Cycle News Staff | June 25, 2018
2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Results–Californian Carlin Dunne (Spider Grips Ducati Multistrada 1260 Pikes Peak) took victory in one of the closest races ever held for motorcycles at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, taking the win by 0.7 seconds over Cycle News’s own Rennie Scaysbrook (Cycle News/KTM North America).
2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb Results
Dunne was pushed all the way by Scaysbrook but prevailed at the finish.
The win marked Dunne’s fourth triumph at Pikes Peak, which he described as the hardest one yet in his storied career.
“We did it,” Dunne said. “Rennie was giving it absolutely everything he had, he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
Scaysbrook was extremely disappointed not to take his first victory at Pikes Peak in this third year of trying on the KTM 1290 Super Duke R.
“To come that close to the win and not get it is a hard pill to swallow, but I can hold my head high as I rode as hard as I possibly could. The track was super slippery, and I made lots of mistakes just trying to keep the bike upright. That’s racing.”
Third went to 2017 Heavyweight Champion and current lap record holder Chris Fillmore, an incredible result considering he was in the Middleweight class on KTM’s new 790 Duke.
“I’m just so happy to be up here,” Fillmore said atop the mountain. “I really enjoyed riding the little 790, it’s an incredible bike and to claim a new race record for the Middleweight class is the icing on the cake.”
The practice days of Tuesday to Friday were run in good conditions, with Dunne and Scaysbrook swapping fastest laps each day. Scaysbrook qualified on pole on the bottom third of the track, with Dunne fastest in the mid section and Scaysbrook again fastest across the final third of the track.
Race morning was initially very cold until the sun broke through the clouds just before race start at 8:00 am. A crash for Britain’s Robert Barber on the electric Buckeye Current RW-3x machine brought out the red flag and caused a 20-minute delay, at which point the clouds rolled back in and dropped the temperatures significantly, which made the track extra slippery.
Fillmore’s race record was thus not challenged, Dunne’s winning time of 9:59.102 some 10 seconds off what Fillmore did in 2017.
Full race results can be found here
