89th
Annual PPIHC
Pike's Peak International Hill Climb
Colorado Springs, Colorado
June 26, 2011`
|
|
Michael Coburn Sets
Pikes Peak Hill Climb ATV Speed Record Again
Hoosier / Spark's Racing
Honda TRX 450R Big Bore ATV
| Pikes
Peak International
Hill Climb - ATV Links |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Colorado Springs, CO - Sparks Racing’s
Michael Coburn once again took top honors at the
2011 Pike’s Peak Hill Climb and broke the
impressive record he set last year by three seconds
in the Quad Modified class.
Over the years, the course at Pike’s Peak
has been getting a face lift by the way of black
top. This year, the top part of the course was
paved, leaving only about 2.5 miles of unpaved
dirt road. “It was a really fast track and
it was a lot of fun!” stated Coburn. Next
year, it is expected that all of the course will
be paved.
|
|
|
#138 Michael
Coburn races to the top of Pikes Peak
in record time
|
|
For
the 3rd straight year, Michael Coburn raises
the bar yet again breaking his record time
to the top of Pikes Peak |
“I really like the unpaved sections because
you can slide around the corners so easily, and
the pavement takes away from that. I’ll
have to do some more motor work and I’ll
probably end up running a set of Hoosiers in order
to compensate for all the pavement,” said
Michael Coburn, whose TT racing expertise has
put him a step above the competition in cornering
technique.
Adding to the fun, on Friday evening the town
of Colorado Springs shuts down the main street
through town for their annual “Fan Fest
celebration that features some of the cars, bikes
and quads that will be racing the event over the
weekend. The festival also includes live music,
and even a dirt bike freestyle show. This year,
the event saw a record number of spectators as
well with over 40,000 people in attendance. “Fan
Fest is always a lot of fun and most of the people
that attend that stick around for the races. There
are so many people up there, when the race is
over it takes almost an hour to get back down
the mountain because everyone is out on the road
giving you high fives as you pass by. It’s
a really great experience,” said Coburn.
The weather on Pike’s Peak can play a big
role in how things go for racers, but this year,
the weather was good with warm temperatures and
sunny skies. The only bad part was that it did
become a bit windy with steady winds f up to 30mph.
“I think the wind did effect our time a
bit because there were few spots where we were
riding into it, but it all went well other than
that,” stated Coburn.
|
| #131
Mike Ell claimed the 2nd fastest time to
the top in the Quad Modified class on his
highly modified Yamaha Banshee |
For the Pike’s Peak race, racers leave
the line in sets of three and Michael Coburn wasted
no time getting off the start. He charged hard
but his time was trailing by two seconds at the
halfway point, but that’s when Coburn really
began to push it and by the next check point,
Coburn had a seven second lead. Coburn kept pushing
and finished with an amazing time of 11:59.021,
beating second place racer Mike Ell on his modified
Yamaha Banshee by over ten seconds.
Mike Tollet went on to claim third in the Modified
class with a time of 12:26.399, while John Stallworth
laid claim to fourth and Chris Wagner rounded
out the top five. Joe Portillo finished in sixth
place, while Theo Bernhard ran into a bit of bad
luck and was not able to finish.
|
|
#7 Steve Tutt takes
the win in the Quad 450 Class |
In the Quad 450 class, where racers are limited
to a 450cc maximum, the competition is just as
fast and furious as the Modified class. Steve
Tutt was the overall winner of the 450 class with
a time of 12:41.960, while Craig Kilday claimed
a solid second place and Troy Smith ended his
day in third. Michael Taylor hung on for fourth,
with Adam Rapier in fifth and Scott Kolm in sixth.
With a championship and a record to defend, Michael
Coburn plans to return to Pike’s Peak next
year in hopes of another win and maybe even to
set another record, which seems to be almost a
sure thing with his talent and skill in high speed
racing.
www.ppihc.com
1631 Mesa Avenues Suite B-1
Colorado Springs, CO 80906
|
