So far this season the Illinois hillclimb clubs have run four of the seven scheduled ‘King of the Hill’ shootouts, and four different riders have claimed victories. At the Rock River Riders hillclimb near Polo, Illinois, the newest king to be crowned was ‘Fast Andy’ Fortner, from Pittsboro, Indiana. Fortner had a very good day, as he also claimed the coveted Fast Time award also.

Fortner set his fast time in the large and fast 600cc class where only 2 of the 22 riders topped the hill on their first run, those being Lloyd Haas and Ron Todd. Fortner crashed at 110 feet on his first ride, but on his second ride flew his CR500 high over the top of the 130 foot wall in 4.233 seconds to take the class win, and set the fastest time of the day. Fortner’s good friend and traveling buddy, Jon Creek, was his closest challenger with a 4.405 second time on his Honda for second place and Haas sailed his Honda over in 4.468 seconds on his second run to be the only rider to top the hill on both rides. Mark Stamm ‘the Man’ delivered a 4.618 second run for fourth with Don Sheridan Sr. claiming fifth with a 4.993 second run.

Fortner demonstrated clearly that his 600cc class fast time was not a fluke as he beat the time himself in the King of the Hill shootout – blazing over the top in a blistering 4.185 seconds. Lane Schultz was the closest to him with a 4.384 second time, with Haas, Paul Hackbarth and Creek filling out the top five finishes.

Creek had a good day, adding a win in the 250cc class with a 5.108 second run on his second ride. No one in the class was able to top the hill on their first attempt and Kevin Ryan was the only other rider to stop the clock in the class, with a 5.755 second time on his KX250 good for second place.

Haas was the most consistently successful on the day, as he also topped the hill on both rides in the Open class. Riding his overbored Kawasaki Triple, his time of 5.660 seconds was good enough for that class win, as no other rider in the class was able to top the hill even once.

Ron Todd was the only rider in the Super Senior class to top the hill, and he stretched his point lead in that class with a 4.953 second winning run on his KX500. Three of the 12 competitors in the Senior class topped the hill on their second rides, after all crashed in the first round. Jerome Beckley emerged as the fast guy there with a 6.010 second win on his Yamaha. Mike Winberg and ‘Marvelous’ Marv Wiemken were the only others to post a time, and claimed second and third.

In youth class action, Shane Green claimed his 15^th win in 17 events to stretch his lead in the 85cc Junior Mini class, while Mike Popham also stretched his lead with a win in the Senior Mini class. Five year old Garrett Holycross climbed closer to the 50cc point leader Logan Moody by winning that class and Drew Daniels moved closer to the leaders in the 65cc class with another win there.

The King of the Hill Series, sponsored by Kaleb Northrup and his ‘Kingofthehill’ website, is a very tight race. ‘Crazy Jake’ Tackitt is leading with a win and a second, Fortner is second with a win and a third, and Jared McKay is third with a win and a 4^th. Matt Peters has the fourth win but also a 9^th to go with it. The next shootout will be at the King City Dirt Riders event on August 9.

RESULTS:

50CC Auto: 1.Garrett Holycross (KTM), 2.Logan Moody (Pol), 3.Brennon Nootbaar (Hon), 4.Chase Hubner (KTM), 5.Garrett Smith (Suz).

65CC: 1.Drew Daniels (KTM), 2.Derek Swanson (Kaw), 3.Jake Wood (Kaw), 4.Joe McGurer (Kaw).

85CC Jr: 1.Shane Green (Yam), 2.Blake Cappello (Kaw), 3.Drew Daniels (KTM), 4.Aaron Wiemken (Kaw), 5.Joe McGurer (Kaw).

85CC Sr: 1.Mike Popham (Yam), 2.Joe Winberg (Hon), 3.Shayne Rinaldi (Yam).

125CC: 1.Dan Myers (Yam), 2.Jared Patterson (Kaw), 3.Jason Winter (Yam), 4.Mike Popham (Yam), 5.Dan Cox (KTM).

200CC: 1.Glen Fuegen (Kaw), 2.Kelly Senn (KTM).

250CC: 1.Jon Creek (Suz), 2.Kevin Ryan (Kaw), 3.Kevin Cappello (Yam), 4.Mark Stamm (Yam), 5.Chris Senn (Suz).

450CC: 1.Brent Stewart (KTM), 2.Paul Hackbarth (KTM), 3.Jerome Beckley (Yam), 4.Joshua Eads (Yam), 5.Mike Alaniz (Yam).

600CC: 1.Andy Fortner (Hon), 2.Jon Creek (Hon), 3.Lloyd Haas (Hon), 4.Marc Stamm (Hon), 5.Don Sheridan Sr (Hon).

600CC 4-Stk: 1.Andrew Tynberg (Hon), 2.Chase Johnson (Hon), 3.Paul Hackbarth (Yam), 4.Daryl Johnson (Yam), 5.Don Sheridan Jr (Yam).

750CC: 1.Mike Sarver (Kaw), 2.Wade Schultz (Yam), 3.Lloyd Haas (Kaw), 4.Daryl Johnson (BSA), 5.Mike Miller (Kaw).

OPEN: 1.Lloyd Haas (Kaw), 2.Lane Schultz (Suz), 3.WilliamMyers (HD), 4.Mike Kessel (Kaw).

SENR: 1.Jerome Beckley (Yam), 2.Mike Winberg (Hon), 3.Marv Wiemken (Hon), 4.John Steffen (Hon), 5.Don Sheridan Sr (Hon).

SSNR: 1.Ron Todd (Kaw), 2.Roger Hackbarth (Hon), 3.Greg Haas (Hon), 4.Marv Wiemken (Hon).

400 Stk: 1.Alex Bozilovic (Kaw), 2.Alex Cook (Hon).

OPN Stk: 1.Andrew Tnyberg (Hon), 2.Glen Fuegen (Yam), 3.Alex Bozilovic (KTM), 5.Tad Hubner (Hon).

KOTH: 1.Andy Fortner (Hon), 2.Lane Schultz (Hon), 3.Lloyd Haas (Hon), 4.Paul Hackbarth (Hon), 5.Jon Creek (Hon).

FAST TIME: ‘FAST ANDY’ FORTNER, 4.233, HONDA CR500