Pikes Peak USAC preview

80th Falken Tire Pikes Peak Int'L. Hill Climb Saturday.

Three divisions of this year's 80th Falken Tire Pikes Peak International Hill Climb near Colorado Springs, Colo. are under sanction by the United States Auto Club. Participants in the Unlimited, Pikes Peak Open and High-Performance Showroom Stock divisions will be competing for championships on the 12.5-mile course, with qualifications set for Thursday and Friday and the race scheduled to start at 9:30 am on Saturday.

Hill Climb race director Phil Layton has announced that wildfires located about 25 miles north and west of Pikes Peak created concern about this weekend's activities but should have no impact on the racing. Race, city and Forest Service officials are taking all necessary precautions to ensure fire safety during the event.

International competitors are entered in all three USAC divisions of the Hill Climb. Defending Unlimited Champion Yutaka Awazuhara of Japan and defending Pikes Peak Open Division Champion Jean Pierre Richelmi of Monaco are among returning drivers, along with Sweden's Per Eklund, who holds the Pikes Peak Open record. Eklund set the record of 11:21.58 in winning the 2000 event. Richelmi also won the 1999 Pikes Peak Open Division title.

Rod Millen continues to hold the ultimate course record of 10:04.06 in 1994.

Other former USAC Division winners entered are Rhys Millen of Huntington Beach, Calif., who won the High Performance Showroom Stock title the past three years and Jeff Zwart of Woody Creek, Colo., who won four straight High Performance Showroom Stock titles from 1995-1998, plus Japan's Nobuhiro Tajima, the 1992, 1993 and 1995 Unlimited winner.

-USAC-