Hill climb motorcyclists set for Silver Dollar races

DRY CREEK - The 4th Annual Northwest Nitro Nationals motorcycle hill climb races will be held on May 16-18 at Dry Creek Recreation, or across Highway 24 from the Silver Dollar Cafe at the Highway 241 intersection.

According to publicist John Nyboer of Sunnyside, this location has been hosting hill climbs since the 1960s. Over the years, participants have included dare devil Evel Knievel, Olympians Phil and Steve Mahre and area motorcycle legend Don Pomeroy.

"We have professional hill climbers coming from around the nation," Nyboer said.

Nyboer noted that Jeff Snipes, who attended hill climbs as a kid with his dad, was responsible for Dry Creek coming together. In 2011 he put an ad on Craigslist, and it found its way to landowner Kent Tramel, who offered the Dry Creek location.

Dry Creek is one of a series of five North American Hillclimbers Association (NAHA) sanctioned events held nationwide. Some of today's top riders include pros Jeff Reinmuth (Prosser) and Jason Weddle (Grandview).

Others are Brett Peterson (Calif) and Jason Smith (Utah). Travis Whitlock, Petey Kunich, Harold Waddel and Irv Schnieder (Tillamook, Ore) will also be here.

Also on hand will be Alex Harvill of Ephrata, world record holder of two long distance jumps. One is for the longest dirt ramp to dirt landing (297 feet) set last year at Horn Rapids ORV.

Harvill also has the longest ramp to dirt landing (425 feet) set at TOES, aka the Fracture Farm, in Moses Lake three years ago. A new ramp has been built at Dry Creek for his performance.

Northwest Nitro is growing in popularity. Since 2011 it has had a 25 percent growth in spectators. There were more than 3,500 spectators and 454 competitors last year.

"We have been working extremely hard on improving our facility this year and our hill climb to entertain our spectators," Nyboer said.

Amateurs will race on Friday. Pros will qualify on Saturday and have their finals on Sunday.