Hi everyone, for those of you who don't already know me, I'm Wil Kitchens.
I first started roadracing with the CMRA in 2009, and had a mildly successful year - we finished 3rd overall in the C Superbike Endurance Series. 2010 was a much more successful season, seeing me win three races, take an overall class championship in Clubman, and finish third overall for the year in my other two classes. 2011 started off great, with a second-place finish at the first round, but the rest of the 2011 season saw mechanical failures and several surgeries to deal with nerve damage in my hands from a crash in 2009. HOWEVER, by the last round in October, I was back and ready to race again - I traded my 'old' racebike for an Aprilia SXV450 two days before the final race of the year, and without ANY prior tracktime other than a few laps for morning practice, managed to throw the SXV across the finish line in 4th place in the Unlimited Motard race.
Finding the Aprilia to be more fun than a garbage bag full of $1 bills at a strip club, I started looking to find out what other sorts of badassedry I could get myself into on the Aprilia, and that's when my good friend Mark Niemi told me about the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile and motorcycle hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, covering a distance of 19.99 km (12.42 mi) over 156 turns, climbing 1,439 meters (4,721 ft) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway at 2,862 meters (9,390 ft) on grades averaging 7% over historically both gravel and paved sections - however as of August 2011, the highway is fully paved and as a result all subsequent runnings will be on tarmac from start to finish. This is awesome, especially for someone like me coming from a roadracing background.
The race is on the FIA International Events Calendar and has featured competition from United States rally sanctioning body SCCA ProRally in 2004 and Rally America in 2005. It has taken place since 1916 and is currently contested by a variety of classes of Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles and Quads. There are often numerous new classes tried and discarded year-to-year. On average there are 150 competitors - a mere 20 competitors started the race for the 450 class in 2011. The 2012 race is scheduled for Sunday, July 8, and there will be race-related events all week long at Pike's Peak...and I am going to do everything in my gosh darned power to win it.
That's the plan, at least!
For the 2012 CMRA season, I will be racing at select rounds throughout the beginning of the year. These races will serve as 'test runs' to ensure that the Aprilia SXV450 which I will be piloting up the side of Pike's Peak is set up, tuned, and tweaked to its absolute maximum potential. Even through experimenting with multiple unfamiliar tire compounds, suspension settings, and engine tuning configurations, I've thus far managed to finish in 4th place at CMRA Round 1: MSR Houston, in 3rd place at the second round of CMRA racing at Texas World Speedway, and again in 3rd at Eagle's Canyon Raceway. While podium finishes (or even race wins) are not being specifically sought after, it's always nice to take top finishing spots in ANY race!
For more photos and information, visit my personal Facebook page at facebook.com/wilkitchens
Sign up for sponsorship, offer your support, and/or send donations via paypal tosendwiltothepeak@gmail.com
Brought to you by Wil Kitchens and IDB Racing
I first started roadracing with the CMRA in 2009, and had a mildly successful year - we finished 3rd overall in the C Superbike Endurance Series. 2010 was a much more successful season, seeing me win three races, take an overall class championship in Clubman, and finish third overall for the year in my other two classes. 2011 started off great, with a second-place finish at the first round, but the rest of the 2011 season saw mechanical failures and several surgeries to deal with nerve damage in my hands from a crash in 2009. HOWEVER, by the last round in October, I was back and ready to race again - I traded my 'old' racebike for an Aprilia SXV450 two days before the final race of the year, and without ANY prior tracktime other than a few laps for morning practice, managed to throw the SXV across the finish line in 4th place in the Unlimited Motard race.
Finding the Aprilia to be more fun than a garbage bag full of $1 bills at a strip club, I started looking to find out what other sorts of badassedry I could get myself into on the Aprilia, and that's when my good friend Mark Niemi told me about the Pike's Peak International Hillclimb. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, also known as The Race to the Clouds, is an annual automobile and motorcycle hillclimb to the summit of Pikes Peak in Colorado, covering a distance of 19.99 km (12.42 mi) over 156 turns, climbing 1,439 meters (4,721 ft) from the start at Mile 7 on Pikes Peak Highway at 2,862 meters (9,390 ft) on grades averaging 7% over historically both gravel and paved sections - however as of August 2011, the highway is fully paved and as a result all subsequent runnings will be on tarmac from start to finish. This is awesome, especially for someone like me coming from a roadracing background.
The race is on the FIA International Events Calendar and has featured competition from United States rally sanctioning body SCCA ProRally in 2004 and Rally America in 2005. It has taken place since 1916 and is currently contested by a variety of classes of Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles and Quads. There are often numerous new classes tried and discarded year-to-year. On average there are 150 competitors - a mere 20 competitors started the race for the 450 class in 2011. The 2012 race is scheduled for Sunday, July 8, and there will be race-related events all week long at Pike's Peak...and I am going to do everything in my gosh darned power to win it.
That's the plan, at least!
For the 2012 CMRA season, I will be racing at select rounds throughout the beginning of the year. These races will serve as 'test runs' to ensure that the Aprilia SXV450 which I will be piloting up the side of Pike's Peak is set up, tuned, and tweaked to its absolute maximum potential. Even through experimenting with multiple unfamiliar tire compounds, suspension settings, and engine tuning configurations, I've thus far managed to finish in 4th place at CMRA Round 1: MSR Houston, in 3rd place at the second round of CMRA racing at Texas World Speedway, and again in 3rd at Eagle's Canyon Raceway. While podium finishes (or even race wins) are not being specifically sought after, it's always nice to take top finishing spots in ANY race!
For more photos and information, visit my personal Facebook page at facebook.com/wilkitchens
Sign up for sponsorship, offer your support, and/or send donations via paypal tosendwiltothepeak@gmail.com
Brought to you by Wil Kitchens and IDB Racing
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