(ED-Yamaha is throwing its hat
into the professional hillclimbing race circuit this season for the first time
in a lot of years and we've asked one of its Pro hillclimb racers, Cable
Willford, to share his racing experiences this season. Willford competed last
season on a Yamaha Nytro but as an independent. This year he has full race
support from Yamaha. Here is his first blog, which will be followed by post
race blogs after every race weekend. We think it will be interesting to follow
Willford as he helps to try to put Yamaha on the map-hillclimbing wise that
is.)
By Cable Willford
The first RMSHA race of the year
is finally here! Bear Lake,
ID, offers a challenging hill
with plenty of steep off camber turns. Deep ruts and big holes will develop in
a short amount of time and we will be plowing mud and shredding sagebrush for
most of the weekend.
I get the opportunity to test the
Yamaha metal against the fastest two strokes in the biz in all of the Pro mod
classes as well as 600 Stock. Both of my sleds have sacrificed mountain
sled qualities in favor of race-specific setups. The stock Nytro has custom
shock valving all around, Dynojet fuel tuning and a trimmed track to accommodate
screws.
The mod sled sports too many
aftermarket components to list, but is highlighted by Yamaha's all
new purpose-built racing front suspension geometry. The factory also
called upon their superbike program for the engine build and the mid mount turbo
is 100 percent custom.
My week has consisted of lots of
last minute race prep, maintaining my workout program and traveling the long
haul from Colorado to Idaho. The importance of this first race is
almost overwhelming. Low snow conditions and other race cancellations have
condensed the schedule to only six events. Bear
Lake is THE Jackson
Hole qualifier, so points will be fought for at every step.
Additionally, some of the Yamaha
brass will be attending this race to see how we do. Can you say PRESSURE? I am
very excited to get the race season underway at Bear Lake
and hope to have positive reports and good news to share in my post race
blog!
-Cable