 89th Pikes Peak International Hill Climb:
| Pos. | No. | Name | Bike | Qualifying Time |
| 1 | 34 | Carlin Dunne | Ducati Multistrada 1200 | 5:35.937 |
| 2 | 50 | Mark Cernicky | Ducati Multistrada 1200 | 5:44.131 |
| 3 | 55 | Alexander Smith | Ducati Multistrada 1200 | 6:00.252 |
| 4 | 13 | Glenn Cox | KTM SuperDuke R | 6:01.912 |
| 5 | 555 | Greg Tracy | Ducati Multistrada 1200 | 6:12.082 |
| Other Times of Note | ||||
| 1* | 357 | Gary Trachy | TM 660 SMX | 5:22.310 |
| 2* | 508 | Stuart Sinclair | Aprilla SXV | 5:32.130 |
| 2** | 3 | Joe Kopp | Triumph Speed Triple | 5:43.758 |
| - | 489 | Chip Yates | Electric Superbike Prototype | 6:50.275 |
*Qualifying Position from the 750cc Motorcycle Class
**Qualifying Position if Included in the 1200cc Motorcycle Class
Source: PPIHC; Photo: © 2011 Jensen Beeler / Asphalt & Rubber – Creative Commons – Attribution 3.0
Is the 1200cc class sponsored by a certain Italian marque? Very odd about the config. restrictions in place…
Would’ve loved to see some Leicestershire metal fighting for the win.
If they adapted the Superbike formula, 1200 twins, 1000 IL4′s; logically 1100 triples would be in there?
Neither formula allows for anything outside of what the organisers want, or are told to want…
And what is the story with the 660 and SXV (550?), excluded because they aren’t powerful enough, or too light, or too fast?
Maybe this is a ‘race’ for touring bikes?
It’s fun to read you write “It’s a lot of data to process” and write something this informative and a bit long. Clearly there’s no irony here.
–Ri of changerules(dot)net
I thought the 750cc class is for those bigger than the 450 but smaller than the big boys but they are definitely faster than the big bikes. Maybe they are put there on purpose because of that. I want to see the 450cc times.
The Aprilia SXV is race legal in the 750cc class, and in fact one was raced (crashed in the race if I recall correctly, but qualified well). Pikes Peak’s regs are based off the AMA flat track rule book, and the course has traditionally been a dirt event, all of which factors into its current incarnation.
That being said, I think the 1200cc class should be like what we see in Superbike racing, especially now that the course will be all paved for 2012. This would also remedy the appearance that the class was made specifically to cater to PPIHC’s official motorcycle partner.