Rennie Scaysbrook | June 20, 2018
David Against Goliath
Chris Fillmore is coming back to Pikes Peak with hopes of another win in 2018. But he’s doing it on a bike nearly half the capacity of what he took victory on last year in the brand-new KTM 790 Duke.
Small, light and super fast. Fillmore’s 790 Duke is a bike that can surprise at Pikes Peak.
Photos By Rennie Scaysbrook
Chris Fillmore is a man who likes a challenge. That’s why he took on one of the greatest challenges in all of motorsport last year when he competed in and won the 2017 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, smashing the race record as a rookie.
Fillmore rode straight into mountain legend with his run on the KTM North America 1290 Super Duke R as he blasted his way to the top of America’s Mountain to head the author and Frenchman Bruno Langlios on a Kawasaki Z900.
Akrapovic made a (so far) one-off titanium exhaust and carbon fiber muffler for Fillmore’s racer. This is not part of the KTM PowerParts range.
This year, the laid back lad originally from Michigan but now firmly entrenched in Southern California is back to for another crack at the mountain, trading his 1290 Super Duke R for the brand-new 790 Duke to go for the Middleweight title and lap record.
“Since I secured the overall record, there was not a lot of reason to go back and try to do it again and re-break it,” Fillmore said. “I knew the brand new 790 Duke was to be released this year, so I brought the idea of racing it up the mountain to the bosses and they were into it. KTM is a company that believes in proving their products through racing, so it was an easy pitch!”
The 790 Duke has not yet been released to the American market, although it is available pretty much everywhere else. It’s not just a landmark model due to being the first middleweight Duke, it represents the first attempt at a parallel-twin motor from a company traditionally known for singles and V-twins.
The headlight is replaced with a mask from the PowerParts range.
“I think a lot of people probably would have expected us to build a V-twin, but when KTM went to the drawing board their goal was to make something that was light and compact,” says Fillmore. “A parallel-twin was the best way to do that. With the firing order that they chose, they wanted to replicate the power and get it as close to a V-twin as possible. That’s why the thing still barks like a V-twin.”
Fillmore’s race-bike motor is a standard production 790 Duke. The team hasn’t gone for any cylinder-head work or intake modifications, preferring instead to run the standard airbox. There’s a Power Commander V to clean up the fueling, a KTM race air filter, the Akrapovic titanium full race exhaust system is a one-off, and they have upped the spring rates front and rear.
Troy Lee Designs put a few touches on the paint.
“There’s not a lot you need to do (to make the production bike into a racer),” says Fillmore. “Obviously, in racing we’re always looking for more, so you can develop it an endless amount if you really wanted to. But we’re just doing it to try to showcase the bike in its production form.
“It’s all KTM PowerParts. Aside from the Akrapovic exhaust, we have rearsets, a headlight-removal kit, and we removed the rear seat and used a KTM cover. The goal of this project is to show you can pick up one of our bikes from the showroom and break the world record. It sounds simple and it literally is.”
Fillmore will be using Pirelli SC1 slicks in his runs—indeed much of the field will be using the Italian rubber—as well as running lightweight Dymag forged and extruded aluminum wheels that are a work of art.
Fillmore was hauling ass in tire testing.
The current Pikes Peak king is under no illusions as to the challenge of taking not just the middleweight class against bikes like the Yamaha MT-09 but also the overall victory against machines such as the KTM 1290 Super Duke R, BMW S 1000 R and Ducati Multistrada MTS1260, but is approaching the event with the right attitude.
VIDEO | Chris Fillmore’s 2018 KTM 790 Duke Pikes Peak Racebike
“We have this amazing opportunity to race up this mountain, and there’s no point psyching yourself out over it,” Fillmore says. “Based on the tests we have done so far, winning the overall seems feasible, but a lot of things need to fall into place to make it happen against the bigger bikes. As far as handling, for sure I’m going to be able to brake later. I’m going to be able to flick it in earlier. I’m going to be able to carry more corner speed. You can only push corner speed to a certain point before you lose traction. I would love to say that I could take the overall, and maybe it’s possible. What would I be happy with? I would be happy to get on the podium as an overall. That’d be a success.”
The 2018 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is scheduled for June 24, 2018. CN
