Flying

Dutchmen

hold

hill climb

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- A dirtbike takes off up the hill, leaving the smell of gasoline and the whine of a small engine behind it while spectators and other racers talk shop over beers and hamburgers.

To some 200 people, this was the way to spend a Sunday afternoon at the Flying Dutchmen Motorcycle Club's annual hill climb just south of New Ulm.

Some came out simply to see a friend or a family member try for a trophy. Others come simply because they love motorcycles.

Kaleb Northrup of Hastings said he comes out to the hill climb every year. He belongs to the Indianhead Cycle Club of Red Wing. He competes at such events around Minnesota every year.

On Sunday, he raced one of each of the three major makers of dirtbikes. A Honda, a Kawasaki and a Yamaha sat on stands right next to the rear gate of Northrup's trailer as he reclined in a folding chair and ate lunch in his racing uniform, a baseball cap and sunglasses. He's been riding bikes for 26 years. For him it's a family affair.

"My brother rode them. My father rode hill climbs in the '60s. I grew up around it," he said. "Mostly, that's what you see. These little kids here, their parents are hill-climbers."

The Flying Dutchmen began hosting a hill climb in the 1950s. The event was revived in 1997 for the club's 50th anniversary, said club past president Ron Marquardt. It mainly attracts riders from the Dakotas, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota. Anyone who is a member of the American Motorcycle Association can compete.

The hill climb is one of the annual events hosted by the club. It also hosts a road run in spring and a flat track race in September. Its members attend events hosted by other clubs in Mankato, Sleepy Eye, Red Wing, Mountain Lake and Marshall. Some Flying Dutchmen even rode out to Milwaukee this past summer for Harley-Davidson's 100th anniversary.

For some, like Northrup, the hill climb is an important event because it's the last opportunity for a rider to earn points within Minnesota's AMA district. Northrup said he usually starts racing dirt bikes during the first week of May.

"There are only three clubs in Minnesota that have hill climbs -- the Kato Cycle Club, the Flying Dutchmen and the Indianhead Cycle Club," he said.

Close to 220 motorbikes turned out at the hill climb Sunday to compete in 16 different classes ranging from 50cc to an open class that allows bikes "as large as you can build them," Marquardt said. Each rider gets two tries at the hill. The scorekeepers take the riders' best time, and the rider with the best time wins. The top four winners in each class receive trophies.

Although some rain caused delays and one rider was taken by ambulance to the New Ulm Medical Center emergency room, Marquardt said he's satisfied with how the day went.

"It went really well despite the forecast and the rain, and we're happy with the crowd we had," he said.